Delco cops show badge of loyalty at Eagles parade
Delco’s finest, longtime Eagles fans show badge of loyalty at city parade
Call it Friday morning quarterbacking – minus the criticisms.
One day after attending the parade celebrating the Eagles first Super Bowl victory, Chief James Nolan IV and Detective Victor Heness were back at work at the Chester Police Department, and Jason McGuigan was back at his desk at the Delaware County Medical Examiner’s Office, where he serves as office administrator.
The memories they made with family and friends the day before at the parade in Philadelphia obviously were still fresh – and ever so sweet.
“It was a sense of completion. I felt like I have been watching this movie since the late ‘70’s, and I finally got to the end. Now I want to see the sequels, the offshoots. I want to watch it all,” said Nolan, 45, Friday afternoon.
“It was awesome … the ultimate experience, a high,” said Heness, 39.
“One of the best days of my life,” said McGuigan, 38.
All three men have been Eagles fans for as far back as they can remember, and all three attended the parade of champions in separate groups of likeminded loyalists. They all agree that the turnout was in the millions, regardless of any naysayers.
Eagles football is a passion Nolan and McGuigan shared with their late fathers, James Nolan III and Charles McGuigan. Heness’ mother, Violet, grew up in Philadelphia and passed on her devotion for the Birds, as well as Phillies baseball, to both Victor and his brother, Philip. Now, it’s a love the three fathers share with their families.
“We used to watch the games with my parents all the time, but my mother was more the fan,” said Heness.
“I grew up watching the Eagles with my father, grandfather and uncle,” said Nolan. His uncle, Larry Nolan, was a St. James High School bulldog and member of the school’s 1972 championship football team.
“Football was a big deal around my house,” Nolan said. James Nolan III passed in 2010 at the age of 58, and James Nolan II passed in 2005 at the age of 85. Larry Nolan is a retired U.S. Navy captain.
McGuigan, too, has deeprooted ties to the game.
“My father was an Eagles fan, which made me an Eagles fan,” said McGuigan. “He took me to games at the Vet, and the Linc. When I was in my early 20s, I started taking him to games.”
When the clock for Super Bowl LII ran out and the Eagles defeated the favored New England Patriots, 41-33, McGuigan said his dad “absolutely” was the first person who came to his mind. Charles McGuigan died in 2006 at the age of 68.
Nolan, too, thought about the members of his family who have passed on.
Heness, his wife and their three children watched the winning game at a Super Bowl LII party hosted by neighbors in Chester County. His mom and grandmother watched the game together in Delaware County.
Throughout the game, Heness thought about a good friend, Samuel, who died last year.
There’s video on Facebook capturing the winning reaction of Heness and his oldest son, 10-year-old Victor Jr. While the elder Heness jumped for joy, his son cried tears of joy. Before long, Heness Sr., too, got emotional.
“It was a lot of emotions coming to the surface … the fact that we won, that my friend wasn’t here to share this,” Heness Sr. said.
Going into the season, McGuigan said he had a good feeling about the team this year. A feeling like he’d never had before. His wife, Lisa, equated the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl as feeling like Christmas, because everyone was so happy and kind to one another.
McGuigan and his family watched the Super Bowl at a
party hosted by close friends, Anthony and Alisha DeLuca of Ridley Township. Alisha is executive assistant for the Folcroft Police Department.
“It was a bunch of grown men, blubbering,” he said.
The night of the Super Bowl, McGuigan, as president of Folcroft Borough Council, had all the full-time police officers, in addition to several part-time officers, scheduled to work to ensure borough safety, win or lose.
The day of the parade, he said the police department followed a holiday schedule, giving the full-time officers off, and parttimers volunteering to fill the roster.
“I thought it would be a nice gesture,” McGuigan said. “We had no problem getting volunteers.”
As of Wednesday, Nolan, a season ticket holder since the ‘90’s, was on the fence about attending the parade.
“The kids put me over the edge,” Nolan said, referring to his youngest son, 17-yearold Sam Nolan, and a nephew, 13-year-old Mason Nolan.
In hindsight, Nolan said Friday that he’s so glad he was there to see the massive turnout, feel the energy and bask in the glow of greatness.
“This group may be the new ’74-’75 Flyers,” he said, referring to the back-to-back championship Broad Street Bullies. “My whole life I’ve known of that team. This group could be same way for kids today.”
McGuigan was a definite for the parade after the big win, and Heness was game to go as long as his work schedule allowed it.
“I always said if the Eagles ever won, I would be at the parade,” McGuigan said.
If there was a single to describe the Eagles whole season, McGuigan said, it would be “fate.”
The word “team” best described the players, he said.
“It was more for my son than myself,” Heness Sr. said. While his wife, Sheryl, daughter, 8-year-old Isabella, and 14-month-old son Jaxon watched the parade at home, they all celebrated together later by eating pizza at their favorite restaurant, Ravanesi Pizzeria Napoletana.
Among those in Nolan’s group was Mike Amad, a longtime friend who has the two seats next to Nolan’s at Lincoln Financial Field. They arrived in Philly about 6:30 a.m.
Heness and his entourage settled into their spot at the Art Museum about 9:30 a.m. “We had a very good view,” Heness said of the pre-parade festivities, which included a replay of the entire Super Bowl game, and all the hoopla that followed.
McGuigan, his wife, and their two sons, Jason Jr., 18, and Dylan, 14, were among a group of 20 who attended the parade. Their group filled half a bus – just one of several out of Marty Magee’s in Prospect Park that morning.
Nolan, Heness and McGuigan gave a two-thumbs up to celebration overall, and especially Eagles Center Jason Kelce and his impassioned speech railing against those who wrote the Eagles off, those who thought the team and or specific individuals were not good enough to contend.
“I think it was a Philadelphia speech,” said McGuigan. “If you drew up what a Philadelphia speech would have sounded like, this would have been the speech.”
Heness’ group included a number of pre-teens and he wasn’t at all concerned by Kelce’s use of profanity. He believes the kids in the crowd focused on Kelce’s passion for the city, the game, the team and the fans.
With the Eagles considered the underdog, Heness said the season provided multiple teaching moments for him with his son. Heness Sr. is an assistant coach for the Avon Grove Wildcats, for which his son plays safety and wide receiver.
Among many teaching moments: Staying positive when your star quarterback goes down, as Eagles’ starting quarterback Carson Wentz did; and maintaining good sportsmanship even if your team loses, as Patriots quarterback Tom Brady reportedly did not do when he did not shake the hand of winning Eagles backup QB Nick Foles.
Bottom line? Heness said sharing the day with his son is something neither of them will ever forget.
“It the first Super Bowl championship,” he said the first Super Bowl title in Eagles franchise history.
Moving forward, Heness plans to use Kelce’s speech as a lesson in showing his son how to not let the opinion of others keep him down.
On a personal note, McGuigan won’t be complaining too much about Brady’s lack of sportsmanship in Super Bowl LII.
Thanks to it, McGuigan said, his wife “finally” is no longer a Brady fan.