Tony Ortega presenting Tim Peterson with his National Football Foundation Scholar Athletes Award. (2026 Community Service Award).
(“The TEN” is not a top ten but ten items worth being included in “The TEN”)
1—The National Football Foundation Scholar Athletes Awards Banquet, honored Mid Valley Sports’ Tim Peterson for his over 25 years of service in the field of local sports coverage.
2—Peterson attended Arroyo High School—As a freshman he wrestled.
3— No truth to the rumor Peterson was the inspiration for Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
4—Reviewing Peterson’s work at The Mid…it is estimated that he was written, posted, added, and linked upwards of 15,000 articles, columns, and features. (Little League, prep football, Arena Football, College Football, NFL, Soccer, prep basketball/baseball, college basketball/baseball, softball, ABA basketball, Columns, Tens, Game Nights etc…etc..)
5—Peterson’s middle name is Shawn.
6—During his church softball career, Peterson broke in as a middle-infielder but was tagged with a weak arm and got relegated to second base. He was more of a dead pull hitter than Willie McCovey—albeit with considerably less power.
7—On April 4, 1988, Peterson missed the second half of the Kansas-Oklahoma championship game because he had to go to work—while his friends stayed at his pad and watched Danny Manning and the Jayhawks defeat the Sooners, 83-79.
8—Peterson defeated cancer in the early 2000s.
9—Peterson has had two dogs, Jake & Marshall.
10—Insight: If Peterson ever tells you, “Yeah, I’ll meet you there.”…It means he’s not coming.
Bonus–#11— On December 13, 2008, in freezing conditions Paraclete defeated Rosemead, 21-10 at Knight High School in the CIF Mid-Valley Division championship game. The weather was around thirty degrees, Peterson lowered his gloved hands to one of the fire heaters on the Panthers sideline–got distracted–raised his hands back up and all the finger coverings had been burned off…yet, he suffered no burns…
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@ FBFan: I second that; what a monumental accomplishment.
Congratulations, Tim; keep up the excellent work!
Good job!!! thanks for giving us this gift. You are the only one in California doing this. Our High School Sports are so happy to have you… I hope this can spread more across southern California High school sports.
Thank you Tim for all the wonderful coverage you have made for high school sports! These kids, coaches, schools and communities are blessed to have you covering them. Thank you for all your support over the years. I appreciate you.
From T. Peterson: Thanks Coach!
Congratulations Tim, what an amazing accomplishment.☺️
Congratulations to Tim Peterson. Looking forward to your next 15,000 articles 😀 enjoy this great award from the NFF pas/sgv chapter. Sincerely, John Kovac P A announcer Emhs
From T. Peterson: Thanks John. You’ll be receiving the “Golden Mic” Award soon.
While I would have preferred a guy with more award-winning experience, I’m making an exception here because we’re talking T.P. Bad humor aside, thanks for everything you do in the service of area sports reporting. With the demise of virtually all printed media, your site stands as a monument to the value of sports journalism.
Congratulations on a most excellent and superior career 👏 looking forward to the next 15,000 articles! Bravo! Sincerely, John Kovac, EMHS p a announcer
Its a known that Tim Peterson is Big Boys brother
Congrats on a well deserved and hard earned achievement!
Old Guy appreciates you and what you do!
Well deserved Honor! Congrats!
From T. Peterson: Thanks Coach.
I miss picking up the print copy of Mid Valley News at Lamppost Pizza. Congratulations sir.
From T. Peterson: Thanks! Yeah, I miss those days. Loved the hard copy.
Congrats Tim, it’s been an honor to work with you the past 15+ years with The Mid.
Thank you for everything!
From T. Peterson: Thanks! Big George is the man! Check out his Q & As with all of the new head coaches.
#8- Respect!!!!
Congrats on your award! A great person and a great reporter