Facts and information about the Philadelphia Eagles

• Former Defensive End Reggie White was an ordained minister.

• While still an active player, former Defensive Lineman Jerome Brown was killed in a car crash.

• The Frankford Yellow Jackets, Philadelphia’s original entry in the NFL, went bankrupt and folded in 1931. This opened the way for a new team and the Eagles were born in 1933.

• In 1943, due to shortages in manpower because of the needs of World War II, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles temporarily merged, forming the Phil-Pitt Steagles.

• The Eagles were the first (and so far only) team to win back-to-back NFL Championships by shutouts when they beat the Chicago Cardinals in 1948 by a score of 7-0, followed in 1949 with their 14-0 victory over the Los Angeles Rams.

• The first time Philadelpha would finish a season with a record above .500 would be 1943 when they played as part of a merger with the Pittsburgh Steelers due to World War II.

• Former Eagles owner Bert Bell also once owned the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1940s.

• Longtime Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Bill Cowher had two separate stints as a Linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles; he played with the team in 1979, and then again in 1983 and 1984.

• The NFL Champion 1960 Philadelphia Eagles team was the only team to defeat Vince Lombardi’s Packers in the playoffs.

• The Eagles played in four consecutive conference championship games from 2001-2004, advancing to the Super Bowl after winning the 2004 game only to be defeated by the Patriots.

• In 1996, the Eagles official green color was changed from Kelly Green to what is known as Midnight Green.

• When the Eagles wings first appeared on Philadelphia helmets they were silver on a green helmet. In the early 1970’s they had green wings on a white helmet. Since the mid 1970’s they have had white wings on a green helmet. For one season, 1969, they had two helmet versions they used; green wings on a white helmet and white wings on a green helmet.

• In the Philadelphia Eagles first year in the NFL, their jerseys were yellow and blue.

• While a member of the Philadelphia Eagles, Running Back Herschel Walker competed in and finished seventh in Bobsledding during the 1992 Winter Olympics.

• The first Ronald McDonald House ever came as a result of the Eagles and their one-time owner Leonard Tose.

• A transsexual former Philadelphia Eagles Tight End is a character in the book and move The World According To Garp, the character is played by John Lithgow in the movie.

• The 2006 movie Invincible, starring Mark Wahlberg, is dramatized story of Vince Papale who at the age of 30 went to a Philadelphia Eagles open tryout and made the team.

• The Super Bowl winning and former Oakland Raiders Head Coach John Madden was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1958 but due to a training camp injury, never played in a game.

• Though famous for playing and coaching with the Chicago Bears and Dallas Cowboys, Mike Ditka also played Tight End for a short time with the Philadelphia Eagles.

• The first Philadelphia Eagle to enter the Hall-of-Fame was founder and former owner Bert Bell, who was inducted in 1963. The first Eagles player to be inducted was Running Back and Safety Steve Van Buren in 1965.

• Head Coach Dick Vermeil’s first victory with the Eagles was secured with a fumble recovery by Vince Papale, a 30-year-old rookie who would later become the basis for the 2006 Mark Wahlberg movie Invincible.

• In their history, the Philadelphia Eagles have two former Head Coaches with perfect win-loss records; Bo McMillin went 2-0 in 1958 and Fred Bruney went 1-0 in 1985.

• The NFC Championship Game loss to eventual Super Bowl winners the Tampa Bay Buccaneers following the 2002 season was the final game played in Philadelphia’s Veteran’s Stadium.

• Star Defensive Lineman Reggie White got his start in professional football with the Memphis Showboats of the USFL.

• Wide Receiver and Special Teams player Vince Papale made the Eagles as a walk-on. Papale played no collegiate football, but had tried out for and made the defunct Philadelphia Bell of the World Football League while working as a bartender in Philadelphia. The 2006 Mark Wahlberg movie, Invincible, would be based on Vince Papale.

• Former Eagles Wide Receiver Vince Papale, the subject of the 2006 Mark Wahlberg movie Invincible, was the oldest rookie ever in the NFL without college football experience (not counting Kickers).