Challenger is a non-releasable Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. It is the national bird and symbol of the United States of America. This sea eagle has two known sub-species and forms a species pair with the White-tailed Eagle...

 in the care of the non-profit American Eagle Foundation

American Eagle Foundation

American Eagle Foundation is a United States non-profit organization dedicated to Bald Eagle rehabilitation, recovery, and breeding programs.-History:...

. He is the first Bald Eagle in history trained to free fly into major sporting events during the National Anthem

The Star-Spangled Banner

"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics come from "Defence of Fort McHenry", a poem written in 1814 by the 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet, Francis Scott Key, after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy ships...

.

Life

In a storm in 1989, Challenger was blown from his nest as an eaglet and hand raised by humans. During this time, he experienced too much human contact and was "imprinted

Imprinting (psychology)

Imprinting is the term used in psychology and ethology to describe any kind of phase-sensitive learning that is rapid and apparently independent of the consequences of behavior...

". He believes he is a human and is unable to survive in the wild. Two unsuccessful release attempts resulted in Challenger almost dying and eventually being handed over to the Federal authorities. They gave Challenger to the American Eagle Foundation for care and educational programs. Challenger is named in honor of the space shuttle crew, who were killed when it disintegrated shortly after launch.

Awareness

Challenger has been an ambassador for his species since 1993. He has raised a great level of public awareness for the habitat destruction of the Bald Eagle. Since he is so widely recognized, Challenger is noted as a large factor in the Bald Eagle being taken off the Endangered Species List.

Sports events

• MLB World Series
  World Series
  The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
  
   - 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
• NFL Pro Bowl
  Pro Bowl
  In professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League . Since the merger with the rival American Football League in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference against those...
  
   - 2002, 2003, 2004
• Fiesta Bowl
  Fiesta Bowl
  The Fiesta Bowl, now sponsored by Frito-Lay and named with their Tostitos brand, is a United States college football bowl game played annually at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Between its origination in 1971 and 2006, the game was hosted in Tempe, Arizona at Sun Devil...
  
   - 1999
• Men's Final Four
  NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship
  The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...
  
   - 2005
• BCS National Championship - 2011

Teams

• Atlanta Braves
  Atlanta Braves
  The Atlanta Braves are a professional baseball club based in Atlanta, Georgia. The Braves are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Braves have played in Turner Field since 1997....
  
  
• Auburn University
  Auburn University
  Auburn University is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest universities in the state. Auburn was chartered on February 7, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts...
  
  
• Boston College Eagles
  Boston College Eagles
  The Boston College Eagles are the athletic teams representing Boston College. They compete in NCAA Division I as members of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The men's and women's ice hockey teams compete in Hockey East. The women's crew team competes in the Eastern Association of Women's Rowing...
  
  
• Chicago Cubs
  Chicago Cubs
  The Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
  
  
• San Francisco Giants
  San Francisco Giants
  The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....
  
  
• Green Bay Packers
  Green Bay Packers
  The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
  
  
• Buffalo Bills
  Buffalo Bills
  The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
  
  
• Florida Marlins
  Florida Marlins
  The Miami Marlins are a professional baseball team based in Miami, Florida, United States. Established in 1993 as an expansion franchise called the Florida Marlins, the Marlins are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Marlins played their home games at...
  
  
• Indianapolis Colts
  Indianapolis Colts
  The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League ....
  
  
• Texas Rangers
  Texas Rangers (baseball)
  The Texas Rangers are a professional baseball team in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, based in Arlington, Texas. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League, and are the reigning A.L. Western Division and A.L. Champions. Since , the Rangers have...
  
  
• Kansas City Chiefs
  Kansas City Chiefs
  The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a...
  
  
• Minnesota Vikings
  Minnesota Vikings
  The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings joined the National Football League as an expansion team in 1960...
  
  
• New York Yankees
  New York Yankees
  The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...
  
  
• Oklahoma State University
• Detroit Lions
  Detroit Lions
  The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and...
  
  
• Tennessee Titans
  Tennessee Titans
  The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. They are members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Previously known as the Houston Oilers, the team began play in 1960 as a charter...
  
  
• University of Tennessee
  University of Tennessee
  The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
  
  
• Florida State University
  Florida State University
  The Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...
  
  
• Louisiana State University
  Louisiana State University
  Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
  
  
• Carson-Newman University
• Georgia Southern University
  Georgia Southern University
  Georgia Southern University is a national public university located on a campus in Statesboro, Georgia, USA. Founded in 1906, it is part of the University System of Georgia and is the largest center of higher education in the southern half of Georgia offering 117 academic majors in a comprehensive...
  
  

Individual events

• 1996 Paralympics
• Disney's Animal Kingdom Grand Opening
• World War II Memorial groundbreaking ceremony
• White House ceremonies
• High Point University
  High Point University
  High Point University is a private liberal arts university in High Point, North Carolina, USA, affiliated with the United Methodist Church.- Beginnings :...
  
   Graduation Ceremonies
• Ceremony delisting the Bald Eagle as an endangered species
  Endangered species
  An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
  
  
• 2007 Texas vs. Oklahoma State football game
• We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial
  We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial
  We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial was a public celebration of the then forthcoming inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States at the Lincoln Memorial and the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on January 18, 2009. By some estimates the...
  
  , January 18, 2009
• October 2, 2010, Boston College vs. Notre Dame Football Game