We Know "Tiger Mother" Amy Chua: What About the Other "Most Likely to Succeed" Student at El Cerrito High in 1980?

The El Cerrito High School Class of 1980 “Most Likely to Succeed” winners are two for two. , author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, has hands down gotten the most press. While he hasn’t gotten the kind of attention that Amy Chua has, co-honoree Tom Addison’s achievements are impressive.

Addison’s day job is protecting air quality. His other passion is rock climbing, and as an offshoot he works to ensure public access to climbing venues.

Addison has loved the outdoors all his life, dating back to visiting Indian Rock Park in Berkeley and backpacking in the Sierra as a youngster. “All my life, to this day, I spend a lot of time outside.”

After graduating from El Cerrito High, where he shared valedictorian honors with Chua, Addison headed to Williams College in Massachusetts, declining to pursue his acceptance to Harvard because it didn’t offer enough appealing nearby outdoor opportunities. He earned a bachelor’s in biology from Williams.

He’s tried other activities such as kayaking and cross-country skiing, but rock climbing has long been his stand-out favorite. “It’s a fun way to challenge yourself in an outdoor setting,” he explained.

The weekend before he was interviewed for Patch, Addison climbed in the Nevada desert; the night before he’d been to in El Cerrito. He has climbed all around the United States and other parts of the world as well. He even competed nationally as a climber, at times living out of his car and devoting himself full time to climbing. His favorite climb, he said, is “the one coming up.”

He noted that El Cerrito High produced at least two other rock climbers of national renown: John Sherman, who is also a writer and photographer, and Harrison Dekker, a librarian at UC Berkeley.

In addition to rock climbing, Addison also has been interested in environmental policy dating back to high school. He returned to the Bay Area in 1989 to go to grad school at Cal, receiving a degree in public policy in 1991 and living again in El Cerrito since 1993.

He currently works for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, explaining simply that his job is to support efforts to clean up the air, and oppose actions that will pollute it.

He has also devoted time over the past couple decades to ensuring public access to climbing locales. Earlier this year, The Access Fund honored Addison for those efforts. According to its website, The Access Fund is “the national advocacy organization that keeps climbing areas open and conserves the climbing environment.”

Addison was given the Bebie Leadership Award "for his outstanding leadership in protecting Jailhouse Rock in Sonora California," the Access Fund says in an announcement on the site. "He has maintained positive relationships between climbers and landowners of Jailhouse Rock since the 1990s, working with multiple owners, the county, and the climbing community to address their concerns. With the new subdivision going through in 2010, Tom contacted the Access Fund and played a critical role in working with the landowner to ensure permanent access for climbers. With the conservation and access easements secured, Addison is leading the way to locally fundraise for the Unlock Jailhouse campaign. Tom started working on access issues in the 1980’s at Farley Ledge in Western Massachusetts and has been an Access Fund member since 1992. For over twenty years, Tom has worked to keep crags open in Stanislaus National Forest and the Sonora area.”

As for his well-known classmate, who attended El Cerrito schools with Addison through graduation, Addison has fond memories of her. “Amy was a wonderful person. She was smart. She was funny. We pushed each other academically.”