Peanut Butter Bowl football series continues to fight food insecurity

Edward Rodriguez has seen food insecurity firsthand.

“Where I’m from, I’ve seen people on the street who have no food,” the Burbank running back said Thursday morning to a crowd of fellow high school football players and coaches at Alamo Heights’ Muledome. 

As part of the Peanut Butter Bowl, Rodriguez has a chance to help people like the ones he recalled seeing. 

The Peanut Butter Bowl is an annual food donation contest that lines up with the first week of the high school football season. In the week leading up to the first game of the year, participating schools collect jars of peanut butter and online donations, with the proceeds going to local organizations that fight food insecurity.

“I hope that this community can really see what it is and bring us together,” Rodriguez said at the media event.

The Peanut Butter Bowl started in 2016 as a single game between Johnson and Brandeis before expanding to more than 100 schools across Texas. The event has grown beyond San Antonio, reaching areas like Austin, Corpus Christi, Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley. Participating schools have donated 456,000 jars of peanut butter to date.

“We really see, as an inner city community, how impactful this event is,” Burbank head coach Mitchell Ricker said.

Burbank will face MacArthur at Alamo Stadium on Aug. 27 in its season opener and Peanut Butter Bowl game. MacArthur head coach Jordon Ricker, Mitchell’s twin brother, has seen the growth of the Peanut Butter Bowl over the years. Jordon was on Ron Rittimann’s staff at Johnson in 2016, the same year Rittimann partnered with Very Bold Ministeries’ Steve Teel to start the event.

“It truly is a reminder of the impact we can have when our communities come together for something other than football,” Jordon said of the event. 

The Peanut Butter Bowl has gone on for so long that current high school athletes recall first hearing about the event as elementary students. Johnson safety Jacob Mazzocco remembers high school football players coming to his elementary school to talk about the event.

“Now I get to be that one to go speak at these schools,” Mazzocco said. “I’m excited to bring the community together and bring everybody together over something way bigger than just a jar of peanut butter.”

Last year, Copperas Cove donated the most jars with 12,240 total. LEE donated the second most with 4,836. Alamo Heights (3,539), East Central (3,338), Brandeis (3,280) and Madison (3,106) all finished in the top 10. 

“It’s a very rare opportunity to tangibly make a difference in somebody’s life, and there’s no better opportunity to do it with the best game in the world,” Madison head coach Myles Duelm said.

This year’s Peanut Butter Bowl games run from Aug. 27-29.

“Whether you’re going to give one can or one case of peanut butter, give what you can because every little bit matters,” Duelm said. “Everything counts.”