Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 03:13, 5 February 2006

The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They currently belong to the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The team has won three NFL titles and has two Super Bowl appearances.

The Eagles, along with the Pittsburgh Steelers and the now-defunct Cincinnati Reds football team, joined the NFL as 1933 expansion teams. The team is regarded as a second incarnation of the defunct NFL team Frankford Yellow Jackets, who folded two years earlier due to financial hardships brought on by the Great Depression.

Helmet design: White wings on a green helmet.

Franchise history

In 1931, Philadelphia's representative in the National Football League, the Frankford Yellow Jackets, went bankrupt and ceased operations midway through the season. After more than a year searching for a suitable replacement, the NFL awarded its dormant Philadelphia franchise to a syndicate headed by former Yellow Jackets owners Bert Bell and Lud Wray, in exchange for an entry fee of $2,500. Drawing their inspiration for their name from the insignia of the centerpiece of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, the National Recovery Act, Bell and Wray named the new franchise the Philadelphia Eagles. (Neither the Eagles nor the NFL officially regard the two franchises as the same, citing the aforementioned period of dormancy; furthermore, almost no Yellowjacket players were on the Eagles' first roster. Some observers, however, believe the two teams should be treated as one.)

In 1940 Art Rooney, owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, sold his team to Alexis Thompson and bought a 50% stake in the Eagles. Bell/Rooney and Thompson then swapped franchise territory - Bell/Rooney's Eagles corporate organization, including most of the players, moved to Pittsburgh and Thompson's Steelers' moved to Philadelphia, leaving only the team nicknames in their original cities. (In fact, the "new" Steelers' corporate name remained "Philadelphia Football Club, Inc." until 1945) Since NFL franchises are territorial rights distinct from individual corporate entities, the NFL does not consider this a franchise move and considers the current Philadelphia Eagles as a single unbroken entity from 1933.

The Eagles struggled over the course of their first decade, enduring repeated losing seasons. In 1943, when manpower shortages stemming from World War II made it impossible to fill the roster, the team temporarily merged with the Pittsburgh Steelers to form a team known as "the Phil-Pitt Steagles." (The merger, never intended as a permanent arrangement, was dissolved at the end of the 1943 season.) By the late 1940s, head coach Greasy Neale and running back Steve Van Buren led the team to three consecutive NFL Championship Games, winning two of them in 1948 and 1949.

The Eagles won their third NFL championship in 1960 under the leadership of future Pro Football Hall of Famers Norm Van Brocklin and Chuck Bednarik. But they would not qualify for the postseason again until the late 1970s-early 1980s when head coach Dick Vermeil and quarterback Ron Jaworski led the team to four consecutive playoff appearances, including a Super Bowl XV loss to the Oakland Raiders.

Philadelphia then struggled throughout the mid-1980s. But from 1988 to 1996, they qualified for the playoffs during 6 out of those 9 seasons. Among the team's offensive stars during that period were quarterback Randall Cunningham, tight end Keith Jackson, and running back Keith Byars. But the defense is what defined the team, led by Reggie White, Jerome Brown, Clyde Simmons, Seth Joyner, Wes Hopkins, and Andre Waters.

In 1999, the Eagles hired head coach Andy Reid and drafted quarterback Donovan McNabb. Under Reid and McNabb, the team played in four consecutive conference championship games between 2001 and 2004. But the Eagles only advanced to Super Bowl XXXIX, where they were defeated by the New England Patriots.

Fan Behavior

Eagles fans' devotion to the Eagles is reflected by team ticket sales: games are invariably sold-out, and there is a 60,000-member waiting list for season tickets.

Poor judgment and alcohol have occasionally led some Eagles fans to transgress the boundaries of civilized behavior. Such behavior is familiar to many who have attended professional sporting events virtually anywhere in the world, but Eagles fans have had the misfortune to misbehave in numerous high profile moments, many on national television. As such, Eagles fans have a reputation in many quarters as being unduly rowdy, or even dangerous. Some instances of fan misconduct stand out for their sheer outlandishness, and the atmosphere at Eagles' home games bears greater similarity to the intense atmosphere at European soccer stadiums than it does the typical American sporting event; in fact, Eagles fans have been compared unfavorably to European soccer hooligans by the media .

The most (in)famous example of fan impropriety at Eagles games is the so-called "Santa Claus Incident," on December 15, 1968, at Franklin Field, in which angry fans, furious at the conclusion of yet another wasted season under head coach Joe Kuharich (including losing their first 11 games, then winning the next two, preventing the team from getting the first pick in the next year's draft, O.J. Simpson), booed and threw snowballs at a man dressed as Santa Claus during the halftime show.

Frank Olivo, a 20 year-old that had been drafted from the stands as an ad hoc replacement for the scheduled Santa, was the target of the crowd's anger. As Olivo recounts, fans threw snowballs at him after he reached the end zone, shouting that he made a poor Santa. Olivo, in turn, pointed to a culprit, instructing them that they'd have empty stockings that Christmas. This led to more snowballs. Subsequently, a legend was born.

Exaggeration is unnecessary, there being many real examples that serve to support such an argument. Recent examples include:

• A 1997 Monday Night Football game against the San Francisco 49ers in which, infuriated by a series of calls by the officials and poor play by the Eagles, fans engaged in a number of highly visible, large-scale brawls on national television. In the last quarter, one fan fired a flare gun across the stadium into empty seats in the 700 level. Fans entering home Eagles games have been subject to pat-down searches at entry by stadium security ever since.

• A contingent of Eagles fans traveled to the 1999 NFL Draft in New York for the sole purpose of jeering the Eagles selecting anyone other than Heisman Trophy winning running back Ricky Williams. Local radio hosts had recruited the boorishly behaving crew to protest the selection, which turned out to be future Pro-Bowl quarterback Donovan McNabb. McNabb stayed composed during the incident, and the thirty or so fans who booed him were subsequently derided as the "Dirty Thirty," while the radio hosts in question were widely criticized for their roles as instigators. McNabb has since become one of Philadelphia's most beloved sports icons.

• During a 1999 game against the division rival Dallas Cowboys, Cowboys wide receiver (and bete noire of Eagle fans) Michael Irvin was knocked unconscious when his head was driven into Philadelphia's hard turf-covered cement field after a catch. As Irvin lay prostrate and immobile on the turf, Eagles fans cheered the injury. Irvin was ultimately diagnosed with a broken neck, and the injury ended his career.

• During a 1989 game against the Dallas Cowboys, following a snowstorm, the city failed to clear the stadium. Fans threw snowballs, iceballs and more onto the field, pelting players, officials, coaches and one another. Future Pennsylvania Governor Edward Rendell got caught up in the fallout from that game when he admitted to a reporter that he had bet another fan $20 that the fan couldn't reach the field with a snowball. As a result, the team added security and banned beer sales for their last remaining home game of the regular season.

Acts of violence by Eagles fans against fans of visiting teams, combined with ongoing difficulties relating to public drunkenness, prompted Philadelphia municipal judge Seamus McCaffrey and the Philadelphia Police Department to establish a small, in-stadium courtroom at the Vet in 1997. Additionally, plainclothes officers, dressed in the colors of the visiting team, dispatched to sit in sections known as being dangerous to opposing fans, most such sections being located in the Vet's notorious "700 Level" at the top of the stadium. The success of the program was widely noted and has continued to the present day (Lincoln Financial Field includes a built-in prison facility and courtroom for such purposes). Eagle fans caught by such sting operations are arrested, charged and taken to the courtroom, where McCaffrey usually sits in judgment. Such efforts have made the inside of the stadium much safer for opposing fans than was previously the case.

Fight Song

Eagles fans will sing the team fight song with little to no provocation, but always sing it following an Eagles touchdown. The lyrics are as follows:

Fly, Eagles Fly, on the road to victory!

(FIGHT!!, FIGHT!!, FIGHT!!)

Fight, Eagles Fight, score a touchdown one-two-three!

(ONE!!, TWO!!, THREE!!)

Hit'em low, hit'em high, and watch our Eagles fly!

Fly, Eagles Fly, on the road to victory!

E-A-G-L-E-S, EAGLES!

The fight song was reputedly the creation of former owner Jerry Wolman's daughter, who, impressed by the "war chant" of the rival Washington Redskins, implored her father to play an Eagle equivalent during Eagles games. With the eventual sale of the team and move to Veterans Stadium, the fight song was largely forgotten, although a few die-hards could be heard singing the lyrics on special occasions. That it was ultimately brought back to such popular acclaim is testament to the vision of Jeffrey Lurie, whose regime reinstated the practice of playing the song over stadium loudspeakers (with a modern addition of projecting the lyrics on the scoreboard) after Eagle touchdowns. The song is now ubiquitous wherever Eagle fans are found. The song has been heard at Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia Flyers, and Philadelphia 76ers games, and even at the Philadelphia Live 8 concert prior to the show.

Interestingly, the Lurie revival was accompanied by a slight adjustment of the lyrics. Originally, the second line of the song was:

"Fight, Green and White, score a touchdown, one-two-three!"

With Lurie's modernization of team uniforms, however, and the new emphasis on Black and Silver, the mention of the traditional colors was omitted. Few noticed.

Broadcasters

Bill Campbell was the longtime radio voice of the Eagles, and broadcast their 1960 NFL Championship. Merrill Reese has been the radio voice of the Eagles since 1977. He is currently complemented by the color commentary of former Eagle wide receiver Mike Quick, perhaps best noted for his unique turns of phrase (e.g., "McNABB-ulous!"). Before Quick, Reese's sidekick was Stan Walters, a former Eagles offensive lineman.

Eagles games are heard in the greater Philadelphia area on 94.1 Free FM WYSP. Fairly unique among football fans, many Eagles fans so prefer Reese's radio broadcasts of the game that they mute their televisions and watch the game while listening to the WYSP radio broadcasts of the game.

Reese's January, 2005 play-by-play broadcast of the final minute of the Eagles' defeat of the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship Game, which sent the Eagles to the 2005 Super Bowl, is among the most frequently replayed sports radio broadcast segments of the past decade.

Season-by-season records

^At the end of the 2005 NFL season, the Eagles All-Time record is 477-526-25 (including playoffs).

Players of note

Current players

Pro Football Hall of Famers

• Chuck Bednarik (1967) - 1949-1962
• Bert Bell (1963) - 1933-1940
• Bob Brown (NFL) (2004) - 1964-1968
• Mike Ditka (1988) - 1967-1968
• Sonny Jurgensen (1983) - 1957-1963
• Ollie Matson (1972) 1964-1966
• Tommy McDonald (1998) - 1957-1963
• Earle "Greasy" Neale (1969) - 1941-1950
• Pete Pihos (1970) - 1947-1955
• Jim Ringo (1981) - 1964-1967
• Norm Van Brocklin (1971) - 1958-1960
• Steve Van Buren (1965) - 1944-1951
• Reggie White (2006) - 1985-1992
• Alex Wojciechowicz (1968) - 1946-1950

Retired numbers

• 15 Steve Van Buren
• 40 Tom Brookshier
• 44 Pete Retzlaff
• 60 Chuck Bednarik
• 70 Al Wistert
• 92 Reggie White
• 99 Jerome Brown

Eagles Honor Roll

In 1987, the Eagles Honor Roll was established. Each Eagle player who had by then been elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame was among the inaugural induction class.

• 60 Chuck Bednarik, C-LB, 1949-62, inducted 1987
• Bert Bell, founder-owner, 1933-40, inducted 1987
• 17 Harold Carmichael, WR, 1971-83, inducted 1987
• 56 Bill Hewitt, TE-DE, 1936-39 and 1943, inducted 1987
• 9 Sonny Jurgensen, QB, 1957-63, inducted 1987
• 31 Wilbert Montgomery, RB, 1977-84, inducted 1987
• Earle "Greasy" Neale, Head Coach, 1941-50, inducted 1987
• 35 Pete Pihos, TE-DE, 1947-55, inducted 1987
• 33 Ollie Matson, RB, 1964-66, inducted 1987
• 54 Jim Ringo, C, 1964-67, inducted 1987
• 11 Norm Van Brocklin, QB, 1958-60, inducted 1987
• 15 Steve Van Buren, RB-S, 1944-51, inducted 1987
• 53 Alex Wojciechowicz, C-DT, 1946-50, inducted 1987
• 66 Bill Bergey, LB, 1974-80, inducted 1988
• 25 Tommy McDonald, RB, 1957-63, inducted 1988
• 40 Tom Brookshier, CB, 1954-61, inducted 1989
• 44 Pete Retzlaff, TE, 1956-66, inducted 1989
• 22 Timmy Brown, RB, 1960-67, inducted 1990
• 76 Jerry Sisemore, OT, 1973-84, inducted 1991
• 75 Stan Walters, OT, 1975-83, inducted 1991
• 7 Ron Jaworski, QB, 1977-86, inducted 1992
• 28 Bill Bradley, S-P, 1969-76, inducted 1993
• Dick Vermeil, Head Coach, 1976-82, inducted 1994
• Jim Gallagher, team executive, 1949-95, inducted 1995
• 82 Mike Quick, WR, 1982-90, inducted 1995
• 99 Jerome Brown, DE, 1987-91, inducted 1996
• Otho Davis, head trainer, 1973-95, inducted 1999
• 92 Reggie White, DE, 1987-92, inducted 2005

Despite having his number 70 retired, Al Wistert has not been inducted into the Eagles Honor Roll.

Bednarik, Bell, Pihos, Van Buren, McDonald and broadcaster Bill Campbell have also been inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame.

Not to be forgotten

• 1 Tony Franklin, K
• 8 Paul McFadden, K
• 9 Jim McMahon, QB
• 12 Randall Cunningham, QB
• 20 Andre Waters, SS
• 21 Eric Allen, CB
• 21 Bobby Taylor, CB
• 22 Duce Staley, RB
• 23 Troy Vincent, CB
• 29 Harold Jackson, WR
• 32 Ricky Watters, RB
• 41 Keith Byars, RB
• 43 Roynell Young, S
• 46 Herman Edwards, CB; Izel Jenkins, CB
• 48 Wes Hopkins, S
• 51 William Thomas, LB
• 53 Bill Romanowski, LB
• 53 Hugh Douglas, DE
• 56 Byron Evans, LB
• 59 Seth Joyner, LB
• 69 Woody Peoples, G
• 76 Bob Brown OT
• 78 Carl Hairston, DT
• 80 Cris Carter, WR
• 80 Irving Fryar, WR
• 86 Fred Barnett, WR
• 87 Claude Humphrey, DE
• 88 John Spagnola, TE
• 90 Mike Golic, DT
• 90 Corey Simon, DT
• 95 John Bunting, LB
• 95 William Fuller, DE
• 96 Clyde Simmons, DE

Head coaches

• Andy Reid (1999- )
• Ray Rhodes (1995-1998)
• Rich Kotite (1991-1994)
• Buddy Ryan (1986-1990)
• Marion Campbell (1983-1985)
• Dick Vermeil (1976-1982)
• Mike McCormack (1973-1975)
• Ed Khayat (1971-1972)
• Jerry Williams (1969-1971)
• Joe Kuharich (1964-1968)
• Nick Skorich (1961-1963)
• Buck Shaw (1958-1960)
• Hugh Devore (1956-1957)
• Jim Trimble (1952-1956)
• Wayne Millner (1951)
• Alvin McMillan (1951)
• Earle "Greasy" Neale (1941-1950)
• Bert Bell (1936-1940)
• Lud Wray (1933-1935)

External links

• Philadelphia Eagles official web site
• Philadelphia Eagles news and opinion sources
• The EagleMobile website
• Sports E-Cyclopedia.com

• National Football League teams
• Philadelphia Eagles
• Philadelphia sports
• 1933 establishments