Team Tampa Bay’s Take: Teaming Up to Make an Impact

By: Ernest Hooper, Director of Communications, American Cancer Society’s SW FL Chapter

Teaming Up to Make an Impact

The scenes will live on in perpetuity. Unforgettable. Indelible. Remarkable.

It’s Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Santonio Holmes, outdueling three defenders in the corner of the end zone to snare a game-winning touchdown pass in Super Bowl XLIII. It’s Trent Dilfer, the erstwhile Bucs quarterback, returning to his first professional home to help the Baltimore Ravens to victory in Super Bowl XXXV. It’s Whitney Houston, in the wake of Operation Desert Storm, uniting the nation with the most stirring National Anthem performance in Super Bowl history before the New York Giants stunned the Buffalo Bills. It’s the Raiders’ Marcus Allen, reversing field and “running with the night,” as famed NFL Films announcer John Facenda once intoned, to help the Los Angeles Raiders win Super Bowl XVIII.

It’s the glorious history of Tampa Bay’s role as Super Bowl host, and in each instance, the determination, diligence, and dedication of this community set the stage for those memorable performances. Civic leaders, elected officials, devoted staff, and an army of volunteers all produced the behind-the-scenes work that elevated Tampa Bay and created opportunities for those stars to etch their names in sports history.

Now, as the nation grapples with a once-in-100-year global pandemic, we look to this community to replicate Allen’s greatness, reverse the field against a swarm of challenges, and once again lay the groundwork for these incredible performers to shine before the world.

Tampa Bay will score in 2021, just as Allen did in that 1984 Super Bowl, Tampa Bay’s first as a host city. Back then, this community clamored for the opportunity, pleading with the NFL to give it a chance to show off its scenic vistas, historic sites, and attractive lifestyle. It longed to wrap the world in its unique brand of hospitality and prove it was indeed America’s Next Great City.

Now, its reputation as an international city solidified, the league calls on Tampa Bay. When construction delays created concerns about Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium serving as host of Super Bowl LV, league officials didn’t hesitate to reach out to Tampa Bay Sports Commission CEO Rob Higgins.

But the world wonders: Can Tampa Bay host a reimagined Super Bowl? Really? What can’t Tampa Bay host? Reimagined? This region was built on a reimagined vision. As a resident for more than 30 years, I’ve watched the community roll out the red carpet for every event imaginable, from sports championships to major conventions to international award shows.

This is what Tampa Bay does.

In other cities, the biggest gatherings can be treated as just another event. Here, it’s embraced by legions as another chance to shine for the world. No other community rallies to the cause like Tampa Bay, a place I affectionately call the biggest small town in America.

It’s that small-town care that will help the community christen another successful Super Bowl, and it’s that small-town care that has helped the American Cancer Society pivot since COVID-19 invaded our lives last March. ACS, a long-time NFL partner, welcomes the chance to partake in the game’s Forever 55 social legacy initiative. It’s one way we can thank those who helped us weather this latest storm.

ACS needed a team to help us rise above the tumultuous waves of 2020. We needed them to do more, give more and be more. Our board members, our volunteers, even our courageous survivors -- who endured an uncommon cancer journey -- didn’t blink, didn’t flinch. They rose to the challenge and helped us take on the rising tide of the pandemic, the swirling changes of the nation’s new social justice movement, and a downturn in both resources and donations brought on by economic uncertainty.

They helped us shift in-person events to virtual celebrations, connect in new ways and continue our mission to save lives, celebrate lives, and move towards a world without cancer.

In short, they lifted us up.

Now, our Forever 55 partnership with the NFL and the Tampa Bay Super Bowl LV Host Committee will connect with two of the initiatives’ six pillars -- families, and health and wellness -- and help us give lift to those most in need.

The Host Committee’s funding of our ACS/NFL CHANGE grants will help Tampa Family Health Centers and the Community Health Centers of Pinellas extend critical cancer screening measures and eliminate barriers to treatment for at-risk families. The lifesaving donation to the Tampa Hope Lodge program will help those living in Tampa Bay Counties who are impacted by cancer, but lack the resources to fight it. The vital service, which had been temporarily sidelined due to the pandemic, will restart later this year when it is medically safe to do so.

Beyond the American Cancer Society, the host committee’s initiative will touch other critical pillars: early childhood learning, food insecurity, sustainability, and systemic justice. Each effort will enhance the community. Each will serve as a heaping helping of gratitude to the people of Tampa Bay, those who so often have blended their small-town charm with big-city can-do to stage another Super Bowl.

And that gratitude, the legacy created by these initiatives, will live on in perpetuity. Unforgettable. Indelible. Remarkable. This is what Tampa Bay does.