R.C Everbeck: Age is Nothing But a Number

#49 R.C. Everbeck leads the Corsairs as LA Harbor College and Santa Monica College players shake hands at the end of the game at Corsair Field on Saturday, October 19. (Sandi Garcia/The Corsair)

At the age of 50, playing a physically demanding sport such as football isn’t the most ideal thing you’ll see. For 50-year-old Santa Monica College (SMC) football player R.C. Everbeck, he is the rare exception. Everbeck started playing high school football as a junior back on the east coast for Medfield High School in Medfield, Massachusetts, which was cut short due to a gruesome injury he suffered that ended his season. He and his family then moved across the nation to Oak Harbor, Washington where he continued to play football. After High School, Everbeck decided to accept a scholarship from Washington State’s decathlon team.

Growing up Everbeck father was a teacher so in the summers when he didn’t work they had to grow their own food. He spoke on his upbringing, ”we were a poor family, we had to grow our own food in the summer [then can it] to eat in the winter,”. For R.C. it wasn’t considered labor to him, it was what they did, he continued saying “for vacations we didn’t go to Disneyland and stuff, we went to the woods.”

Coming from a teaching background has also translated into the classroom, as he’s earned himself a 4.0 GPA, although he’s already earned a Finance degree from the University of Southern California (USC) with a minor in Film coming into SMC. While the skills he had learned at USC was current and helpful, one component that he learned about film while at USC was becoming outdated.

Before attending USC, Everbeck began his career in movie the world as he made an appearance on the classic Romantic-Comedy ‘Pretty Woman’. After doing two movies, Everbeck said, “I’d always known I was going to be an actor.” Although he was enjoying pursuing an acting career, watching football season or track season from afar gave him an itch to go back and pursue what could be, saying he “ached” for it. In his second year, while pursuing the Hollywood dream, he then made his decision to go back to college and attend USC.

The two years off from athletics made it tough for Everbeck when making his comeback, and giving that he was older made it that much tougher. To get into shape a fast and effective way he joined USC club rugby team, noting “it was a lot of fun”. Finishing up at USC, years went by and Everbeck decided to return back to school again at SMC, but amongst that return he was approached with an opportunity to coach pole vaulting for Track and Field.

Almost going forward with the opportunity, one of R.C.’s friend convinced him to go and play football because he couldn’t see himself running track anymore. At first, Everbeck was unsure if he could play at the Junior College level because he used up his eligibility at the NCAA level, but after getting reassurance from SMC Athletic Director Reggie Ellis that he is still eligible at SMC, it was the start of Everbeck’s career as a student-athlete at SMC.

R.C. career as a football player for the Corsairs is over, and we’ll have to wait and see what he does next as he is currently rehabbing a surgically repaired shoulder he injured during the season. What we know about the “ageless wonder” is that, if it seems impossible to one person, it’s never impossible for R.C. Everbeck as he continues to show that age is just a number.