Canzano: Cal Bears with a golden idea
“We just saw something that needed to be done.”
BERKELEY — Myles Williams used to tag along with his parents as a kid. It started when he was just three or four. His mother worked in a school classroom, assisting children with challenges. Dad was an adapted physical education teacher.
“I’d go to work with them all the time,” the Cal outside linebacker told me this week.
I have teachers in my family, too. Two of my aunts poured their working lives into elementary school children. My younger sister is now a special education teacher. And my brother is an adapted PE instructor himself.
“There’s a huge divide sometimes when it comes to children who face challenges,” Williams said. “Kids can be mean.”
The skies opened on Saturday at Memorial Coliseum and dumped buckets of rain in Berkeley. More than 100 children who attended the second annual Golden Buddies Football Camp didn’t appear to mind. The event went on with raincoats and smiles.
Williams and a few teammates dreamed up the community event last year. On Saturday, they dragged out tackling dummies, set up football drill stations, and invited kids with and without disabilities to attend the second event.
Why do it? Why invite kids of varying levels of ability to the stadium? Why run them through drills? Why convince your teammates and fellow students to help? Is it about promoting football and generating interest?
Said Williams: “It’s more that we just saw something that needed to be done.”
A decade ago I had a similar conversation on a park bench in Oregon with my younger brother. He lives in Central California and set up an event that paired a line of children with intellectual and physical disabilities with athletes at local colleges.
It was a huge hit.
I wondered if we could facilitate a similar week-long camp in Oregon. We had no equipment, no facility, and no staff. Just a wild idea. I had no experience in that space. Selfishly, I imagined it would create a valid reason for our families, my parents, and siblings, to get together once a year. This summer, the 11th annual Camp Exceptional will be held at LaSalle High School in Milwaukie.
It doesn’t happen without Portland State’s football players. They volunteer in droves every year. Dozens of coach Bruce Barnum’s players show up at 8 a.m. five days that week, set up equipment, and lead more than 100 kids through the planned sports-related activities. By the end of the week, they’ve bonded with typical and special-needs children and molded themselves into teams.
The kids leave with confidence and new friendships.
The players leave with glassy eyes.
“Please count me in for next year,” they say.
Over the years, athletes from Clackamas Community College have helped, too. More recently, the basketball teams at the University of Portland and Portland State heard about it and started showing up. Sponsors joined the cause. The camp is roaring along and will be held again this summer. And when I discovered the football players at Cal had a similar event, I had to talk with them about it.
Williams told me he’s a social welfare major. He wants to become a social worker. Beyond that, he’s thought about becoming a firefighter or a paramedic. This is a person who wants to help others.
He was joined on Saturday by Cal football players Jack Endries (tight end) and Fernando Mendoza (quarterback). Offensive lineman Matthew Cindric is a co-founder of the event. I should mention the 300-pounder here. He was instrumental in getting the camp started in 2023 but was recently signed as an undrafted free agent by the Minnesota Vikings. He’s off to the NFL.
Williams and his teammates recruited campus volunteers, invited representatives from Special Olympics, and a middle-school cheerleading squad. It came out in the rain to help boost the energy.
These kinds of camps are important. Particularly to the kids who face daily challenges and are often left out. Their goals are different. It’s not whether they can toss a football or win a game. Maybe it’s just being there, and feeling part of something bigger.
As the parent of a special-needs child told me once: “I can’t tell you how much it means when I see another kid put his arm around my son or give him a ‘high-five.’ We’ve spent his entire childhood hoping and praying he won’t be left out.”
The Pac-12 will officially break up at the end of June. There’s been a lot of talk about the scattering schools. More than 108 years of history got smashed. The Bears are headed to the ACC, alongside Stanford. But I challenge anyone to look at the photos and videos from the event and not come away thinking about unity.
College athletics doesn’t happen without college athletes. The human race, it turns out, is built on humanity. No surprise there. I came away from my conversation with Williams this week thinking that he not only understands that he has a platform, he isn’t afraid to use it to help others.
“I might as well,” he told me. “These kids are people.”
It’s like John Steinbeck wrote in “East of Eden.” There is only one true story in the world: “A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well — or ill?”
Camp Exceptional is the highlight of my family’s summer. Not just the grown-ups. Our three daughters and our nieces and nephews end every day of the camp talking about the accomplishments they witnessed. The most inspiring talk centers around kids who might normally be left out of a sports camp.
I don’t know what happens to the Golden Buddies Football Camp after Myles Williams graduates and plays out his football career. It seems to me that he and his teammates have established the foundation for something much bigger. Other Cal football players may continue the tradition. Or maybe the mission of the camp becomes a full-time thing for Williams one day.
One other thing: I don’t know if you bring your kids to work with you. But I do know they’re watching you. They’re observing and learning. Williams’ parents didn’t just take him to work. They took him into the world.
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This is so well written, John. Thank you for another reminder that there are good humans in this world doing great things without regard for fame and money. We need to remember this, and do likewise.
John, great article!! We are so negative about college sports we forget the times that athletics and teachers spend in helping children, disabled or not.
My mother taught first grade through three generations of families in Eastern Oregon. My bother taught in junior high school, high school and was a principal. Most of my good friends come from athletic endeavor's , either playing or officiating.
I have always felt the most important people are those who teach special ed. It takes a special type of person to put smiles on those kids faces and teach them.
Kudos to these college athletes, Cal and Portland State for giving back to these kids. And to our teachers who guide our children’s educations.
This is what real life is all about!