San Diego, CA – In a touching on-field ceremony reminiscent of the Tim Brown 1,000th-catch celebration, the San Diego Chargers interrupted play in the fourth quarter of their recent game against the Cincinnati Bengals to commemorate yet another inspiring NFL career milestone: the third career sack for reserve defensive end Adrian Dingle (left).

The historic sack, and subsequent 50-minute ceremony, occurred with 1:43 left in the Chargers' 49-7 blowout victory, when Jon Kitna, who had just completed a first down pass to Chad Johnson, was readying to unleash a useless hail Mary pass. The pocket slowly collapsed under the lumbering, half-hearted, three-man Charger rush, and Dingle, who had entered the game when the score was 42-0, tripped and fell on top of Kitna along with fellow reserve defensive linemen Otis Leverette and Dequincy Scott.

It was at that point that the referees suddenly halted play to commemorate the occasion.

As Queen's "We Are the Champions" blared from the stadium PA system, and "Number Three, for A.D.!!" began flashing on the Jumbotron screen, members of Dingle's family -- including his grandmother, 87-year-old Etta May Pinckney, who had never seen her grandson play live -- were carried onto the field by golf cart, and, along with teammates and former Chargers, surrounded the 22-year-old defensive end and hoisted him onto their shoulders.

"Man, that was beautiful, just beautiful," said former Charger defensive end Leslie O'Neal, who was flown in for the impending celebration. "To see a young kid achieve his dreams on regional television like that was just incredible. Made me think of my own third career sack, which I also got in garbage time, during a blowout, in the prevent defense, against the third-string offensive line."

"What an accomplishment!" O'Neal added.

While the confused Bengals milled about nearby, not sure whether to huddle up or not, Dingle took off his helmet to acknowledge the roaring QUALCOMM Stadium crowd -- whose anticipation of sack #3 had been building ever since Dingle got #2, a sack of Houston quarterback David Carr that took place in the waning seconds of the Chargers 37-6 victory over the Texans back in Week Four.

"All the hard work, all the sacrifice, all the hours of blood, sweat and tears in the weight room -- it's all worth it now," Dingle, a four-year pro out of Clemson, told the still-roaring crowd during a speech made from an impromptu podium erected within a few feet of the Bengals' huddle.

"Mom, Dad, Grandma -- sack number three is for you guys. We did it!"

He then embraced his grandmother, Pinckney, whom the Spanos family [owners of the Chargers] had flown in from Holly Hill, SC on the team's private jet.

After presenting Dingle with a commemorative plaque, a Movado wristwatch, a framed photograph of the historic sack, and a framed photograph of him receiving the framed photograph of the historic sack, Chargers' Chairman Alex Spanos asked all in attendance to turn their attention once again to the Jumbotron, where the Chargers had prepared a rousing 10-minute highlight video of Dingle's first two career sacks, each shown over and over at multiple angles and speeds, with and without sound effects, while LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out" played.

"Number Two was definitely my favorite Dingle sack,"said O'Neal, watching alongside fellow Chargers' all-time greats, Gary "Big Hands" Johnson and Wes Chandler. "In super slow-mo from the helmet cam with the explosion sound effects...looked awesome."

After the video, Dingle, at the prodding of his exultant teammates, then proceeded on a 30-minute victory lap of the entire stadium, high-fiving fans, hugging cheerleaders, and signing autographs for anyone who asked.

"He signed a hat for me," said star-struck longtime Chargers' season ticket holder, Dan Fromm, 32. "Even though this thing will be worth at least three or four bucks on Ebay, I'm going to hand it down to my kids, and their kids, so the memory of Dingle Sack #3 will remain in the Fromm family for generations to come."

"'Adrian Dingle, Sack #3, 12/01/02,'"added Fromm, reading from the underside of his Chargers 1995 Super Bowl cap. "I'll never wash this thing again, that's for sure."

While Chargers fans everywhere rejoiced with their third-string hero in his time of glory, Bengals players were not convinced that the stoppage in play was absolutely necessary.

"We just wanted to chuck the hail Mary and get our eleven-game-losing asses outta there," said wide receiver Chad Johnson, who had 5 catches for 87 yards on the day, including the lone Bengal score. "This season's been long enough without holding an hour-long ceremony for some dude who'll probably be playing in the Arena League next year."

"And I really don't think they needed to have David Blaine (above, left) perform," Johnson added. "Totally unnecessary, if you ask me."

As of press time, Dingle still remained 102.5 sacks behind O'Neal on the Chargers' all-time list.