Eagles fever hits schools, stores

WEST CHESTER » Eagles fever hit students at West Chester Area School District Monday following a night of celebration of the teams’ Super Bowl victory. West Chester Superintendent James Scanlon said the highest numbers were at the high schools, which reported up to 20 percent late and absentee Monday morning.

“These numbers are preliminary, we may have more students trickling in” Scanlon said. “Like the Phillies in 2008, you don’t see an Eagles championship every day.”

“I had a lot of students texting me last night asking for a day off for this and the parade,” Scanlon said. “I told them, I’ll be tired too and expect to see them in school.”

Scanlon went on to say that some of the high absentee numbers are related to the flu, which has hit the district hard in the past few weeks. He said middle school numbers were at 11 percent and elementary school had a sickness and lateness rate of 10

percent.

Stephanie Gray, owner of Kildare’s Irish Pub, in West Chester, said the restaurant was packed during the big game. Several patrons stood, but it was not as crowded as it is during St. Paddy’s Day celebrations.

When New England went ahead late in the game, the crowd stayed excited.

“Everyone kind of knew they would pull it out,” Gray said. “They were playing so well.

“We were just waiting for it.”

Patrons gathered in the streets after the clock ticked down to zero, but soon returned to the restaurant to celebrate.

Gray said police did a “tremendous job” and Super Bowl watchers were very respectful.

Steve Kelly, president of Kelly’s Sporting Goods, said the store nearly sold out of several thousand pieces of NFC Championship garb.

He expects sales to stay steady for the next 10 days and then through Christmas and for Eagles fans to yearn for more Super Bowl shirts, hats and footballs through the pre-season.

Kelly expects to sell 5,000 to 6,000 shirts and caps, which will create a lot of foot traffic for the store at Matlack Street and Route 202.

Kelly said sales of Phillies swag after the home team won the 2008 World Series was at 25 to 30 percent of what Eagles fans crave.

“Philadelphia is a football town,” said Kelly, a longtime season ticket holder. “People are infatuated with the Eagles.”

West Goshen Police Chief Joe Gleason said the department added extra officers to the patrol, staffed the radio network later than usual and assisted West Chester police during the evening.

No one in the township was charged with a DUI, although there were a couple of noise complaints concerning residents setting off fireworks.

“Ninety-nine point nine percent were well behaved and had a good time,” Gleason said.

West Chester Police Chief Scott Bohn said that borough police were very well prepared and were assisted by neighboring municipality departments and Pennsylvania State Police.

Just two arrests were made in the borough for what Bohn said was a large crowd. One man danced on a police vehicle and a juvenile

damaged the side view mirrors of several parked cars.

Chris Smakulski, manager at restaurant Landmark-Americana in the borough, said that fans paid more attention when the Pats went ahead.

“It made it a game and more interesting,” Smakulksi said. “They became more interested in the football side.”

Eagles chants rang out several times, said Jim O’Brien, general manager, at Barnaby’s in West Chester.

“It was a lot of fun — a controlled crowd,” O’Brien said.

Nancy Gainer, West Chester University executive director of communications,

said there were no incidents on campus.

“The Division of Student Affairs held a Super Bowl watch party in Sykes Student Union Sunday night that was very well-attended by several hundred students,” Gainer said. “Free food and swag giveaways were a big hit.

“It was a quiet evening with no incidents on campus.”

The City of Philadelphia will host a parade this Thursday to celebrate the Eagles’ Super Bowl victory. The parade will tentatively start at 11 a.m. at Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, heading north to the Philadelphia Museum of Art.