By Cliff Peale
The Cincinnati Enquirer

About a dozen local chief executives have joined the Quarterback Club, an initiative to be unveiled Monday by the combined charitable foundations of Bengals coach Marvin Lewis and Bengals Hall of Famer Anthony Munoz.

The group hopes to recruit about 20 CEOs, each one contributing $25,000 a year, to the club. It hopes to raise $1 million and identify a signature project that will help Cincinnati children.

"I think sports tends to bring people together around an issue," said Sharon Thomas, development director of the combined group, who ran a similar effort with the Washington Redskins, where Lewis worked before coming to the Bengals.

The program will be administered by the combination of the Marvin Lewis Community Fund and the Anthony Munoz Foundation. Munoz said the program's top priority would be helping inner-city children.

Revenue for the foundations comes from speaking fees and fund-raisers by Lewis and Munoz.

The Munoz Foundation raised and distributed about $150,000 in 2002 and half a million dollars in 2003, Thomas said.

The group wants to recruit about 20 CEOs. The list already includes top executives at corporations including AK Steel, Procter & Gamble Co., Cincinnati Bell Inc., Corporex Cos. Inc., Federated Department Stores Inc. and Cincinnati Financial Corp.

E-mail cpeale@enquirer.com