In just two years, flag football (men’s and women’s) will make its way into the Summer Olympics for the first time. The man hired by USA Football to oversee operations will be familiar to at least Pacific Northwest football fans.
Marcel Reece, the former Washington Huskies wide receiver turned All-Pro fullback, will have a big task ahead of him to prepare for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
Reece previously worked as a senior adviser before this big promotion to the top.
After two seasons as a transfer player for the Huskies, which included a school record 98-yard touchdown catch against Arizona in 2007, Reece spent almost the entirety of his nine-year NFL career with the Oakland Raiders. He earned All-Pro second-team honors in 2023 and was a four-time Pro Bowl selection, catching over 200 passes for more than 2,000 yards along the way. His first NFL receiving touchdown came against the Seahawks in 2010 as part of a 33-3 blowout.
When the Raiders let Reece go in 2016, the Seahawks added him to the roster late in the season. He caught five passes for 73 yards, including a key 19-yard pass in the season finale against the San Francisco 49ers to help secure victory. Reece also grabbed a two-point conversion versus the Arizona Cardinals in the week prior. While Reece re-signed with Seattle in the offseason, he was released and eventually retired.
Evidently, Reece has spent a fair bit of his playing career in front office roles, including Raiders’ Senior Vice President, Chief of Staff in 2022. This new role with USA Football should be an exciting venture at a time when flag football popularity is on the rise—Washington recognized girls’ flag football as a state-sanctioned high school sport last year—and now it’s made its way onto the Summer Olympics stage.
