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Kauai lands
pro football event

Quarterback Challenge
will return after being
blown out by Iniki

By Anthony Sommer
Kauai correspondent

LIHUE -- Kauai is gearing up big time for the return of one of Hurricane Iniki's major evacuees: The NFL Quarterback Challenge.

The Quarterback Challenge pits the top dozen quarterbacks in the league against each other in a contest that involves hitting various targets by throwing footballs at them. A tape of the event will be shown on CBS in the summer.

The annual post-Pro Bowl event was moved from its home on Kauai to Orlando, Fla., following Iniki but it will be back at tiny 4,000-seat Vidinha Stadium in Lihue on Feb. 10, the Thursday following the Pro Bowl in Honolulu.

Most of NFL Films' equipment used at the Pro Bowl will be on a barge on its way to Kauai only hours after the game in Honolulu is finished. The players will arrive one or two days later and many will play in a golf tournament.

Organizers also are expecting numerous other NFL stars to fly to Kauai after appearing in the Pro Bowl.

The event is free and open to the public.

Gary Baldwin, head of the Kauai Economic Development Board, credited Hawaii Tourism Authority events chairman Mark Rolfing with wresting the event away from Orlando. He said a push by the pro players to bring the event back to Kauai also helped a lot.

Kauai will host the event for at least the next two years. If the Pro Bowl contract is renewed in Hawaii, Baldwin said, Kauai wants to keep the Quarterback Challenge, and similar events for other players probably will be introduced on the other islands.

"It's a family vacation for the players. They get a free week at a resort and a free rental car," said Pam Parker, who is organizing the event for the KEDB. "They liked coming here in the past and they wanted the event back on Kauai."

Along with the PGA Grand Slam, Kauai will now have two "signature events" that identify the island to the mainland public, Baldwin said.

Hawaii not only took the event away from Disney, it also beat out Universal Studios in Florida, Bermuda, and sites in the Caribbean and Southern California that bid on the event.

Parker said she has seen a tentative list of the quarterbacks who will compete. She said she couldn't make it public yet, but it includes all of the Pro Bowl quarterbacks and "may include" several recently-retired quarterbacks.

The Hawaii Tourism Authority will be pumping about $350,000 into the event.