FOR USE AS DESIRED
NFL-26              4/23/04

MARINE IRAQI VETERANS TO ATTEND NFL DRAFT

-- Seven High School Football Teams At Draft, Including Harlem Hellfighters --

Six United States Marines who have fought in the Iraq War will attend the NFL Draft at New York’s Madison Square Garden this Saturday.

They will be joined by 11 U.S. Army veterans, many of whom served during Desert Storm in the early 1990s and in Korea.

The Marines, ranging from an infantry platoon sergeant to an airframe mechanic, served in Operation Iraqi Freedom within the past year.

The military visit was arranged by the NFL and the New York USO.  Last spring, NFL Commissioner PAUL TAGLIABUE and players such as Miami’s JASON TAYLOR and ZACH THOMAS and Philadelphia’s DUCE STALEY (now with Pittsburgh) visited U.S. troops overseas.

Joining the military in attending the draft will be football teams from five area high schools, and two groups of high school players who participate in the NFL’s “Play It Smart” program, which redirects school football programs that may be on the decline while strengthening the classroom skills of the student athletes.

Included in the group of high schoolers will be the Harlem Hellfighters, who last fall became the first high school football team in modern times to represent New York City’s Harlem area.

The Hellfighters – named after an African-American World War I infantry unit that was highly decorated – will be led by their coach DUKE FERGERSON, a former Seattle Seahawks-Buffalo Bills wide receiver (1977-80) who started the program.

The high school football teams attending Saturday’s draft:

                                    * NFL Junior Player Development Program