Timmy Brown.
Tommy McDonald.
Pete Retzlaff.
Maxie Baughan.
Chuck Bednarik.
And on and on: On hand were 20 of them, some of whom had not seen each other in years. Fourteen of the players who were on that team have died, including legendary quarterback Norm Van Brocklin and popular defensive back Tom Brookshier.
Coached by the gentlemanly Buck Shaw, who is also deceased, the 1960 Eagles beat the Packers, 17-13, at Franklin Field on Dec. 26, 1960, a game that ended unforgettably with Bednarik pinning running back Jim Taylor to the ground as the clock expired. But there was no celebratory parade for that team, only a dinner held that evening at the Warwick Hotel.
And Baughan did not even attend that.
"I had flight reservations back to Alabama," said Baughan, an All-Pro rookie linebacker that season. "I had to get back because I had an offseason job selling industrial lubricants. Everybody had a job then."
From across the country, the Eagles arrived in Philadelphia Friday evening, checked into their hotel and convened for a cocktail party. On Saturday, they had brunch at the NovaCare Complex, watched practice, held an autograph session at Franklin Field and attended a dinner in their honor at Lincoln Financial Field. Yesterday, they again had brunch, donned the old jerseys and boarded the trolley with their family members.
Fans in the Wells Fargo Center parking lot shouted:
"Hey, Tommy!"
McDonald exclaimed, "Hello, Eagles fans!"
Eddie Khayat reached down through the open window in the trolley and exchanged handshakes with the fans, some of whom saluted him with cups of beers.
"Thank you," one of them said.
"Thank you," he replied.
A tear welled in his eye as the trolley arrived at the stadium.
"Everyone who has ever played says their fans were the best ever," Khayat said. "But no one is better than these fans. The old-timers always say, 'We would have played the game for free.' Well, we would have. Some say we did. But we loved it."
Retzlaff added that the "whole weekend was wonderful."
"We had a strong social bond," he said. "No one picked us to do anything that year. But we won nine straight, and eight of them we came from behind to do it. Just seeing everyone again was fun. The memories flowed."
McDonald said of the weekend, "It was absolutely amazing."
And he and the others could not have been more grateful that the Eagles honored them.
"Everything was first class," Khayat said.
