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NFL’s Quarterback
Challenge returns
After heavy lobbying, Kauai
wins back the QB ChallengeArizona's Plummer wins Challenge
By Anthony Sommer
Star-BulletinLIHUE -- Not a single football, regulation-size or miniature, could be found in Kauai stores yesterday.
Every available pigskin was in the hands of one of the school kids who packed Vidinha Stadium, hoping for an autograph at the NFL Quarterback Challenge.
And despite announcements from NFL staff that there would be no autograph sessions, the players gladly signed every ball thrust at them.
Even the quarterbacks who showed up in street clothes to watch were mobbed and happily obliged. The kids didn't need team jerseys to pick out Warren Moon of the Kansas City Chiefs, Kordell Stewart of the Pittsburgh Steelers, or Phil Simms, who retired from the New York Giants and is now a commentator for CBS, which will broadcast the contest in July.What viewers won't completely understand is how important the event's return is to Kauai. For those at the stadium who lived through Hurricane Iniki in 1992, it was proof the island has healed.
The Quarterback Challenge, a competition with throwing and agility contests, was born on Kauai in 1989 and was an annual post-Pro Bowl event on the island until it was shifted to Orlando, Fla., in 1993 because of hurricane damage to Vidinha Stadium.
A decade ago, Ron Carvalho was a limo driver for the Westin Hotel (now the Kauai Marriott), where quarterbacks then (and now) stayed. He used to drive them to the field. Yesterday, he was back at the stadium working as a security guard.
"It's great to have it back," he said. "Look at the children," he said, pointing to the packed grandstands. "They're loving it. This is great. This is fantastic."
Of the quarterbacks, the only one who had been in Kauai during one of the original games was Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts. He was 15 years old at the time and accompanying his quarterback father, Archie Manning of the New Orleans Saints.
"I loved Kauai then and I love it now," he said.
Kauai beat out bids from Florida, Bermuda and Arizona to get the event back. League officials said the choice was heavily influenced by the NFL Quarterback Club, which lobbied hard to come back.
The NFL isn't shy about admitting the Quarterback Challenge is a made-for-TV event. Although it's a real competition, it's as staged as a Hollywood movie.
"All you're really seeing is a bunch of kids playing," Arizona Cardinals quarterback Jake Plummer said, with the charm that has won him a legion of fans in Phoenix. "You do know we're nothing but overgrown children, don't you?"The fans at home will see eight of the league's best quarterbacks running an obstacle course on a beautifully manicured, wide-open football field with Kauai's stunning mountains as a backdrop.
If they look closely, they may notice there aren't any goal posts. The TV crews decided they cluttered up the picture, and took them down.
What they won't see is each player closely surrounded by a cameraman with an assistant hauling the camera's cable; a sound man; a floor director; and above them, an aerial camera attached to a giant boom.
The fans also won't see the faces of football players from Kauai's three high schools as they take warm-up passes from Manning, Jim Harbaugh of the San Diego Chargers, Chris Chandler of the Atlanta Falcons and Brad Johnson of the Washington Redskins.
Like the credit-card ad says: Priceless. The island got a lot of mileage out of the quarterbacks in a few short days.
On Tuesday, they gave speeches at schools all over Kauai. And they were filmed participating in a variety of tourist activities around the island. The packed stadium -- and the resulting sell-out of footballs -- was largely the doing of the Kauai Economic Development Board, which organized the event. Schools were encouraged to sent their students to the competition; the organizers wanted to make sure TV viewers don't see empty stands in the background.
"We have a two-year contract," said Gary Baldwin, who is head of the Kauai Economic Development Board and Kauai's representative on the Hawaii Tourism Authority, which helped fund the event.
"I believe it's going to stay on Kauai as long as the Pro Bowl stays in Hawaii."
The overall winner of the NFL Quarterback Challenge, for the second year in a row, was Arizona Cardinals quarterback Jake Plummer, who collected $65,000 of the $125,000 in prize money. Plummer wins again
Plummer set up a charitable foundation with last year's Quarterback Challenge winnings and NFL officials said his earnings this year probably would go to the same charity.
Plummer won only one of the four events involving throwing ability and agility, but was close enough in the other three to be the overall winner.
One of the events, the toss-it-as-far-as-you-possibly-can Distance Throw, went to Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, who fired a perfect spiral 76 yards.
Anthony Sommer, Star-Bulletin
