Philadelphia Eagles fans are always in postseason (or at least midseason) form. It’s why they are so quick to react when their teams don’t match their intensity. It takes more than a Reggie White throwback, a Super Bowl LII tattoo, and a son named Carson to bleed green.
A real Eagles fan doesn’t just happen. Those who joined the Bird gang post-Super Bowl run have a ways to go. The passion, intensity, and craziness takes years, even generations, before it runs deep.
The 2019 NFL season isn’t even at its halfway mark and Eagles fans have been all over the headlines. Flying to the heights of peak fan level in this season are:
- Hakim Laws a.k.a. “Catching Babies”
- The Screaming Eagles Fan
- Eagles fans who Fought Mike Scott
- Philly Tattoo Guy
How do they rank among the all-time greats? Now is a good a time as any for a list of the Top ten Eagles fans of all time.
#10 Tina Fey
Tina Fey isn’t shy about her roots. She still nails the Philly accent and craves Pica’s Pizza. The Delaware County native’s iconic character Liz Lemon was an Eagles fan.
In a Revolutionary War skit that aired on Saturday Night Live, Fey played a colonist from Philadelphia who got into an argument with another from New England.
“Yeah, how youse doing. We crossed many ‘wooders’ up to the Schuylkill River to give all youse a message. Philly is mad strong. From the little babies to all our mom-moms and pop-pops, we’se ready to fight,” Fey said with her best Philly accent.
#9 Screaming Eagles Fan
If Eagles fans ever wondered what they looked like while watching their beloved Birds, here you go. The cherry-red face, bulging neck veins, and arms flailing from exasperation. It’s why Philadelphia’s fanbase is known as one of the most passionate in the NFL. The Screaming Eagles Fan looks like an Everyman Eagles fan. He was quickly identified as Eric Furda, the Dean of Admissions at the University of Pennsylvania. It doesn’t take a genius to see the fire in this fan’s eyes.
#8 Subway Pillar Guy
Jigar Desai, a.k.a. the “Pillar Guy” and the “Eagles fan knocked out by subway pole.”
Born in India, Desai moved to the United States with his parents at a young age. His path to icon status took flight before the Eagles NFC Championship game against the Vikings in 2018. In the subway, a Brian Dawkins jersey clad-Desai pounded on the subway window to hype up the fans headed to the game. When the train started leaving, Desai didn’t stop with his send-off. He ran with train continuing to cheer…only to be stopped when he ran directly into a subway pole.
Summoning the strength of B-Dawk and the adrenaline of a city, Desai popped right up. He then went to the game where the Eagles punched their ticket the Super Bowl.
#7 Aunt Mary Pat DiSabatino
“The Queen of Delco” isn’t from Delaware County or even a woman. Aunt Mary Pat DiSabatino is the alter ego of Delaware’s Wilmington’s Troy Hendrickson. Technically, it’s a character based on Hendrickson’s mother. However, Eagles fans wouldn’t have to shake to their family tree very hard to find their own Aunt Mary Pat. Or they can just go their nearest Wawa.
Aunt Mary Pat fully embodies the accent, wardrobe, and mentality of the female Eagles fan. She keeps game day holy with a lucky lighter, lucky marker, and a lucky spot.
#6 Bradley Cooper
His looks trend more toward Brady than Bergey, but this Rydal, PA, native hasn’t gone Hollywood and forgot his hometown team. He spent Sundays during his childhood watching Eagles games with his family. In 2017, he was next Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie when the Eagles defeated the New England Patriots to win their first Super Bowl. A seat next to the owner doesn’t put a person at peak fandom. Instead, his reaction to the victory did. Cooper is an award-winning actor but nothing was fake about his pure joy. And, it seems he completely ignored his supermodel girlfriend during the most important game in Eagles history.
Of course, there is also his role as bipolar Eagles fan Pat Solitano in Silver Linings Playbook.
“Growing up with Eagles in my blood, remembering the Fog Bowl, 4th-and-26, Randall Cunningham’s 99-yard punt, anchored me to the role,” said Cooper.
#5 Hakim Laws
Rescuing babies from a burning building makes you a hero. In Philadelphia, rescuing babies from a burning building while roasting an Eagles wide receiver with the case of the dropsies makes you a legend.
While Laws was in the midst of his heroics during an early Monday morning fire, two things were top of mind:
1) “No fumble” when the babies were tossed to him
2) Eagles wide receiver Nelson Agholor’s two costly drops during Sunday afternoon’s loss to the Lions
When Laws was interviewed, he described the scene and ended it with a commentary on Agholor.
“My man was throwing babies out the window. We was catching them. Unlike Agholor,” he says adding a perfect Philly atty-tude head tilt/side-eye.
#4 Shaun Young
The irony is not lost on Eagles fans that Shaun Young decided to put on a pair of shoulder pads before he attended the Ricky Watters “For-Who, For-What” game in 1995. Young, like many Eagles fans, dreamed of suiting up of the Eagles even if they never played past JV in the Philadelphia Catholic League. He reached the “official” epitome of fandom when he was inducted into the Pro Football Ultimate Fan Association’s Hall of Fame in 2009.
The longtime Eagles fan’s painted face has been seen booing the selection of Donovan McNabb on Draft Day as a member of the “The Dirty 30.” (Young since apologized to McNabb.). Today, this superfan can be spotted at Eagles games in full gear and leveraging his passion for the Birds for charitable causes.
#3 Sign Man
Before memes and Twitter, there was Sign Man. Michelangelo used the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel to create his art. Sign Man used a white canvas and black marker to express his (and the collective fanbases’) emotions at Veterans Stadium.
It wasn’t until the Eagles moved to Lincoln Financial Field that the Eagles brass got tired of his opinions. During a 2012 loss to the Cowboys, ushers told Sign Man he would be arrested if he didn’t remove his “Andy Quit, Your Team Has” sign or leave the stadium. He decided to leave. Eagles reps said his signs blocked the view of other fans.
Although Sign Man is no longer a fixture at Eagles games, Eagles fans carry on his spirit in both word and tweet.
#2 He who cast the first snowball
It’s the most overused cliche to describe Philadelphia fans. But, he (or she) who cast the first snowball set the standard for Eagles fans by pelting the sorry excuse for a Santa. The simple childhood joy of throwing a snowball was turned into the epitome of aggressive fan behavior.
But can you blame the first fan and the others who followed?
Here’s what is known about that fanbase-defining day in 1968:
- The Eagles were 2-11
- Their most recent two-game win streak put them in jeopardy of drafting O.J. Simpson (at the time a good idea)
- The “real Santa” didn’t show up. Instead, the Eagles picked a 5’6 140-lb. 19-year-old dressed as Santa from the stands to fill in.
#1 The Dutch Destroyer
The #1 Eagles fan is Lukas Kusters, also known as “The Dutch Destroyer”. He started playing football as soon as his mother let him wear pads. His dream was to be a Philadelphia Eagle. At eight-years-old, he was diagnosed with a tumor and cancer.
While he was in the hospital, Kusters and his mother spent a lot of time talking about his favorite player, Carson Wentz. A hospital staff member reached out to the Eagles which set up an eventual meeting with the dying boy and his hero. During his visit with Wentz, Kusters gave him a Dutch Destroyer bracelet which Wentz wears during games.
His extraordinary story continues to touch lives through Live Like Lukas. Eagles fans come in all ages and their team is an interwoven part of their lives. It doesn’t end there. Many, like Lucas, are buried in their Eagles jersey.
