Yes, homeless guy was mayor’s college pal

On Super Bowl Sunday, I was at a homeless shelter, trying to get a different perspective on the game. To be honest, it wasn’t terribly easy to find people who wanted to talk. But there was an exception.

A slight, balding man in a sweater walked up and said, “I’d be interviewed for The Chronicle.”

He said his name was Jim Harding and proceeded to tell a long, complicated ( and frankly improbable) story. He’d been a nuclear power expert, he said. At one point he was assistant director for policy and program research at the Washington State Energy office. He lived in Olympia, Wash., had a successful career, was married and owned a house.

“Oh, and Mayor Ed Lee and I were best friends,” he said. “We went to the same college. Edwin and I go way back.”

Now here’s the really improbable part: It was true.

Harding not only referenced the small college, Bowdoin, that Lee attended; he knew that it was in Brunswick, Maine. He really did know Lee, with whom he says he used to play golf.

The mayor remembered Harding.

“The last time I saw him was probably five or six years ago,” Lee said Monday. “I’m

sorry to hear he is in a shelter. I hope he is getting some help.”

Sharon Ossmann of the Northeast Power Planning Council in Olympia checked with co- workers and confirmed that not only was Harding employed there, some remembered him well.

‘ Quite brilliant’

“I spoke to people who remember him as being really sharp on the ( energy) issues,” Ossmann said. “I think he was quite brilliant in his day.”

So what is he doing in a homeless shelter? Harding would speak only in vague terms.

“I don’t want to be pitied, particularly by friends,” he said. “It’s a long explanation. I think it happens in a rapidly changing economy. If you can’t adapt to changes, you could easily find yourself unemployed. I’ve met bank managers in this place.”

An old friend, Tony Usibelli, who worked with Harding for years at what was then called the Washington State Energy Office, says he’s sad to hear Harding’s current circumstances.

“I first met Jim back in the late ’ 70s,” he said. “He used to be quite the good friend. He played on our softball team. He was quite the gourmet cook. I remember going to his house for homecooked meals.”

Usibelli said Harding‘ s friends knew he was struggling.

“There were personal problems,” he said. “It saddens me to hear this. I don’t think there has ever been any doubt that Jim has always been very bright.”

And that’s the grabber. This isn’t the barefoot guy walking down the street and talking to himself. He’s a polished conversationalist, regular user of the city library for books and Internet, and former husband, homeowner and productive member of society.

For a variety of reasons, he took a hard fall in life and, at 64, he doesn’t think he’ll pull himself back up and out of a homeless existence.

Series of hard knocks

Harding’s a little unclear on how long he’s been living in the shelter. The jobs dried up early in 2009, and he says he came to California to stay first with his brother and then with his sister. When those arrangements didn’t work out, he got a three- day stay at a homeless shelter in San Mateo.

When that stay expired, he came to San Francisco and has been in and out of the shelter on Fifth and Bryant.

“Three days is not a solution,” he said. “I’ve been here ever since — a couple of years.”

Often victimized

He’s been punched in the face and mugged three times.

“That’s not uncommon when you are walking around here at night,” he said. “I’ve had at least four thefts here in the shelter. And they are not particular. They’ll take anything. Even a book.”

The hardscrabble life is worlds away from his career, his marriage and his home.

“I had a three- bedroom house in Olympia,” he said. “When we divorced, my wife and I sold it and split the profit. We only cleared about $ 100,000. It’s pretty easy to go through $ 50,000.”

For now, much of his time is spent around trying to get a bed to sleep in at a shelter. At the St. Vincent de Paul Society, he lines up at noon, sits in a plastic chair and waits.

What does he tell old friends about where he is?

“I just tell them I am living in San Francisco,” he said. “South of Market.”