Hall of Fame: Charlie Berry (Newport Harbor)

Richard Dunn

Well-traveled and highly educated Charlie Berry journeyed through

Afghanistan, Pakistan and India before territories became off limits, and

trekked across Thailand and Laos before the Vietnam War escalated and the

regions fell into communist hands.

Berry, a 27-year world history teacher at the prestigious Kamehameha

Schools in Hawaii, likes to tease his sophomore students about his

globe-trotting days when he lived in parts of the world that would be

difficult or impossible to visit today.

Following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Berry was the only teacher

on staff who had been to Afghanistan and suddenly became the resident

expert.

“I wasn’t a hippie, but I had a beard (in the 1960s),” said Berry, who

also volunteered to go to Israel after the 1967 war broke out, “but it

was over in six days.”

Berry, a former Newport Harbor High football standout who also played

at UCLA in a backup role, traveled and lived in various parts of the

world after finishing school, which included earning a master’s degree in

Russian and Eastern European geography.

When Berry returned to the United States in 1968, the country was in

turmoil and world travelers with beards didn’t always receive warm

greetings. So, after teaching one year at Los Angeles City College, Berry

joined the Peace Corps, where he remained from 1969 through ’73.

After a three-month language training program in Hawaii, Berry was

sent to Thailand, where he taught English as a Second Language, and later

earned a second master’s in ESL.

Berry, who speaks English, German, Thai and Laotian, returned to

Hawaii after leaving the Peace Corps and has remained on the islands ever

since.

“I always thought about going back to teaching at Newport Harbor, but

I ended up here,” he said. “Both schools are good.”

Berry, also the freshmen class advisor at Kamehameha, which is on

Oahu, plans to retire from teaching after the spring semester. However,

Berry doesn’t intend to travel much.

“I’ll just have to suffer out here in the sun,” said Berry, 64. “I’ve

done a lot of my traveling.”

For the last 29 years, Berry has lived in Hawaii for 10 months of the year and in Austria for two months in the summer, hiking, climbing

mountains and traveling around the region.

“There are a lot of interesting people over there. They’re older and

full of world history,” he said. “Every year I meet more people and find

more interesting things ... I might even retire and go over there.”

In his athletic career, Berry was football coach Al Irwin’s star

fullback at Newport Harbor for two years. Most of the time, Berry’s

number was called to carry the ball or he was used as a decoy.

“I liked to run hard, and I liked to run into people,” Berry said. “I

enjoyed that. I didn’t mind that.”

Berry, also the team’s placekicker, was the Sunset League scoring

leader in the fall of 1955, his senior year, until the final game of the

regular season, when the Tars lost to perennial power Anaheim, 27-6, and

one of legendary former Anaheim Coach Clare Van Hoorebeke’s players

surpassed Berry’s total.

Berry, whose older brother, Bob, was also a standout at Newport Harbor

in the Class of ‘49, competed in track and field in the spring and was

one of Coach Ralph Reed’s most versatile athletes.

“I did everything from the 440 and below, and any of the field

events,” said Berry, often referred to by his Newport Harbor teammates as

the Ironman.

Berry, who said the late Don Burns was his mentor, earned a football

scholarship to UCLA, where he was a starting wingback on the freshmen

football but “didn’t do anything on the Coliseum floor.”

At UCLA, Berry discovered rugby, which he ended up enjoying much more

than football. He also competed in track and field, but switched to rugby

after his sophomore year.

“There were some pretty fast guys at UCLA at the time,” Berry said.

“We had Rafer Johnson and C.K. Yang, those kind of people on the track

team.”

Berry is the latest honoree in the Daily Pilot Sports Hall of Fame.