The Super Bowl is just one day away and while that, of course, is the main event, leading up to it there’s an entire week of festivities around the city for fans to enjoy before the teams hit the field.
The Super Bowl is when NFL players, past and present are usually the center of attention.
Red carpet poses and catwalks, not the first thing you think of when you are talking about Super Bowl week, but maybe it should be.
“It’s the marquee event of the Super Bowl each year, this is out 18th,” said Erika Harrison. “It’s important that we continue to do this because it helps us build camaraderie, stay together, stick together and do something positive for the community.”
Every year at the Super Bowl, the Off the Field Players’ Wives Association, also known as OTF holds a fashion show to raise money for a local charity.
“Helps us to not only keep giving back to the communities but it also helps us just giving, you know, working together bonding,” said Ericka Lassiter, NFL wife and president of OTF.
Former NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb added, “For us as husbands, we just want to be the shoulder to lean on, you know, the backbone in the whole deal while out there standing on the front line and changing the world. We can’t do anything but be happy for them.”
For Super Bowl 53, the OTF raised $80,000 for a charity called: Girls Who Code.
“They’re bridging the gap for technology and we just thought it alighted so well with what we do, giving back and we’re just building women up,” said McNabb.
Being the wife of an NFL player can be tough, frequently placing their husbands’ career in front of their personal interests, but not on Friday.
“Throughout our careers and all the guys, I’m having a conversation with them now, we are happy to be able to support them and it’s just wonderful to be able to give back,” said Rodney Harrison.
This year’s fashion show was held at the Buckhead shops and was sold out.
Some notable attendees were Jerome Bettis, Larry Fitzgerald, Donavan McNabb and NeNe Leakes from Real Housewives of Atlanta.
