Gallagher remembered as storyteller, ‘great guy’
PLYMOUTH » They came to mourn Jim Gallagher, the popular Eagles executive who died late last week at age 88.
Instead they reminisced, they shared, they smiled and they laughed — all qualities you associate with the late father figure.
Gallagher’s presence was felt Wednesday by a crowd that was part of his story. The ceremony at Epiphany of Our Lord Church included colleagues, friends and family ranging from Dick Vermeil, Bill Bergey, Harold Carmichael and Vince Papale to Jim Murray and Mike “Doc” Dougherty. From Gallagher’s wife of 59 years, Betty, to sons Jim Jr., Brendan and Keith, daughters Lizanne, Meg and Rosemary to 16 grandchildren.
“He was just one of us, he really was,” Bergey said. “He was one of the guys. He was an Eagle through and through all the way to the end.”
In 46 years with the Eagles, Gallagher worked for 12 owners and 17 head coaches. One of the owners was the late Leonard Tose. One of the coaches was the late Mike McCormack.
Author and longtime NFL writer Gordon Forbes broke the story that McCormack would be the new head coach of the Eagles in 1973.
Forbes, now 83, said he recommended McCormack to Tose, who also met with Howard Schnellenberger. The Philadelphia Inquirer attached a massive headline to a story about the expected hiring of McCormack.
The morning the piece ran, Forbes was at home having breakfast when Gallagher telephoned with details about the news conference introducing the new coach.
“When he said, ‘it’s Howard Schnellenberger,’ I nearly fell on the floor I felt so sick,” Forbes said, now brimming with laughter. “Jim was a great man and a great football man.”
Football media relations people don’t use the phone much anymore, with email and texts the preferred method of communication. The personal touch that made Gallagher so beloved is long gone.
His rolodex, with names and phone numbers of contacts, was legend with scores of entries. Flipping through it was like taking inventory. Gallagher would be sure to touch base with people he hadn’t spoken to for a while because they were as important as those he spoke with regularly. It made such an impression on some of his friends, including Mike and Marge Dougherty of Ridley, they adopted the same practice. “He treated everybody like they were somebody, big or small,” said Mike “Doc” Dougherty, who worked as Eagles video director for 37 years. “He was Mr. Eagle to me … and it’s not even close.”
“He really knew how to treat people,” Marge Dougherty said.
Gallagher was born on July 19, 1929, in northeast Philadelphia. He was a graduate of Northeast Catholic High School and served in the U.S. Army in Korea. He was inducted into the Eagles Hall of Fame in 1995.
Throughout Gallagher’s tour with the Eagles, he would collect memorabilia ... and promptly give it away. He gave in so many ways.
“Back when I played the players weren’t making much money,” Bergey said. “And he really kind of introduced the players to the corporate world. He’d get me speaking engagements. It really helped out. Usually when the football season was over we’d have to get another job. He was always there for the players. He was just a good guy, never said a bad word about anybody. He was just the best of the best.”
Gallagher was a walking encyclopedia of Eagles history. One question would turn into a story, then a chapter and finally another question: Why don’t you write a book? Well, Gallagher’s life was an open book.
“What a wonderful guy,” Bergey said. “If I could sum him up, just a great guy. Probably in the top 10 of all the people I’ve ever known in professional football. He was just one of the best of the best.”
Dougherty remembered the flight home from a road loss to the New England Patriots. It wasn’t a game the Eagles were proud of and Gallagher was walking down the aisle with “a cup of tea.
“He looked around and said ‘It’s colder here than it is in the winter,’” Dougherty said with a smile. “And you knew what he meant.”
With Jim Gallagher, you always knew. He will be missed.