Carolina Panthers center Ryan Kalil takes teammates to see ‘Star Wars’

Panthers center Ryan Kalil invited the entire Carolina offensive line and a few other teammates to a midnight showing of ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ in a theater he rented out early Friday morning.

Kalil estimated they had about 20 guys there in total. He called it a “complete nerd, man date.”

“I got really excited for the last year for this movie,” Kalil said. “And I think more guys were excited about me getting excited than actually going to see the movie.”

All the Panthers there wore a white t-shirt with a special design that’s now selling on the Internet.

With the help of friend and graphic illustrator Joey Ellis, Kalil made a portmanteau design of the Panthers’ logo with Chewbacca. Together, they’ve made “Purrbacca.”

Fans can buy the shirts for $25 at dapperinkstore.com, and all the proceeds go to tight end Greg Olsen’s charity The HEARTest Yard.

Kalil, a lifelong Star Wars fan, said he met George Lucas once. The creator of Star Wars is a Southern California alumnus like Kalil, and Lucas was the grand marshal of the 2007 Rose Bowl parade.

Kalil was a captain for the game against Michigan when he met Lucas at midfield.

“He was out there for the coin toss and we were telling him to use the force to give us heads,” Kalil said.

The coin fell to tails and Michigan won the toss.

“The Dark Side took over,” Kalil said.

This story was originally published December 18, 2015 at 5:37 PM with the headline "Carolina Panthers center Ryan Kalil takes teammates to see ‘Star Wars’."