Nutter, businesses rally to send teams to ‘Super Bowl’

Two hardscrabble teams that didn't have enough money to make it to the Pop Warner national football championships in Florida this weekend are going - thanks to the mayor and Philadelphia businesses rallying for the cause.

"It's a blessing, it's just a blessing," said North Philly BlackHawks head coach Derrick Williams.

When news broke of the hard work and the finanical plight of the BlackHawks and the Frankford Chargers, Mayor Nutter got on the phone. He called the Eagles, sports-apparel retailers Mitchell & Ness, clothing retailer Villa, Comcast, CBS, and the law firm Bowman Kavulich. The firms donated a total of $26,500 to cover the teams' travel and lodging.

Now, both teams will be on the field Sunday.

"These children have worked to be something and become something," said Bill Gambrel, the Chargers' cofounder and a longtime community activist, at a news conference Friday at City Hall. "If we can keep them out of trouble, and do the best we can to make sure they get a good education . . . it's more than just football. We mentor these kids to have the right frame of mind."

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, the BlackHawks dominated the Pop Warner Eastern regionals and was headed to the league's ESPN-televised Superbowl tournament at Walt Disney World in Florida but couldn't raise enough money to get there.

The Frankford Chargers found itself in the same situation. With time running out, Gambrel, 74, had prepared himself to go deep into debt to cover the shortfall and worry about the rest later.

Both teams - rooted in two of the city's roughest neighborhoods - had scraped together enough for their airfare but needed money for hotel rooms and meals for 20 players for seven nights.

"These young people, and their parents," Nutter said at the City Hall news conference, standing with coaches from the BlackHawks and Chargers' cofounder Gambrel, "both work hard during the season, both in their athletic work and their academic work."

The mayor called the citywide support for the scholar-athletes a warm example of a community coming together.

"These are good young people with bright futures," he continued. "We want to help them in anyway possible."

Then Nutter joked: "My only regret is that I didn't raise enough money to go with you."

Nutter broke the news personally to Chargers players Friday afternoon in a meeting at City Hall.

"My smiles, I done had," said Gambrel. "And I had a lot of them. Now it's their turn," he said of his team.

When the mayor told the BlackHawks Thursday that their expenses would be covered, they jumped and cheered, said coach Williams, 28.

"Now the kids get to focus on football and not money," Williams said. "They get to be the best team they can be."