About the Foundation

The mission of the "Marc Boerigter Open Arms Foundation" is to support families and individuals who are confronted with debilitating and terminal illnesses. Our goal is to provide a caring support system for these families to deal with the diagnosis, treatment, and grieving processes. A focus is placed on attempting to provide comfort and care, from a medical, psychological, or spiritual perspective with an emphasis on maintaining the highest level of human dignity and compassion.

About Marc Boerigter

Personal: A prep standout at Hastings High School in Hastings, Nebraska ... Father, Dr. Bob Boerigter, is the Director of Athletics at Northwest Missouri State ... Full name: Marc Robert Boerigter (pronounced BO-ric-ter) ... Married, wife Petra ... The Boerigters reside in Leawood, Kansas.

Pro Career: Former Canadian Football League receiver didn’t take long to make an impact in the NFL after enjoying a superb debut campaign with the Chiefs last year ... Joined the club as a free agent on February 7th of 2002 ... Lanky wideout enters his second season with Kansas City in 2003 after leading the squad with eight TD catches a year ago ... That feat in itself was a remarkable accomplishment considering that he missed a good portion of training camp after undergoing an appedenctomy on July 28th of last year ... Expected to make an even bigger contribution in 2003 after working as a third receiver for much of 2002 ... Is also a valuable special teams performer, working on the club’s coverage units ... Came to the Chiefs vastly more polished than most first-year NFL performers after honing his skills for two seasons with the CFL’s Calgary Stampeders where he registered 111 catches for 2,023 yards with 19 TDs during the 2000-01 campaigns, helping lead the squad to a Grey Cup title in 2001 ... Physical performer whose height and leaping ability make him especially dangerous in the Red Zone ... Is the tallest target in the club’s WR corps and owns the speed to stretch the field vertically ... A true big-play threat, set a Chiefs record and tied an NFL mark when he hauled in a 99-yard TD reception from QB Trent Green vs. San Diego (12/22/02). Joined Green to form just the 10th tandem in NFL history to collaborate on a 99-yard scoring connection, making them the first duo to accomplish that feat since Green Bay QB Brett Farve did it with WR Robert Brooks vs. Chicago (9/11/95) ... Owns 16 games (two starts) of NFL experience, catching 20 passes for 420 yards (21.0 avg.) with eight TDs, including his 99-yard catch and run for a score ... Also has 12 special teams tackles ... Was a virtual touchdown machine in his first NFL season, registering eight TDs on only 20 receptions ... Became just the eighth player in Chiefs history to catch eight or more TDs in a single season and was the initial player to do it in his first season with the club ... Scored on 40.0 percent of his receptions (eight of 20), the best single-season TD-catch percentage in KC history ... That 40.0 TD-catch percentage tied for third in NFL annals with Bucky Pope (10 TDs on 25 catches with the L.A. Rams - ‘64) among players with at least 20 catches. Only Frank Liebel’s 45.5 mark (10 TDs on 22 catches with the N.Y. Giants - ‘45) and Ken Kavanaugh’s 40.6 percentage (13 TDs on 32 catches with the Chicago Bears - ‘47) ranked higher ... Typically scores his touchdowns in bunches, owning a trio of two-TD games during his brief NFL tenure ... Including the playoffs, had five two-TD contests during his time in Canada ... Has caught 27 touchdown passes in his three previous pro seasons (NFL and CFL), an impressive average of 9.0 per year ... Was initially overlooked by NFL scouts coming out of tiny Hastings College, an NAIA school in Hastings, Nebraska ... Drove to a CFL tryout in Dallas in 2000, where he was inked by Calgary ... Enjoyed a pair of productive CFL seasons, appearing in 36 regular season games ... Averaged over 50 catches and 1,000 yards per season in his two CFL campaigns, including a 1,092-yard effort as a rookie in 2000 ... Saw action in four postseason games for the club, including the 2001 Grey Cup ... Orginally entered the CFL as a free agent on May 12th of 2000.

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