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Chris Howell, who started as a freshman last season for Long Island University, got the call of a lifetime earlier this month.
With just a few days’ notice, the Queens native was asked if he could toss the football around for a video segment featuring Dallas Cowboys star Micah Parsons and cricketer Jasprit Bumrah, known as one of the fastest bowlers in cricket.
Bumrah, part of the Indian National Cricket Team, was in town as games for the 2024 International Cricket Council T20 World Cup were underway at Eisenhower Park, just a few miles east on Long Island.
The concept was simple: two all-star athletes teaching each other their respective sports. They needed a quarterback for one-on-one matchups.
For Howell, the decision was easy.
Not only did the young gunslinger grow up a Cowboys fan, but he also lives just minutes from where they filmed the segment, set to air across Asia and in the U.S. via ESPN and other outlets.
“There was no way I was going to say no,” Howell told GLI in a phone interview.
On Monday, June 10, the group gathered at a park in Jamaica, Queens, where it all took place around 12:30 p.m.
Howell, who was the youngest QB to start a Division I game last season at 17 years old, was focused and tried to absorb as much as he could.
“I was really trying to stay in the moment,” Howell said. “[Parsons] is someone performing at the level I aspire to, so I wanted to take full advantage of the experience.”
Howell noted that Parsons, who also visited Erasmus Hall High School in Flatbush, Brooklyn during his New York trip, exhibited impressive speed for a 245-pounder.
“It’s a different kind of speed,” Howell said.
When it came to the cricket segment, Howell, like many Americans, wasn’t very familiar with the sport.
“It looked interesting, but I didn’t fully understand it,” he admitted.
After the filming wrapped, Howell briefly chatted with the two athletes and snapped a few photos. Scroll down to see them. (Photos courtesy of Long Island University.)
