PEARL HARBOR — With an autographed football tucked under one arm and an autographed helmet in the other, Brandon Jones was all smiles.

A die-hard San Diego Chargers fan, the 10-year-old fifth-grader was aboard the USS Chosin yesterday to meet his sports heroes firsthand. Fullback Lorenzo Neal, wide receiver Kassim Osgood and linebacker Carlos Polk joined the men and women aboard the USS Chosin CG-65, a guided missile cruiser, to watch the Super Bowl game on the mess decks.

In between mouthfuls of food provided by the U.S. Navy, Neal was happy to accommodate Brandon's request for an autograph.

"The football is for my friend and the helmet and T-shirt are for me," Brandon said. "I've never gotten to meet an NFL football player before."

Once Brandon, who attends Pearl Harbor Kai Elementary, and other children of the ship's crew broke the tension between sailors and players on the mess decks, a steady stream of people came up to the three players asking for autographs.

The session was part of the Pro Bowl's annual pre-game events and festivities, said Artist Twyman, St. Louis Rams spokesman on duty for the Pro Bowl, which will be played at 11:30 a.m. Sunday at Aloha Stadium.

"The guys are always excited to come," said Jason Jenkins, San Francisco 49ers spokesman. "They like to experience the camaraderie on the ship and to share with the community."

The professional football players go to the community to watch the Super Bowl, the king of professional football games. This is the fourth year that Pro Bowl players have done this, Twyman said.

"A lot of sailors have never met a professional football player," Twyman said. "And a lot of players never met sailors before."

The football players were taken on a tour of the weaponry, sonar room, the bridge and the helicopter hangar of the Chosin, which returned to Honolulu for maintenance in September after serving duty in the Gulf.

Navy personnel spouted off statistics like some people do the names of their ancestors: The ship is about 600 feet long, displaces 9,600 tons and has a crew of about 400. The ship, commissioned in 1991, is one of 27 ships in the Ticonderoga class of guided missile cruisers.

"It's amazing when you see these young men and women who protect our country," Neal, the fullback, said. "It's awesome to see the capabilities of our country and the things this ship can do.

"We get paid a king's ransom to play a game, but these guys stand for something. They're the bigger heroes. This is life; it's way more important than what I do."

Linebacker Polk, who had never been aboard a military ship before, was intrigued with the 5-inch gun on the front of the ship that can launch a 70-pound projectile 13 miles every three seconds. What really amazed him, he said, was how well the ship ran and how each member of the crew had more than one job to do.

Chaencer Burton, U.S. Navy Operations Specialist 2nd class, who led the tour through the combat information center, said the professional football players were "some real good guys."

"They showed us that they respected me and my crew by coming here and spending their time with us. They showed us that they're normal guys like us."

Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com.