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Blue-and-Gold Hit the Gridiron for #TouchdownPacers

With the start of the NBA regular season just days away and the high school football regular season wrapping up, the Pacers organization decided to branch out in the local community with a new initiative called #TouchdownPacers.

For the event, 16 Pacers players along with Boomer, members of the Pacemates and Boom Babies, Pacers TV and radio broadcasters, and Pacers Sports & Entertainment employees split up into groups and attended four local football games on Friday night: Bishop Chatard at Arsenal Tech, Cathedral at Center Grove, Lawrence North at Pike, and Lawrence Central at Carmel. #TouchdownPacers was this year's Paint The Town event, an annual day of service or grass-roots effort with the purpose of connecting with the community and building big awareness for the upcoming Pacers season in or around October.

#TouchdownPacers proved to be a huge success at all four sites.

The first 2,000 fans in attendance received a one-of-a-kind Pacers rally towel in their school’s colors. Each game had two different rally towels – one for each team playing. Pacers players and employees participated in various activities at different sites, taking part in events like Senior Night ceremonies and the pregame coin toss, speaking to the crowd, passing out Pacers gold T-shirts and Pacers-branded mini footballs, and helping out in the concession stands.

Paul George, George Hill, Damjan Rudez, and Adonis Thomas went out to Center Grove to watch the Trojans take on Cathedral. Roy Hibbert, Shayne Whittington, Ian Mahinmi, and Chris Singleton were joined by FOX Sports Indiana broadcasters Chris Denari and Jeremiah Johnson at Carmel's game against Lawrence Central. Lavoy Allen, CJ Fair, Solomon Hill, and Rodney Stuckey were at the Bishop Chatard-Arsenal Tech game. And Chris Copeland, CJ Miles, Donald Sloan, and Arinze Onuaku watched the Pike Red Devils host the Lawrence North Wildcats.

With bright yellow hooded sweatshirts to keep them warm from the wind, the players wasted no time getting involved with the fans and teams.

Each location had slightly different activities, but the Pacers players and personalities were extremely interactive at all stops. At Pike, Copeland and Miles spent the entire second quarter in the home team's stands signing footballs and t-shirts and taking selfies with high school fans. On the other side, Sloan and Onuaku distributed Pacers swag to the Lawrence North faithful.

The Pacers players said they had a blast and it brought back memories of their school days. Miles and Sloan both hail from Texas, where high school football is almost religion. But all of the players involved said their favorite part of the night was interacting with fans.

"It's cool to come out here and interact with the fans, especially the kids," Miles said. "Because I know when we were young, (I remember) how big it was to see (professional athletes) being around in the community and being able to reach out and touch them."

Copeland, now in his second season with the Pacers, has quickly developed into a fan favorite, as was evident by the throng of students asking him for autographs or photos.

"I got a lot of love out here tonight," Copeland. "It was cool and I appreciate it, honestly, at the end of the day. And that's why we went out there (in the stands) and made sure to touch as many people as we could."

Check out some highlights of the night via #TouchdownPacers on social media below: