WASHINGTON -- Herschel Walker was a running back in pro football, but on Wednesday he played quarterback, throwing passes to kids at White House Sports and Fitness Day.

His receivers included two eighth graders at St. Francis Academy in Union City, Matthew Potter and Helena Stuhr, both 14.

"It was very fun to pass the ball around and worked on team building activities," said Helena, who lives in Hoboken. "I was very honored to be at the White House."

Helena and Matthew, who also lives in Hoboken, were among 40 St. Francis kids, all members of the school's sports teams, invited to share the spotlight with Walker, President Donald Trump, former New York Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera, and Olympian gold medal beach volleyball player Misty May-Treanor.

In all, more than 250 children, parents and coaches participated, along with Ivanka Trump, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Surgeon General Jerome Adams, according to White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters.

The St. Francis students were invited under the banner of the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey.

"We talk about alternatives to drugs a lot, especially at this grade level," executive director Angelo Valente said. "Certainly, sports is up there at the top of the list. By having the president and so much national attention put on how important sports and fitness are, it's an important message."

Valente's daughter, Marietta, a 13-year-old eighth grader, was one of the St. Francis students invited to stand next to Trump at the podium. The kids were outfitted in white T-shirts that read, "Together for a healthy and drug-free New Jersey." 

Trump turned the White House into a school field day, walking around the South Lawn as kids caught footballs from Lou Ferrigno, who played the Hulk on television, and Walker, who once played on the Trump-owned New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League, ran relay races, played soccer and golf and hit baseballs.

The president ticked off the advantages of playing sports: 40 percent higher test scores, 15 percent more likely to go to college, higher earnings of 8 percent a year.

"The skills learned out on the track field, and the court, and the diamond, and the gridiron, and the golf course, and those tennis courts are skills that will serve young Americans for the rest of their lives," he said.

"You know that sports teach young people the value of patience, and perseverance, hard work, and determination." he said. "You also know these experiences can't be replicated on a cell phone or a game console; they really have to be learned and lived on the field of practice, with lots of sweat, lots of hard work, and lots of determination."  

But fewer kids are playing team sports -- 37 percent in 2016 compared with 45 percent a decade earlier, the president said -- and Trump said he has asked the President's Council on Sports, Fitness & Nutrition to work to get more young people back on the ball field, the tennis courts or the running track.

Walker, Rivera and May-Trainor were named as co-chairs of the council.

"We must reverse these trends, and we will," Trump said.

He also called out Rivera, the former all-star closer for the Yankees.

"You threw a heavy ball," Trump told him. "He'd throw a pitch and the bat would break."

"That was a pitch from heaven," Rivera responded.

"It's called talent," the president said.