Meet Challenger, a bald eagle whose soaring skills are in high demand
The first big cheer at Lincoln Financial Field occurred when the Philadelphia Eagles ran onto the field. The second roar came during “The Star-Spangled Banner” — when an actual eagle swooped around the stadium.
The feathered one was a bald eagle named Challenger, and he is a big deal. The 28-year-old rescue bird is trained to free-fly to the national anthem, a feat he has performed at more than 350 public events over the past two decades.
Among them: More than 80 NFL regular season games, three NFL ProBowl All-Star games, the NCAA National College Football Championship, 11 World Series games, dozens of regular season Major League Baseball games and the Indianapolis 500.
When bald eagles were removed from the endangered species list in 2007, Challenger was there. When Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama were each inaugurated for the first times, Challenger — a firmly nonpartisan patriot — appeared at the concerts held afterward.
“We don’t pick between Democrats and Republicans,” said his trainer, Al Cecere, the president and chief executive of the American Eagle Foundation. “Challenger represents all Americans.”
Keeping up with all this demand requires an impressive entourage and a strict schedule.
Cecere and four other humans travel with the bird to care for him, coordinate with organizers and film his flights. The Tennessee-based team is on the road nearly every week except in the summer, when Challenger is molting and isn’t looking his best. Sometimes they drive, but often they fly — always on Southwest, which allows Challenger in the cabin and occasionally lets Cecere commandeer the pilot’s microphone to offer an in-flight education session on eagles.
“Challenger is an uplifting part of our game day experience,” said Anne Gordon, a senior vice president for the Philadelphia Eagles, a team that enlisted the bird for four games in 2017 — and which, she noted, took its name in 1933 from the emblem of the New Deal’s National Recovery Act. “Having Challenger at our games today not only reminds us of our team history, but also of the history of our nation. That really resonates with our fans.”
Challenger could live to age 50, and Cecere said he will work for as long as he’s healthy.
“Performing is enrichment for him,” Cecere said. “He gets to do what he was born to do — fly.”