Mpls North High School football team receive Super Bowl surprise

Polars football team and coach 

The Minneapolis North High School football team and their coach Charles Adams received a ‘super’ surprise this morning.

The 2016 state championship winning team was greeted at North High School by representatives of the Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee, National Football League and Minnesota Vikings, who told the players they were selected to participate in camera run through at U.S. Bank Stadium on Friday, February 2 for the NFL’s Camera Run Thru ahead of Super Bowl LII.

The Camera Run Through is the pregame opportunity for the NFL and its broadcast partner NBC to test various camera technologies and field and stadium angles from the same cameras that will broadcast the game on February 4, 2018.  This is an opportunity for North High players to experience U.S. Bank Stadium two days before Super Bowl LII.

The NFL is sending the Minneapolis Polars Football team to Super Bowl Experience, the NFL’s interactive theme park at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The NFL is providing 300 tickets to high school football players and one guest who is interested in playing football to attend High School Day at Super Bowl Experience.

 In addition, the NFL Foundation will make a $5,000 donation to the Minneapolis North High School Football program.

But that wasn’t the only surprise this morning. Roman Oben, Vice President of Youth & High School Football at the National Football League and Super Bowl Champion, and EJ Henderson, a former linebacker and youth football manager for the Minnesota Vikings, also surprised North High Football’s Head Coach Adams with two tickets to Super Bowl LII today.

“A football coach getting the chance to go to the Super Bowl? It’s a dream come true,” said Coach Adams, after receiving the Super Bowl tickets. “I am going to cherish this day with my team for the rest of my life.”

The two Super Bowl LII tickets were provided to Coach Adams as part of the NFL’s Super Bowl Ticket Giveaway, a new initiative this season to surprise fans across the country with an invitation to attend Super Bowl LII on February 4, 2018.

A total of 500 free tickets will be distributed under the program as a way to give back and provide fans and community change-makers, like Coach Adams, with a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee coordinated with the NFL and Minnesota Vikings to select Coach Adams as a participant of Super Bowl game tickets.

In 2016, after his team won the state high school football title, Coach Adams was selected as the Minnesota Viking’s 2016 Coach of the Year. He has had tremendous impact on the young people he’s coached both on and off the field.

His 2016 team was the first Minneapolis high school football team to win the state championship in 40 years and his program has a 47-3 combined record over the past four seasons. Coach Adams has also implemented a mentoring program for his players. He also requires them to support the learning development of younger students in the district through volunteering in reading and homework tutoring programs at neighboring elementary schools.

“We are so thankful to have the support of the NFL and the Minnesota Vikings in bringing this unique experience to the student-athletes here at North High,” said Maureen Bausch, CEO of the Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee.  “The experience for this team and the opportunity to give back to Coach Adams, who is such a positive mentor and example to the young people on this team and community, is really what hosting this event in Minnesota is all about.”

For more information about the Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee, visit www.mnsuperbowl.com.

For more information about Play Football, a year-round initiative celebrating youth and high school football, visit PlayFootball.com.

—Information and photos provided by the Super Bowl Host Committee. See more photos below.