NFL PLAYERS ASSOCIATION PLEDGES $1 MILLION TO MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. NATIONAL MEMORIAL

(Washington, D.C.,) – The NFL Players Association has pledged to raise and donate $1 million to the Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc. The gift brings the Memorial Foundation’s fundraising total to $107 million out of the needed $120 million, and marks the first major contribution by professional athletes in the four major professional sports. “The Players of the National Football League are thrilled to support this important project,” said Smith DeMaurice Smith, the Executive Director of the NFL Players Association. “Martin Luther King was an inspiration to me personally and to many of our players – past present and future.” “I am thankful to the NFL Players Association for joining our family of donors to help build this important Memorial honoring Dr. King,” said Harry E. Johnson, Sr., President and CEO of the Memorial Foundation. The Memorial honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will be built on the National Mall, situated adjacent to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and in a direct line between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. Congress passed Joint Resolutions in 1996 authorizing Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. to establish a Memorial honoring Dr. King to be built in Washington, D.C. The ceremonial groundbreaking took place on November 13, 2006, and the Memorial will be completed in 2011. For more information or to make a donation, please visit www.buildthedream.org or call (888) 4-THE DREAM.