Super Bowl LVI Coin Toss to honor 50 years of Title IX and Inclusion Across Sports

(Billie Jean King, Image credit: Facebook)

Equality Champion, Sports Icon, the first female athlete to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom and Long Beach, California, native Billie Jean King will be joined by the team captains of the California School for the Deaf-Riverside Cubs, members of the High School Girls Flag League Of Champions and girls youth tackle football players from the Inglewood Chargers and the Watts Rams for this year’s coin toss. These collective trailblazers in sport have been selected to be the Legendary Coin Toss Captains Super Bowl LVI today, February 13 at SoFi Stadium.

These local California Honorary Captains are utilizing their passion for sport to encourage a crucial conversation – continue to ensure equitable opportunities and inclusion are present to all athletes across all sports. Title IX was enacted in 1972, as part of the Education Amendments which, for the first time, provided equal funding for men and women at high schools, colleges and universities which received federal funding.

Our own @BillieJeanKing has been selected as one of the Legendary Coin Toss Captains for Sunday's Super Bowl 56! #TitleIX

“It's an honor to stand with these outstanding student athletes & celebrate the 50th anniversary of Title IX on one of the world’s biggest stages,” she said. pic.twitter.com/4Jo78PdRvk
— Women's Sports Foundation (@WomensSportsFdn) February 11, 2022

“It is an honor to stand with these outstanding student athletes and celebrate the 50th anniversary of Title IX on one of the world’s biggest stages,” said Bille Jean King. “It’s hard to understand inclusion until you have been excluded, and I am proud to be part of this year’s Super Bowl Coin Toss and the NFL’s commitment to bring us together and make us stronger.”

Before the Honorary Captains step onto the field, King will be narrating a special tribute to the 50th anniversary of Title IX and the impact made on the landscape of education and sport. The hard work still being done to ensure access and inclusion for all will be celebrated, as will the opportunity to highlight how the power of football has united these communities together through the pure love of the game.

Four players from @csdriverside will attend #SuperBowlLVI at SoFi Stadium. They will represent their team and be honorary captains for the coin toss, standing alongside the @RamsNFL and @Bengals captains in recognition of their historic season.

Read more: https://t.co/tdrLJDcH7c
— CA Department of Education (@CADeptEd) February 12, 2022

Today, young women from high schools all over Southern California play in the Flag Football League of Champions, while girls on the Inglewood Chargers and Watts Rams suit up to play in their youth tackle leagues, including our high school honorary captains Nadirah Mayrena (Rise Kohyang High School), Elisheva Ferszt (Yula High School), Kaylin Harris (Lawndale High School), Tamaya Hemphill (Inglewood High School) and our youth football honorary captains Andrea Castillo (Watts Rams) and Giselle Lopez (Inglewood Chargers).

The team captains of the California School for the Deaf Riverside Cubs, Trevin Enrique Adams, Christian Anakin Jimenez, Jory Valencia and Enos Louis Zornoza, will also join King and the girl’s youth and high school football players for the special pregame moment. After going 12-0, the Cubs earned a berth in the State Championship game for the first time in their 68-year history as a school. This grit showcased to other football players and people across that country that the deaf community defies stereotypes, that they can do anything with hard work and dedication.

Billie Jean King is a trailblazer who set in motion transcendent changes that led to the betterment of sports and society,” said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. “Her inspiring drive for gender equality and equal access to opportunity has benefited generations, and her legacy continues through the football players that will surround her on Sunday, proving that football is truly for everyone.”