SAN ANTONIO – Every year, when the Peanut Butter Bowl comes together for its media day, sharing stories of the program’s success and feeding those less fortunate, there’s a new sense of pride and service to one’s community.
The high school coaches and players who attended the 2024 Peanut Butter Bowl media day had a similar message from each program’s philosophy and pillars of the program: service.
The competition off the field, collecting as many peanut butter jars as possible to feed those in need, brings out a different type of competitive spirit in these football programs.
Instead of trying to defeat each other, their goal is to defeat hunger together, which is a big part of what excites McCollum’s Gabriel Escobar to be part of the Peanut Butter Bowl.
“This really is just a great opportunity, like everybody was saying and echoing, (which) is like giving back to the needy, you know, and really being united,” Escobar said. “That’s what I feel like has been the most prominent thing that I’ve seen. This Peanut Butter Bowl, it’s only going to be successful if we all come together. Right, so just to get McCollum’s name out there, but, you know, just to be able to be a part of something big.”
In last year’s competition, Alamo Heights came in second place with 7,107 jars of peanut butter, behind Copperas Cove, which had 8,207 jars.
Mules head coach Ron Rittimann didn’t like when we brought up that he lost. He laughed it off with us and then shared how he hopes the bigger message behind this event is what sticks with his community as they hope to take 1st place this year.
“We’re gonna have probably 100 schools this year when it’s all said and done; one of them is gonna raise more than everybody else, but if all 100 of them, or however many there are, are better than last year then we’ve all been successful,” Rittimann said. “Are we going to try to win the Peanut Butter Bowl? Absolutely. We will try to bring in at least one more jar than any other school. I wouldn’t be surprised if our community didn’t respond to that and make it happen.”
If you and your community want to be involved with the Peanut Butter Bowl, you can find more information on their website.
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