NFL Referees to Blow the Whistle on Cancer this Weekend

Second Year for Football Officials to Support The V Foundation for Cancer Research

The National Football League Referees Association (NFLRA) has designated this weekend (December 14) as the 2003 NFL Officials Blow the Whistle on Cancer Campaign.

All 120 NFL game officials will donate a portion of their salaries from the weekends games to The V Foundation for Cancer Research to help fund essential cancer research. Blow the Whistle on Cancer is an on-going fundraising initiative to raise funding and awareness for cancer research sponsored by The V Foundation in partnership with the National Association of Sports Officials (NASO). Nationwide, throughout the year, sports officials from all sports, at every competition level, donate all or a part of their game stipend to The V Foundation.

This will be the second annual Blow the Whistle campaign participation by the NFL game officials. Last year the on-field officials were joined by their colleagues in the booth, replay officials and scouts, as well as NFL Officiating Department front-office staff members, retired officials and Arena Football League officials for a combined effort. The NFL matched donations from their employees and all together, the campaign raised funding for one entire cancer research grant, which was awarded this summer by The V Foundation to a researcher at The

Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Maryland.

"Cancer will strike one of every two men and one of every three women in the United States in our lifetime," said NFL Director of Officiating Mike Pereira, who spearheads the campaign. "It has, or will, unfortunately hit close to home for every member of our officiating family. This is our way to help The V Foundation fund the essential research that will create survivors and eventually erase many types of this disease," Periera concluded.

The first-ever Blow the Whistle on Cancer grant was awarded to Johns Hopkins’ Ben Ho Park, M.D., PhD to further his work in breast cancer research. The grant was officially funded by the NFL Referees Association in honor of their wives and mothers. This year the group hopes to reach their goal to fund another research grant, this time in the area of prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men, and an estimated 220,900 new cases occurred this year. Prostate cancer incidence rates are significantly higher in African American men than in white men.

"The NFL Referees Association’s commitment to this program is fantastic," said V Foundation CEO Nick Valvano. "We are extremely grateful that they have chosen to add their voices, visibility and resources to participate for a second consecutive year. We extend our most sincere thanks to Mike Pereira, the membership, both active and retired of the NFL Referees Association, as well as Commissioner (Paul) Tagliabue and the entire NFL family," Valvano concluded.

Additional Background

Since its 10/02 announcement, the Blow the Whistle on Cancer campaign has raised more than $75,000.

The V Foundation for Cancer Research was started in 1993 by ESPN and former basketball coach and broadcaster Jim Valvano. The Foundation’s mission is to raise awareness and funding for essential cancer research to locate the causes and develop the cures for the over 100 diseases that are cancer. Since 1993, The V Foundation has raised more than $32 million and funded more than 190 research grants nationwide. The Foundation operates efficiently 85 cents of every dollar raised designated for research. For additional information on The V Foundation for Cancer Research, visit their website at http://www.jimmyv.org or call 1-800-4JimmyV.