Spirit Week

Before introducing our guests, John Garcia, Superintendant of Schools, briefly prefaced the festivities with a sobering incident.  Last Thursday in a JV game with Lynwood, a Downey player collapsed on the field, and although he was immediately taken to St. Francis Hospital and later to Long Beach for two days of intensive care, Dodi Soza did not survive.

What next ensued has shown how compassion in the face of tragedy can pull together a great community like Downey.  On Friday, the cheer squad from Warren High walked to Downey campus and decorated it with white roses.  Students from Lynwood came too.  On Saturday after it was learned that Dodi had just expired, a late afternoon silent candlelight vigil was held at the Downey High stadium, where a large crown of over 500 attended.   On Monday it was reported that one white balloon bearing Dodi’s name had been found in Colorado.  It had drifted that far, after being released.  As Downey coach Jack Williams said, rivalries are fun and good, but compassion is also an important part of who we are as a community.

 What brings our Downey Rotary Club into this experience directly, happened first of all, because of a coincidence.  The Girl’s Cheer Squad advisor, Ms Allison Davis, had noted last year that we have the tradition of donating a children’s book to the Downey Library in the speaker’s name.  So this time the Girl’s Cheer leader took the microphone to say they had brought three books for give to us, to donate to the library.  The books all have bears on the cover, of course, for the Warren Bears, and the bookplate they had specially made, reads, “in commemoration of Warren and Downey sharing Spirit Week with the Downey Rotary Club, October 15, 2013, and in memory of our classmate Dodi Soza.”  Very eloquent and very classy.

John Garcia introduced the principal of Downey High, Tom House, and Tom took it from there.  Both he and the new principal of Warren Laura Rivas brought up the teachers and faculty who work with the football and cheer teams.  There are many involved in the preparation for Spirit Week.   Then the Cheer Squads took over.  Downey High, in white tunics bordered with cardinal, with big perky white and gold bows in their hair, opened up with “The Big GO” cheer and then exhorted us with “Go, Downey, Go,”

Warren High in white kick-pleated short skirts lined with Warren dark blue and gold, all had gold metallic–ribboned pompoms. They shook their pompoms in their cheers, “Warren, Fight” and “B-E-A-R-S Yeah Yeah!”

Football players were introduced from both teams, Downey Vikings wearing their letter jackets, and Warren players in shirts and ties.

This rivalry extends to all sports, for boys teams and girls teams, and the cheer squads perform when volleyball is played well as for football.  The game this year will be played at Warren Stadium, and the over- all record for the two-school rivalry is close to being even.

Roger Brossmer showed us the trophy, a Heisman trophy look-alike, with a large gold running back on top, and the tall black base showing the winners, dates and scores all the way back.  “When we run out of space, we just add another tier to the wedding cake,” he said.  It will be awarded, to be displayed with pride for a year, to the winner of this game.

This competition goes deep, and some prospective house buyers coming in to Downey have been known to demand a specific school area.  And when you meet someone from Downey, all you have to do to establish a rapport with them, is simply to ask, “Did you go to Warren or Downey High?”

The Warren coach said he went to Warren and his wife went to Downey, “She sleeps on the couch this week,” In his 26 years of coaching he says he has never seen anything like this rivalry.  The beauty of this situation is, that when bad things happen, everyone comes together as a community.  As he said, “It’s the kids who make this happen, and we all feel, in spite of this tragedy, the show must go on.”

 As John Garcia told it, he had played twice in this game, as a student at Downey High, and “it is an awesome experience.”