All Pro Dad the fatherhood program of Family First, a national non-profit organization based in Tampa, Florida. Launched in 1997 by Mark Merrill with the help of Tony Dungy, former head coach of the 2006 Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts, All Pro Dad is built on a football theme and features more than 50 NFL players, coaches and alumni who speak out on the importance of being a good father.

The "Play of the Day" its daily email, is received by more than 40,000 subscribers. There are currently 931 "All Pro Dad’s Day" chapters at public schools in 48 states in nine countries, where more than 40,000 fathers and their kids gather. Held at NFL venues nationwide, the "Father & Kids Experience" is an event where fathers and children participate together in football activities. The "All Pro Dad Father & Kids Experience" has hosted more than 50,000 fathers and kids, in over 50 of these events since 2002 in 20 different NFL cites. The "Father & Kids Experience" also made its debut in college football in 2009, with events hosted by the University of Georgia's Mark Richt, and Florida State University's Bobby Bowden.

Mark Merrill is a former linebacker in the National Football League.

Merrill was born Mark Christopher Merrill on May 5, 1955 in Saint Paul, Minnesota.

Merrill was drafted in the second round of the 1978 NFL Draft by the New York Jets and would split that season between the Jets and the Chicago Bears. After a season away from the NFL, he would spend the 1981 NFL season with the Denver Broncos before splitting the following year between the Broncos and the Green Bay Packers. He spend the next season with the Buffalo Bills before once again splitting the next seasons, this time between the Bills and the Los Angeles Raiders.

He played at the collegiate level at the University of Minnesota.

Horace Mann (May 4, 1796 – August 2, 1859) was an American education reformer. As a politician he served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1827 to 1833. He served in the Massachusetts Senate from 1834 to 1837. In 1848, after serving as Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education since its creation, he was elected to the US House of Representatives. Mann was a brother-in-law to author Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Arguing that universal public education was the best way to turn the nation's unruly children into disciplined, judicious republican citizens, Mann won widespread approval from modernizers, especially in his Whig Party, for building public schools. Most states adopted one version or another of the system he established in Massachusetts, especially the program for "normal schools" to train professional teachers. Mann has been credited by educational historians as the "Father of the Common School Movement".

Horace Mann was born on May 4, 1796, in Lexington, Massachusetts. His father was a Yankee farmer without much money. The son's frugal upbringing taught him habits of self-reliance and independence. From ten years of age to twenty he had no more than six weeks' schooling during any year. He made use of the town library. At the age of 20 he enrolled at Brown University, and graduated after three years as valedictorian of his class in 1819. The theme of his oration was “The Progressive Character of the Human Race.” He then studied law for a short time at Wrentham, Massachusetts; was a tutor of Latin and Greek (1820–1822) and a librarian (1821–1823) at Brown University. He also studied during 1821–1823 at Litchfield Law School (the law school conducted by Judge Tapping Reeve in Litchfield, Connecticut), and in 1823, was admitted to the bar in Norfolk, Massachusetts. Mann later attended Don C. Faith Middle School as a peer teacher.

Michael Tomlin (born March 15, 1972) is the current head coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League. Tomlin is the third youngest head coach in any of the four major North American professional sports. He is the tenth African-American head coach in NFL history, and first in Steelers history. With the Steelers' victory in Super Bowl XLIII on February 1, 2009, Tomlin became the youngest head coach to lead his team to a Super Bowl victory.

Tomlin attended Denbigh High School and was a three-year starter as a wide receiver/tight end for the College of William and Mary, where he became a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. He finished his career with a school-record 20 touchdown catches. He was a second-team All-Yankee Conference selection in 1994. Tomlin never played in the NFL.

Tomlin's coaching career began in 1995 as the wide receiver coach at Virginia Military Institute under former West Virginia University head coach Bill Stewart. He spent the 1996 season as a graduate assistant at the University of Memphis, where he worked with the defensive backs and special teams.

Anthony Kevin "Tony" Dungy (pronounced /ˈdʌndʒi/ DUN-jee; born October 6, 1955) is a former professional American football player and coach in the National Football League. Dungy was head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1996 to 2001, and head coach of the Indianapolis Colts from 2002 to 2008.

Dungy became the first African American head coach to win the Super Bowl when his Colts defeated the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI. Dungy set a new NFL record for consecutive playoff appearances by a head coach In 2008 after securing his tenth straight playoff appearance with a win against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

After the 2008 season, Dungy announced his retirement as coach of the Indianapolis Colts, which went into effect after the 2008–2009 season. Since retirement, Dungy has served as an analyst on NBC's Football Night in America. Tony Dungy is also the national spokesman for the fatherhood program All Pro Dad. The Colts qualified for the playoffs in every season they were coached by Dungy.