NFL Films’ gave a screening preview of “Super Bowl 50: Before They Were Pros” today at the Super Bowl 50 Media Center in San Francisco, California.
The hour-long special showcases the impact of high school football across America. It featured current and former NFL players who made it to the pinnacle of their sport, as they go back to the communities that helped shape them into the men that they turned into today.
The film was inspired by this year’s Super Bowl High School Honor program, started this season to acknowledge schools and communities that have directly influenced Super Bowl history and impacted the game for the better.
According to the SB Honor Roll website, high schools across the country, and around the globe, will be given a Wilson Golden Football for every player or head coach who graduated from the school and was on an active Super Bowl roster.
More than 2,000 high schools and roughly 3,000 players and coaches will be recognized this season. Players and coaches will have the chance to deliver the commemorative footballs personally.
The NFL Foundation has donated $1 million in support of the initiative, and honored schools will receive a new character education curriculum and also have the opportunity to apply for grants for their high school football programs for up to $5000.
More than 600 players have returned to their high schools to deliver their honorary golden footballs, with 129 of those being Pro Football Hall of Famers.
Of those 600 players, the “Before They Were Pros” special featured Troy Brown, Bill Cowher, Boomer Esiason, Larry Fitzgerald, Torry Holts, Michael Irvin, Jevon Kearse, Jim Kelly, Eli and Peyton Manning, Dan Marino, and Deion Sanders, just to name a few.
Schools in the United States, American Samoa, Austria, Australia, Canada, Cyprus, Germany, Mexico, and Norway were the eight countries and one U.S. territory that represented the program.
Super Bowl 50: Before They Were Pros will kickoff CBS’s pregame coverage of Super Bowl 50, airing February 7 at 11 a.m. (EST).
More information on the Super Bowl High School Honor Roll Program can be found here.
