His eyes seem vacant as he looks up at the hundreds of basketball fans.  His arms jet out and he begins wiggling them.  Slowly at first, then wider and wider into  full flap as Tam drives the ball up the court.  He bounces on his toes and turns toward the game to watch Tam hit a layup, then turns back to face the stands.  He launches himself into the air and does something that approximates the splits, extending both his hands, two fingers held up on each.  The crowd roars in response, and Deion smiles.

     There isn’t a Tam home game from which Deion’s backwards hat and enthusiastically disengaged smile are absent.  He is Tam’s omnipresent fan, and his immunity to embarrassment allows Deion to put on a cheering show that would be sorely missed if he ever returned to his alma mater, San Marin.
     “I came here in 2005 just to reconcile with Tam because I despised them from my cheering days at San Marin.  They told me that they didn’t want me anymore, so I came here,” said Deion “They supported me, respected me more than any other school has and I’ve perceived very little criticism here.”
     Deion doesn’t have a costume or an oversized hawk mask, just his uniform of Levis, a faded Tam Varsity shirt, his backwards Hawks hat, sunglasses, and a pair of what look like airplane headphones around his neck.  “Deion, that’s my moniker, my alter ego,” said Deion, who did not supply a real name. “It’s a one name thing like Beyonce or Shakira.  That’s Shakira with a K not a Q.”
     “I know [Tam Athletic Director Christina] Amoroso was the first person to notice my talent, my energy, and get me to use that talent,” said Deion. “She sees that it helps rile up the fans and gets Tam in the spirit it needs to win.”
     “He brings a huge positive energy to the games,” said Amoroso “I’ve never seen him be negative and that’s what makes him so great to have.”  Deion’s antics in front of the stands are liable to draw just as much attention from the crowd as the game itself.  He can bring a crowd to its feet, whether the team has its victory sealed or defeat is inevitable.  The enthusiastic optimism, which he exudes win or lose, contrasts the harsh barks of parents calling out  unnoticed fouls on their children.  “It doesn’t matter what the score is,” said Amoroso “He’s going to keep on cheering from when the team comes out to when the buzzer sounds.”
     Deion is 32 years old and will be 33 in June.  He graduated from San Marin’s special ed program with a mild form of autism in 1996 says and went on to earn a college degree from College of Marin as the first Special Ed Student to earn a college degree in California.  “I was the Special Ed Valedictorian,” said Deion “and once I did that people just told me I could do anything, and I’ve brought that to my cheering.”  Deion says he has to practice over and over to get his cheers down.  “I practice my cheers every day at my house until they’re perfect.  My cheer practices are more intense and challenging than games,” he said.
     “He’s the spirit of Tam athletics, he’s better than cheerleading,” said senior Samantha Wynn. 
     While Deion has only been cheering for the last few years, he’s been invested in sports since his youth.  “Sports was a family heirloom, it was passed generation to generation and I picked it up from my dad,” said Deion “My dad taught me to stand up and be a man.  He always told me ‘You win some you lose some,’ and that’s been my best advice so far.”
     Deion isn’t just here to cheer; he leads by example.  That can-do, altruistic optimism no matter whether the odds are earning the first college degree as a special ed student or hitting a three before the buzzer sounds for halftime; if the three misses you keep on cheering.
     “I come here so I can exercise my voice; people hear me and listen to me when I’m cheering,” said Deion “This helps me to be a good sport.  I learn sportsmanship, and get fans fired up.  If I can fire up these fans I can do anything that I need to do.”
     “We love Deion because he’s himself, he has no reservations, he just performs,” said junior Sam Hayman.
     The Hawk presides as Tam’s official mascot, but it is Deion who rallies the stands, and if it were a just world, it would be Deion’s face embroidered onto Tam lanyards and printed down the legs of sweatpants. “As far as being Tam’s real mascot,” said Deion “this is why I live, you are my favorite crowd and the best supporters of Deion.”

This article originally appeared in the February 2010 issue.