With the weather cooperating, the 84th version of the Little-Big Game between neighbors Burlingame and San Mateo high schools was a smashing success. The capacity crowd at San Mateo, well-behaved and attentive, numbered well over 4,500 enthusiastic souls. There was food, music, hoopla and, yes, even some prep football. Burlingame won, 33-28, by stifling a last-ditch Bearcat push which ended inside the Panthers' 10-yard-line as time ran out. But, as is typically the case, the game was almost incidental. It's really the community atmosphere that matters most. It becomes a throwback event, something right out of the 1920s when the rivalry began during the administration of Calvin Coolidge. You almost expect Andy Hardy to be in attendance. But cellphones and iPads have a distinct way of altering one's perspective. All that said, it would be fair to say that, unlike the ever-changing nature of California suburbia generally, the Little-Big Game seems certain to endure as one of the Peninsula's truly iconic diversions. And that, for sure, is a very good thing.
In 2010, San Mateo County Child Protective Services Social Worker, Damion Caldwell, MSW, took a leap of faith by creating his own social work intervention for a community that historically needed support: THE COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENT ATHLETE. Fast forward to 2012, and Damion has managed to garner the attention of the NCAA, NFL, National Football Foundation, and some of Silicon Valley's Giant Venture Capitalists. Why?? He travels all over North America do make sure that student athletes from his "JUCO", the historical College of San Mateo, stay on track and earn their college degrees through his pioneer mentoring program, Walk Through Inc. ( http://m.walkthroughinc.com )
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