My earliest sports memory is walking into the living room where my father is watching a football game on the black-and-white TV.  He was a solid Philadelphia Eagles and Notre Dame football fan.  I recall sitting down and asking him which team he was rooting for – the team in black or the team in white.  Whichever team he said he was rooting for, I would say that I was rooting for the other.  I’m sure he really appreciated my rebellious nature! 

Here are some of the images and names I remember most from the mid-1960s to 1980: 

Dr. J afloat, suspended beneath a wild Afro, Michael Jack … firing that bare-handed grab on the charge, Norm Snead, Ben Hawkins … chinstrap flying,

Ben Hawkins

Timmy Brown, Pete Retzlaff, Cookie Rojas, Clay Dalrymple, Bobby Wine, walking through the tunnel to catch my first glimpse of the field at Connie Mack Stadium (Thanks, Dad!), Ballantine rings, Longine clock, the right field “spite fence”, a double distelfink doubleheader, frantic ’64 anxiety, Gene Mauch, silver wings on green helmets, horrible green wings on white helmets, Bobby Jones and Billy Cunningham, Chris Short and Jim Bunning, Doug Favell and Bernie Parent, Wilbert Montgomery breaking through the line against Dallas (’80 NFC Championship), Harold Carmichael and Tim Rossovich (renown glass-eater), Bobby Wine and Tony Taylor, Bobby Clarke and Bill Barber, Rick MacLeish … hair flowing, 1980 Superbowl fizzle, Dave Schultz, The Broad Street Bullies, Darrell Dawkins … Chocolate Thunder, Franklin Field, The Spectrum … blow-away roof, The Vet, Philadelphia Phil and Phyllis,

Philadelphia Phil & Phyllis

The Bull, The Secretary of Defense, Fathers Day ’64 with Jim Bunning, LCB Line, Ross Lonsberry, Dallas Green, Danny Ozark, Dick Vermiel, Moose Dupont and Big Bird, bench-clearing brawls, The Hound, Joe Scarpatti, Leroy Keyes, Wes Covington and Tony Gonzales, The Tugger … arms raised, 1980 World Series victory, Pete Rose … spiking the ball, Boone-to-Rose … The Catch, Joe Kuharich, Leonard Tose, Ron Jaworski, Bill Bergey, the Curt Flood debacle, Richie Allen … massive homeruns, the car, the headlight, “Coke” and “Trade me” scrawled in the infield dirt, Johnny Callison, Bob Uecker, Rick Wise … 2 homerun/no-hit game, Larry Bowa, Bake McBride, nosebleed seats for the ’76 MLB All-Star Game, By Saam, Richie Ashburn, Harry Kalas, Paul Owens, Rudy Carpenter, Steve Carlton, Kate Smith, Dornhoeffer and the Watson brothers, Eddie Van Impe and Barry Ashbee, Stanley Cups in ’74 & ’75, fog-bound games in The Aud (Buffalo), powder blue Phillies road uni’s, George Brett meet Dickie Nole and have a seat!