A resident of the quiet Valencia neighborhood where Ryan Gorman lives told this story late last year.

He saw Gorman, the eccentric Valencia High football player, running up and down the street.

No shoes.

On the asphalt.

Why would he do that?

What in the world could that do to make him a better athlete?

Only Ryan Gorman knows.

But one could speculate.

Maybe he wanted to punish his body so that the football field would be more like a playground than an obstacle course.

Maybe he wanted people to think he was different.

Because he surely was.

Personality-wise, Gorman was a rarity.

He was a combination of maturity and well-timed humor.

“He made every day interesting, yet productive in Valencia football,” said Valencia head coach Larry Muir.

He was up for anything — be it wearing multi-colored socks with a cartoon character hat or playing running back instead of just his regular linebacker position.

Gorman did that, too.

On Nov. 10, Valencia played Saugus football with the Foothill League title on the line.

The Vikings threw the Centurions for a loop by starting Gorman for the fist time in his varsity career at running back.

Gorman ran the ball 13 times for 167 yards and scored four touchdowns, carrying the offense on his back in a 35-0 victory.

Gorman had 1.5 sacks, a team-leading 12 tackles for loss, 96 total tackles and an interception as the leader of the defense.

He was The Signal and Foothill League’s football player of the year and the CIF-Southern Section Northern Division’s co-Defensive Player of the Year.

On top of that, at the end of the school year, Valencia named him its 2011-12 Athlete of the Year.