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CELEBRATES 25th YEAR IN HAWAII WITH COMMEMORATIVE The National Football League landed in Hawaii in 1980 with the first Pro Bowl game at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu. Twenty-five years later, the pairing of the greatest stars of America’s favorite sport with one of the premier vacation destinations in the world continues. The NFL will commemorate next year the 25th anniversary of the first game in Hawaii with a special 2004 Pro Bowl logo, it was announced today. The new logo, designed by NFL’s Creative Design team in Los Angeles under the direction of NFL executive art director Brad Jansen, will be among several activities to help celebrate the anniversary. Next year’s game will mark the 54th installment of the annual NFL classic. The first Pro Bowl pitted the Conference All Stars in 1951 at Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles. Cleveland Browns quarterback Otto Graham was named the player of the game in which the American Conference nipped the National Conference, 28-27. The 2004 Pro Bowl will be the 34th installment in the AFC-NFC series, which began in 1971 following the merger that united the American Football League with the NFL. A variety of cities hosted the Pro Bowl, including Los Angeles, Dallas, Kansas City, Miami, New Orleans, Seattle and Tampa, prior to the move to Honolulu in 1980. In the inaugural game at Aloha Stadium in 1980, the NFC squad toppled the AFC, 37-27, led by two rushing touchdowns by Chuck Muncie of the New Orleans Saints. Muncie also threw a 25-yard option touchdown pass. The game featured 64 points, the third most in Pro Bowl history behind only the 2000 and 2002 games. Randy Moss earned player-f-the-game honors by setting records with nine receptions for 212 yards as the NFC beat the AFC, 51-31. In the 2002 shootout, the Raiders’ Rich Gannon passed for 137 yards and two touchdowns en route to his record-setting back-to-back Pro Bowl player of the game honors in the AFC’s 38-30 victory. # # # |