Honor the Heroes of the Game, Preserve its History, Promote its Values & Celebrate Excellence EVERYWHERE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE @ProFootballHOF 01/07/16 Contact: Pete Fierle, Chief of Staff & Vice President of Communications [email protected]; 330-588-3622 Animal Planet Contact: Matthew Windsor [email protected]; 240-662-6781 PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME AND ANIMAL PLANET PARTNER TO ANNOUNCE THE FIRST-EVER “PUPPY BOWL HALL OF FAME” DURING BROADCAST OF PUPPY BOWL XII ON SUNDAY, FEB. 7 FOOTBALL’S ALL-TIME SACK KING BRUCE SMITH TO SERVE AS OFFICIAL “GOLD JACKET AMBASSADOR” FOR PUPPY BOWL HALL OF FAME Puppy Bowl Hall of Fame to Encourage Adoption of Older Shelter Animals while Honoring Legendary Puppies of Past Puppy Bowls CANTON, OH – Over the past dozen years, PUPPY BOWL has become synonymous with pet adoption; now the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Animal Planet are teaming up to spread the word that when you draft a pet, it doesn’t have to be a tiny puppy or kitten. During the broadcast of PUPPY BOWL XII on Sunday, February 7, at 3:00 PM ET, the two organizations will officially announce the formation of the Puppy Bowl Hall of Fame, which encourages the adoption of older shelter animals while honoring some of the legendary pups from Puppy Bowls past. Joining the Puppy Bowl “Rufferee” for the announcement is football’s all-time sack king, BRUCE SMITH, who is the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Gold Jacket Ambassador to the Puppy Bowl Hall of Fame. Like many other heroes of the game, Smith is a lifelong animal lover and a longtime fan of the Puppy Bowl. “I want to express how proud the Pro Football Hall of Fame and I am to team up with Animal Planet to introduce the Puppy Bowl Hall of Fame,” said Smith. “Over the past 12 years, Puppy Bowl has been responsible for countless animal adoptions. If you are considering a pet, please consider adopting from your local shelter or rescue. In addition to puppies and kittens, you’ll find that there are also fantastic older animals that would make tremendous additions to any home.” Smith, who was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009, is the National Football League’s all-time career leader with 200 career sacks. He was COMMITMENT • INTEGRITY • COURAGE • RESPECT • EXCELLENCE selected first overall in the 1985 NFL Draft by the Buffalo Bills and quickly became a dominant force that led the team to an unprecedented four straight Super Bowls. He recorded 10 or more sacks in a season an astonishing 13 times during his career that spanned from 1985-1999 with the Bills and 2000-03 with the Washington Redskins. Smith is among a select number of players to be named to two of the NFL’s All-Decade Teams (1980s and 1990s). PUPPY BOWL XII is produced for Animal Planet by Discovery Studios. Simon Morris is the co-executive producer and Josh Wilkins is the vice president of production for Discovery Studios. For Animal Planet, Melinda Toporoff is the executive producer and Pat Dempsey is the associate producer. About the Pro Football Hall of Fame Located in Canton, Ohio, the birthplace of the National Football League, the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Mission is to Honor the Heroes of the Game, Preserve its History, Promote its Values, & Celebrate Excellence EVERYWHERE. Hundreds of thousands of fans from across the globe travel to Canton annually to experience the exciting museum that chronicles America’s most popular sport. Millions more are reached through the Hall of Fame’s 100-plus special events held annually outside Canton and through the multiple nationally broadcast programs focused on the selection of the newest Class of Enshrinees and the Enshrinement Weekend. This year, the NFL’s Road to Super Bowl 50 began in Canton during the 2015 Enshrinement Weekend and will continue through the election of the Hall’s new class of enshrinees on the eve of the Super Bowl in San Francisco. Now in its third year of traveling, Gridiron Glory: The Best of the Pro Football Hall of Fame is a large-scale traveling exhibition that presents a panoramic view of pro football’s story and includes hundreds of artifacts from the Hall’s expansive collection. Gridiron Glory will be showcased at the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara, Calif., site of Super Bowl 50, from Jan. 18-April 3, 2016 and is scheduled for three-month stays at various museums and cultural institutions through 2019. Enshrinees from the Class of 2015 along with numerous other Hall of Fame members received the spectacular Hall of Fame Ring of Excellence by Kay® Jewelers during ceremonies held in NFL stadiums during 13 of the 17 weeks of the 2015 NFL regular season. The Hometown Hall of Famer™ program presented by Ford honors Hall of Fame heroes with a program and permanent plaque to honor the Hall of Famer’s hometown support. Now in its 4th year, the US Army-Pro Football Hall of Fame Award for Excellence honors 20 high school students nationally for excellence in community service, academics and athletics. Construction on HOF Village, a $476 million development project, is under way in Canton to transform the Hall of Fame’s campus. For more information about the Pro Football Hall of Fame, please visit ProFootballHOF.com; @ProFootballHOF on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. About Animal Planet Animal Planet, a multi-media business unit of Discovery Communications, is the world's only entertainment brand that immerses viewers in the full range of life in the animal kingdom with rich, deep content via multiple platforms and offers animal lovers and pet owners access to a centralized online, television and mobile community for immersive, engaging, high-quality entertainment, information and enrichment. Animal Planet consists of the Animal Planet television network, available in more than 94 million homes in the US; online assets www.animalplanet.com, the ultimate online destination for all things animal; Animal Planet L!VE, the go-to digital destination for round-the-clock, unfiltered access to the animal kingdom; and other media platforms including a robust Video-on-Demand (VOD) service, and merchandising extensions. ### COMMITMENT • INTEGRITY • COURAGE • RESPECT • EXCELLENCE .