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When Martin Camino left Arnegi for America (1928), he surely never imagined that a family member would ever meet the President of the United States, let alone have a conversation with him.  Nevertheless, that is exactly what happened.  His grandson, Rollins Stallworth is senior at the prestigious Stanford University where he also plays football.  On February 13th a group of students were invited to speak with the President, including Stallworth, a Basque descendant. 

Stanford, CA.  On February 13th, President Obama spent some time with students from Stanford University; something that these students will not soon forget.  The students sat around a table with the President, and were able to share their opinions and points of view with him on cyber-security among other current topics.  The President began by asking what attracted them to cyber-security (which each one has touched upon in their studies) and ended talking to them about many other topics, according to the University’s newspaper.  

One of the students was a young Basque even though his name, Rollins Stallworth, would not indicate that.  His aitatxi, his maternal grandfather, was Martin Camino from Arnegi and his maternal grandmother, amatxi, Florence Urrizaga (the first of her family to be born in the US with both parents also coming from Arnegi-Ondarrola).  Their daughter, Marguerite, also born in Buffalo, married Rollins Stallworth II who is currently the vice-principal of O’Brien Middle School and a former football coach.  The two have three children, Danielle (26), Rollins III (22) and Dominique (14) and live in Reno, NV.  

Rollins is majoring in Managerial Sciences and Engineering at Stanford, where he also plays for the Cardinal football team.  Often playing on a university team of the caliber of Stanford leads to a future in the NFL.  Stallworth’s statistics can be seen (here).  His mother, Marguerite, speaks Basque and along with his father Rollins, has worked hard to transmit her Basque heritage to her children. Stallworth is accompanied by many other Basques at Stanford, such as the Provost John Etchemendy; or one of its most famous alumni, John Arrillaga.  The Etxepare Basque Institute also had a Basque Language and Culture lecturer there for a time.

Full article can be seen here.