AFC NEWS ‘N’ NOTES

CHIEFS’ HALL SCORES OVERSEAS;

MULARKEY LATEST TO SPROUT FROM COWHER TREE

You never know where he’s going – in the NFL or overseas.

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver/return-man extraordinaire DANTE HALL, a 2003 NFL All-Star and record-setter in the return game, has had a big offseason in the British Isles and Europe.

In April, Hall was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the NFL Europe League team he played for in 2001, the Scottish Claymores.  He led NFL Europe with a 24.4-yard kickoff-return average that season and also topped the Claymores with five TD receptions.

"I have a lot of fond memories of Glasgow and still have a lot of friends there,” says Hall.  “Scotland is where it all started for me in 2001.  It’s kind of like going back home to the place where I grew up.”

This month, it was on to the Continent where this week Hall represented the NFL in Portugal at the fifth annual Laureus World Sports Awards in Estoril, near Lisbon.  

A major international sports award event held in Europe each year, the Laureus World Sports Awards draws a global TV audience of 350 million people.  This year, such celebrities and sports icons as actor MORGAN FREEMAN, Brazilian soccer star RONALDO, and two-time Olympic gold medalist hurdler EDWIN MOSES joined Hall at the festivities. 

Hall represented the NFL for his achievements last season, including returning kicks for touchdowns in an unprecedented four consecutive weeks to help the Chiefs earn their first AFC West Division title since 1997. 

Hall’s special guest?  His mother, CAROLYN -- as a Mother’s Day present.

MULARKEY LATEST BRANCH OF COWHER TREE:  New Buffalo Bills head coach MIKE MULARKEY is the fourth current NFL head coach who at one time served under BILL COWHER in Pittsburgh.  Mularkey joins Houston’s DOM CAPERS, JIM HASLETT of New Orleans, and Cincinnati’s MARVIN LEWIS as former Cowher assistants now leading coaching staffs of their own.

“It is gratifying to know that you have been a small part in these coaches’ rise to a head-coaching position,” says Cowher, who has led Pittsburgh to eight playoff berths and seven divisional titles in his 12 seasons with the club.  “Each of these coaches earned their opportunity to be a head coach, and in the process, left a measurable contribution to our program.”

SIAVII & SAPOAGA CONTINUE SAMOA’s NFL LEGACY:  Defensive tackles JUNIOR SIAVII (Kansas City, second round, Oregon) and ISAAC SOPOAGA (San Francisco, fourth round, Hawaii), both 2004 NFL draftees, are the latest NFL players to hail from American Samoa.  The 77-square mile island with 70,000 citizens is located 2,600 miles south of Hawaii.  Approximately two dozen current NFL players have American Samoa roots, which is quite impressive when you consider that there are only six high school football programs on the island.

Football’s popularity blossomed in the tiny nation during the 1960s when NFL games were first televised there.  “You have to go over to Samoa to understand how seriously people take football,” says Siavii. 

FIRST FAMILY ENCOUNTERS:  During the Super Bowl-champion New England Patriots’ trip to the White House this week to meet President GEORGE W. BUSH, Patriots head coach BILL BELICHICK revealed a connection to the Bush family from his high school years.

“When I was at Phillips Academy in Andover (Massachusetts), (future Florida Governor) JEB BUSH was in my class,” recalled Belichick.  “(Former President) GEORGE BUSH spoke at our commencement.  Growing up in Annapolis (when his father coached at the Naval Academy), I have an appreciation for government.”