Colts Neck Businessman Mario Romano Celebrates Pop Warner Awards Banquet And Relates Local Story

For Colts Neck resident Mario Romano, the $109,000 in scholarship money awarded at the Pop Warner football 50th Anniversary Scholar Banquet was a personal celebration. According to Mario Romano, co-founder of the football program in Colts Neck, this banquet was "typical" of the Pop Warner program that holds a rich history of helping children. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) January 16, 2011 - With over six figures given in scholarships to top scholar-athletes, Pop Warner continues supporting students, recently reported Mario Romano of Colts Neck. "In no way was I stunned to see that much money in scholarships awarded to students from the Pop Warner group," said Colts Neck co-founder Mario Romano. In addition, the awards banquet acknowledged the contributions of professional athletes and sportscasters. According to Romano, impacting the lives of students and people as a whole is part of the Pop Warner tradition and story.

Mario Romano of Colts Neck, New Jersey knows the Pop Warner football story by heart. "Right before the stock market crash of 1929 some Philadelphia factory owners were having a problem with vandalism by local youth," said the Colts Neck resident Mario Romano. There was nothing for the boys to do with their spare time. "So after 100 windows were broken by rocks, in just one month," continued Mario Romano from Colts Neck, "the company owners met together and recruited Joe Tomlin to form a football league for boys." According to Romano, Tomlin had a commitment to and loved students.

After a chance meeting between the enthusiastic and athletic Tomlin and legendary football coach Pop Warner, the organization would soon bear Warner's famous name, according to Colts Neck program co-founder Mario Romano. "By 1938 there were over 150 teams and by December of 1947, over 2000 spectators witnessed the first 'bowl game,'" stated Colts Neck's Mario Romano. That bowl game was called the Santa Claus Bowl.

Joe Tomlin's pioneering work in children's football and athletics would earn him many accolades. Mario Romano reports that by 1959 the Pop Warner football program incorporated as a non-profit organization. The Colts Neck football program co-founder Mario Romano further explained that by the 1970s Pop Warner added cheerleading. Since then Pop Warner has expanded the cheerleading to performing groups, majorettes, and dancing squads. Today there are over 300,000 boys and girls active in Pop Warner programs. The awards banquet, an annual tradition, reflects Tomlin's pioneering commitment to kids, said Romano.

"Now you begin to see why $109,000 in scholarships does not surprise me. Their tradition is a great story of impacting the lives of kids," says Mario Romano, "and when I started looking around Colts Neck in early 2000, I was shocked not to find such a program." According to Mario Romano, some folks in Colts Neck had heard of Pop Warner football. "When I would ask my friends in Colts Neck about Pop Warner football," said Mario Romano, "they would respond that they were familiar with the program, but nothing existed in our area." Mario Romano went to work immediately to bring the nationally recognized program to Colts Neck.

"Four of us began to work together, knowing we basically need three things in Colts Neck," said Mario Romano. The three things necessary to make Pop Warner football a success in Colts Neck, according to Mario Romano, were a location, funds and kids. "After we were turned down for local funds by Colts Neck town officials," said Mario Romano, "they offered us use of the local high school football field."

Mario Romano and his fellow co-founders went to work raising the needed capital funds to make the Pop Warner football dream a reality for Colts Neck. During this capital funding process, Mario was devastated by the sudden and tragic death of his brother Dominic Romano. Yet through that tragedy, the hearts of Mario Romano's friends and family were deeply moved as they pledged and gave over $100,000 in Dominic's name to the Colts Neck football program. "It was a miraculous moment for all of us in Colts Neck," recalled Mario Romano.

"News of this banquet reminds me of my times with the Colts Neck Pop Warner football program. Those memories are some of the most rewarding moments in my life," recently stated Mario Romano. Mario Romano says he still believes that Pop Warner football plays "a huge role in the lives of kids in Colts Neck." According to Mario Romano, "many kids from Colts Neck came through the Pop Warner program and were given chances they would have never received, had the program not been pioneered. That is and will always be the heart of Pop Warner football."

For more information about Pop Warner Football, visit http://www.popwarner.com.

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