FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NFL-190 2/3/05
NFL SALUTES YOUTH
FOOTBALL IN COIN TOSS CEREMONY WITH FOUR
JACKSONVILLE
PLAYERS, AGES 7-10,
AND TWO YOUTH
COACHES
JACKSONVILLE
– The NFL will salute the millions of young football players, their coaches
and families during Super Bowl XXXIX, Sunday, Feb. 6 at Alltel Stadium, it
was announced today. Four young players, ages 7-10, from Jacksonville’s Pop
Warner and Police Athletic League teams and two coaches from New Orleans and
Hyattsville, Maryland will participate in the coin toss ceremony at 6:25
p.m. ET just prior to kickoff on FOX.
The youngsters and the coaches will join an
esteemed list of previous participants that includes two former presidents
and 58 members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Their participation is
part of the NFL’s on-going support of youth football and concludes the
“Bridging Generations” pregame show, which links generations of football
fans. The children and coaches will be on the field with team captains from
the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles.
The youth football players will be :
TYLER CALLAHAN,
10, of the Normandy Cowboys;
TYLER DEEL,
9, of the North Jacksonville Cougars;
LAWRENCE MCCAULEY,
8, of the PAL East Side Jaguars; and
JACOB SANTANA,
7, Lakeshore Rebels. Joining them will be
TAMARIS JACKSON of New Orleans, a
coach in the city’s NFL Junior Player Development Program, which offers
kids, ages 12-14, instruction at each position and off-the-field life-skills
and character building guidance. Also participating is the 2004 NFL High
School Coach of the Year BILL McGREGOR
of DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Maryland. He was nominated
by BRIAN WESTBROOK of the
Philadelphia Eagles. Westbrook is one of the Eagles’ captains and will be
on the field with McGregor.
Previous coin toss participants have
included former Presidents Ronald Reagan (from Oval Office in 1985); George
H.W. Bush and Pro Football Hall of Famers TERRY
BRADSHAW, EARL CAMPBELL, FRANK
GIFFORD, GEORGE HALAS,
TOM LANDRY,
JOE MONTANA,
ALAN PAGE,
ART SHELL,
BART STARR and
GENE UPSHAW. MARIE
LOMBARDI, wife of Vince Lombardi, tossed the coin in 1980 before
Super Bowl XV, the Eagles’ first appearance in the Super Bowl.
The two-tone
commemorative flip coin is silver with 24kt gold highlights and is minted by
The Highland Mint company. The coin will feature the Super Bowl XXXIX logo
on one side and the Lombardi Trophy and competing team logos—the NFC
Champion Philadelphia Eagles and the AFC Champion New England Patriots -- on
the other side.
Last year, six
members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame all from Texas --EARL
CAMPBELL, OLLIE MATSON, DON MAYNARD, Y.A. TITTLE, MIKE SINGLETARY
and GENE UPSHAW –
participated in the coin toss in Houston.
Super Bowl XXXIX will be televised by FOX
to a potential worldwide audience of 1 billion viewers. Watched by a record
144.4 million viewers in the
U.S. last year, the Super Bowl is annually
the nation’s highest-rated TV program and the most-watched single-day
sporting event.
(See attached for honor
roll for Super Bowl coin toss participants)
SUPER BOWL COIN TOSS
PARTICIPANTS
Super Bowl
XII Red Grange
Super Bowl
XIII George Halas
Super Bowl
XIV Art Rooney
Super Bowl
XV Marie Lombardi
Super Bowl
XVI Bobby Layne
Super Bowl
XVII Elroy Hirsch
Super Bowl
XVIII Bronko Nagurski
Super Bowl
XIX President Ronald Reagan and Hugh McElhenny
Super Bowl
XX Bart Starr
Super Bowl
XXI Willie Davis
Super Bowl
XXII Don Hutson
Super Bowl
XXIII Nick Buoniconti, Bob Griese and Larry Little
Super Bowl
XXIV Mel Blount, Terry Bradshaw, Art Shell & Willie Wood
Super Bowl
XXV Pete Rozelle
Super Bowl
XXVI Chuck Noll
Super Bowl
XXVII O.J. Simpson
Super Bowl
XXVIII Joe Namath
Super Bowl XXIX Otto
Graham, Joe Greene, Ray Nitschke &
Gale Sayers
Super Bowl
XXX Super Bowl Most Valuable Players (Joe
Montana tossed coin)
Super Bowl
XXXI Mike Ditka, Tom Flores, Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, George
Seifert and Hank Stram
Super Bowl
XXXII Joe Gibbs, Eddie Robinson and Doug Williams
Super Bowl
XXXIII Raymond Berry, Roosevelt Brown, Art Donovan, Frank
Gifford, Sam Huff, Tom Landry, Gino Marchetti, Don Maynard, Lenny Moore, Jim
Parker, Andy Robustelli
Super Bowl
XXXIV Bud Grant, Lamar Hunt, Bobby Bell, Paul Krause, Willie
Lanier, Alan Page, Jan Stenerud
Super Bowl
XXXV Marcus Allen, Ottis Anderson, Tom Flores,
Bill Parcells
Super Bowl
XXXVI George H.W. Bush, Roger Staubach
Super Bowl
XXXVII Don Shula, Bob Griese, Larry Csonka, Larry Little, Jim
Langer, Nick Buoniconti, and Paul Warfield
Super Bowl
XXXVIII Earl Campbell, Ollie Matson, Don Maynard, Mike
Singletary, Y.A. Tittle, Gene Upshaw
Super Bowl
XXXIX Youth football players from
Jacksonville: Tyler
Callahan, 10; Tyler Deal, 9; LawrenceMcCauley, 8; Jacob Santana, 7; New
Orleans NFL Junior Player Development coach Tamaris Jackson, Bill McGregor
CONTACTS:
Brian McCarthy,
NFL, in
Jacksonville, o: 904-391-4262; c: 917-750-1824;
mccarthyb@nfl.com
Steve Brener /
Lara Potter, Brener Zwikel & Associates, 904-391-4041
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