Super fan scores Eagles tickets, thanks to his pals
He talks about the team every day, so they arranged for his 1st visit to a game.
The Philadelphia Eagles can count Northampton Area High School Senior John Fox among their most ardent fans, but the 18-year-old has his own sizable fan club.
A group of students, most of them seniors who climbed through grade levels together, surprised Fox with a birthday gift on Tuesday: two tickets for the Dec. 2 Eagles game, complete with a special pass to watch the athletes warm-up on the sidelines. Incredibly, this will be the Moore Township teen’s first live game.
While in hindsight, it seems like the obviously perfect 18-year birthday gift for Fox, it was his buddy Phil Looz, 18, who came up with the idea. Looz texted the group and suggested the tickets. No one needed convincing.
“I think it was always kind of on our minds — that we need to get this guy to a game,” Looz said of such a gift. “He talks about the Eagles, literally, every day.”
So the group pitched in to purchase two tickets for $235. The mother of student Max Martinez, 17, contacted the team and was able to score the special sideline pass for Fox.
On Fox’s birthday during K-Block, a period akin to study hall at the school, the students gathered in English teacher Jessica Pretopapa’s room. They created a large homemade birthday sign for Fox and found a way to get him to come down to the classroom during the free period. Fox said he knew something was up.
When the birthday boy entered the room, the group launched into song and showed Fox the electronic tickets. It was an emotional moment, students say.
Sitting in a high school conference room Thursday with his friends, Fox was clad in the jersey of his favorite player, Carson Wentz, with an Eagles lanyard draped around his neck. He speaks matter-of-factly, but with an almost-vulnerable sincerity.
“I’m blessed to have them,” said Fox of his friends.
His mother, Sherriann Fox, has to agree.
When Fox was 5 years old, she said, he was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, obsessive compulsive disorder and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. She recalled how difficult it was for her to make peace with the diagnosis, knowing that it could make Fox’s childhood harder than those of most children.
“I cried for awhile,” she said. “I was so scared for him.”
But her son continued to amaze her, demonstrating his intellect and kindness. She’s been overjoyed to learn of the layers of friends who have come to rally around him over the years.
Issac Tucker, 18, may be the one in the group who goes back the farthest with Fox; the two attended George Wolf Elementary School. Tucker sits by Fox at lunch and said he’s not been shy about standing up to bullies when he’s heard nasty remarks.
“He just brings joy into your life,” Tucker said of Fox. “I mean, he’s always making me smile.”
And that’s even despite Tucker’s New York Giants’ fandom, which has helped form a playful rivalry between the pair.
Kayla Best, the only junior in the group, said she met Fox only this year. The two of them are in Spanish together and she quickly discovered something that anyone who knows Fox comes to understand: once he knows your team, he never forgets. And he’ll make sure you’re up to date on the pertinent stats as well.
That was especially unfortunate for Best — a Cowboys fan.
“I’m a Cowboys fan and he found out about that the first day and he never forgot,” she said. “He comes in every week with the stats about how they did – and who they lost to. But you really can’t not love him.”
When Fox’s mother learned about her son’s classmates’ generosity, she said she was shocked.
“I think my heart stopped,” she said, her voice wavering. “I was so happy. He is beyond excited.”
The Eagles will be playing the Houston Texans during the game Fox will attend — a detail he knew immediately when he saw the date. Fox likes the Eagles’ chances.
He didn’t pause for a moment when prodded to make a prediction.
“Final score: 23-16, Eagles.”
swojcik@mcall.com Twitter @Sarah_M_Wojcik 610-778-2283