John Sharpe remembers the day when Eastern Senior High School’s sports programs dominated the District of Columbia. Now, the school struggles to attract players and can barely suit them up, he said.
When the Eastern Ramblers kick off against the Anacostia Indians during Eastern’s homecoming game Friday, Sharpe, a former wide-receiver at Eastern and a 1972 graduate, will be on the sidelines with a group of alumni and former student athletes to not only support the team but to help raise awareness of the school’s needs.
“When I was a kid, the dream was to grow up and play high school ball at Eastern,” Sharpe said.
Sharpe became aware that his alma mater had fallen into disrepair through news reports. Then, he heard through a friend that the football team was in bad need of new uniforms.
Sharpe said he visited the school, located in Southeast at 1700 E. Capitol St., Tuesday to watch the football team practice.
“They are really in dire straits,” Sharpe said. “The pants that they had on were from the University of Maryland because they had Terps written on it. I’m looking at the stuff they had on — it was in shambles.”
This is not the first time that Eastern has been in a negative spotlight in recent weeks. Principal Shawn Hearn was reassigned to the central office after he was arrested Oct. 23 during an altercation with a student. The incident is under investigation, spokeswoman Patricia Alford-Willams said.
Sharpe said he expects about 200 to 300 concerned alumni to attend Friday’s game, which starts at 2:30 p.m. Alumni have also invited several D.C. Council members, including Democratic mayoral nominee Adrian Fenty as well as schools Superintendent Clifford Janey.
It was unclear if either Janey or Fenty would attend Eastern’s homecoming. Janey has been out of town, Alford-Williams said; and a Fenty representative did not return a phone call.
“I was hoping that Fenty would be there because he’s running on a platform of D.C. public schools,” Sharpe said.
