What better way to start the new year than with a discussion, debate if you will, over the most memorable events in Philadelphia sports history?
As I began to put this list together, I wondered aloud that I hoped I didn’t forget anything. My wife, in her innocence to the subject, responded, “If you forgot it, then it wasn’t that memorable.’’
Good point.
So, with that in mind to start 2025 off right here are the 25 most memorable moments in Philadelphia sports.
Philly Special
Super Bowl LII – Eagles 41, Patriots 33
The wait finally ended.
After so many close calls — two Super Bowl losses, four NFC Championship Game losses — the Eagles were Super Bowl Champions.
And it happened in miraculous fashion. And against Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
When MVP candidate Carson Wentz went down for the season with a knee injury it put backup Nick Foles in charge. Foles had bounced from the Eagles to the Rams to the Chiefs and now back to the Eagles.
His performance in SB LII is arguably the greatest in the game’s existence. Foles threw for 373 yards and three touchdowns and called and engineered “Philly Special’’ in which he caught a touchdown pass on 4th-and-goal from the 1-yard line.
1985 NCAA Championship
David Beats Goliath – Villanova 66, Georgetown 64
It was going to take a perfect effort in every phase of the game for Villanova to beat Georgetown.
And that’s exactly what happened.
The Hoyas were 35-2 and had five future NBA players on their roster. They were heavy favorites from the start of the tournament and in the final.
Villanova entered the tournament 16-10 and its first three wins in the tournament were by a combined nine points. The Wildcats didn’t have a chance.
Then they shot 22-for-28 from the field, nine-for-10 in the second half, worked every possession with precision, and the greatest upset in NCAA history was in the books.
1980 World Series
Phillies are World Champs – Phillies beat Royals in 6 Games
The team that collapsed in the ‘60s, that couldn’t beat the Reds or the Dodgers in the ‘70s made 1980 its year.
Winning the NL East had become commonplace, and they did it again in ’80 behind Cy Young Award winner Steve Carlton.
The Phillies then survived a grueling 5-game NLCS against Houston, in which four of the five games went extra innings.
It was the Royals in the World Series and this time the Phils would not be denied. Series MVP Mike Schmidt hit .371 with 2 HRs and 7 RBI. When Tug McGraw struck out Willie Wilson with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth of Game 6, the Phillies had their first title.
100
Wilt Chamberlain puts up triple digits against the Knicks
You probably know 10,000 people, or so, who told you they were at the game on March 2, 1962, in Hershey, Pa. when Wilt scored 100 points in a 169-147 win over New York. In actuality, the attendance that night was 4,124.
Chamberlain, who had scored 78 points in a game a few months earlier and averaged 50.4 points per game for the season, became the first and only NBA player to ever score 100.
The big man shot 36-for-63 from the field and 28-for-32 from the foul line that memorable night in 1962.
2008 World Series
The Drought Ends – Phillies beat Rays in 5 Games
Philadelphia didn’t have a championship from any of its “Big 4’’ professional teams since 1983. The city was starved.
And the Phillies, with only one championship beforehand (and none since) fed it.
Led by Series MVP Cole Hamels, the Phils dispatched the Rays in five games. When Brad Lidge, who was perfect in save situations all season, got the last out of Game 5 at home the city celebrated as if it hadn’t won anything in 25 years. Well, because it hadn’t.
Bullies go Back-to-Back
Flyers win the 1974 and 1975 Stanley Cups
Head coach Fred Shero brought a different brand of hockey to Philadelphia. It was physical. There were fights. And it was fun.
Led by a high-scoring line of Reggie Leach, Bobby Clarke and Bill Barber and the outstanding goaltending of Bernie Parent the Flyers didn’t just win their first Stanley Cup, they went back-to-back.
In 1974, The Broad St. Bullies, as Philadelphia Bulletin writer Jack Chevalier first called them, became the first expansion team to win The Cup when they beat the well-established Boston Bruins. The following year they did it again with a Cup final win over the Buffalo Sabres.
A Really Cold War
Flyers beat the Red Army
What better way to get the Bicentennial started than on Jan. 11, 1976, when the Soviet’s Red Army team, thought to be unbeatable, came to Philadelphia and lost to the Flyers, 4-1.
To some, especially at that time, this win meant more than either of the team’s Stanley Cups.
When the Flyers Ed Van Impe knocked Russian star Valeri Kharlamov to the ice and no penalty was called, the Soviet coach pulled his team off the ice. They came back when Flyers owner Ed Snider said they wouldn’t be paid. But they never came back in a game the Flyers dominated.
Concrete Charlie and The Dutchman
Eagles win 1960 NFL Title – Eagles 17, Packers 13
Chuck Bednarik, who played both linebacker and center for the Eagles, and got his nickname because he sold concrete in the offseason, and quarterback Norm Van Brocklin led the Eagles to what no other players or team ever did.
They beat Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers in a playoff game.
Debt Paid
76ers win 1983 NBA Title with sweep of Lakers
Julius Erving, after one of the Sixers several playoff disappointments, told fans in a commercial “We owe you one.’’
With the acquisition of center Moses Malone that offseason, Erving and Co, finally paid the debt with the NBA title over a Lakers team that had beaten them three years earlier.
The Wright Stuff
Villanova wins two NCAA titles in three years
They never had the McDonald’s All-Americans that Kentucky, Kansas or Duke got. What they had was a good team with a great coach.
Jay Wright guided Villanova to two NCAA titles in three years, beating North Carolina, 77-74, on Kris Jenkins’ 3-pointer at the buzzer in 2016 and coming back two years later to beat Michigan, 79-62.
Back-to-Back Shutouts
Eagles win NFL titles in 1948 and 1949
Running back Steve Van Buren was the star for those champion Eagles. It was the defense who shone in the championship games.
The Eagles beat the Cardinals, 7-0, in 1948. And came back the following season to shut out the Rams, 14-0, in the ’49 title game.
The Dipper and The Kid
Sixers win 1967 NBA title
Wilt Chamberlain, who turned 30 during the season, and 23-year-old Billy “The Kangaroo Kid’’ Cunningham helped the Sixers to their first NBA title in seven games over the Warriors.
Ironically, “The Kid’’ became “The Coach’’ when the Sixers won their next and last title.
500
April 18, 1987
Mike Schmidt becomes first Phillies player to reach milestone
Schmidt’s 500th of his 548 career home runs came in Pittsburgh against Don Robinson. The Phillies trailed 6-5 and were down to their last out when Schmidt “hit a long drive to left. . .’’
Tragedy Times Two
Two of the brightest young stars in Philadelphia sports saw their lives taken way too soon in car crashes.
Flyers’ goalie Pelle Lindbergh was killed in a crash of his Porsche on Nov. 11, 1985, the night of a Flyers win over the Bruins in which he had the game off. Pelle was 26.
Eagles defensive tackle Jerome Brown was killed in a crash of his Corvette on June 25, 2002, in Brooksville, Fla. during the offseason. Brown was 27.
T.O.
The Arrival and Departure
Terrell Owens spent just 20 months as an Eagles. It felt like 20 years.
He arrived in controversy when a trade from the 49ers to the Ravens was vetoed and he was allowed to go from the 49ers to the Eagles.
There was never a training camp like the one in Lehigh in 2004 where cars lined up for miles on a daily basis. And the crowd sang his name, or initials, throughout practice.
On the field, he helped the team reach the Super Bowl and played in the game with a broken leg.
And then came the awkward departure, complete with a suspension and him doing sit-ups on his front lawn in front of a horde of media.
Super Steve
The 1972 season
The Phillies won 59 games in 1972. Steve Carlton won 27 of those games. Carlton was 27-10 with a 1.97 ERA and had 310 strikeouts for a really bad team.
Perfect Together
Bunning and Halladay
Since 1900 there have been exactly 22 perfect games thrown in MLB. The Phillies have two of those.
Jim Bunning did it on June 21, 1964, against the Mets in a 6-0 win in which he needed just 90 pitches.
Roy Halladay was perfect against the Marlins in a 1-0 win, on May 29, 2010, throwing 115 pitches.
The Fight of the Century
There has never been a heavyweight fight before or since with more anticipation than Joe Frazier/Muhammad Ali I.
March 8, 1971, at Madison Square Garden the two undefeated boxers met with the title on the line. Frazier was the champ, taking the title in a tournament when Ali vacated it when he went to prison instead of the Army.
Philadelphia’s Smokin’ Joe won by unanimous decision.
The 1999 NFL draft
For the past 25 years right before the draft starts, they play the clip of Eagles fans booing the selection of Donovan McNabb.
Nobody forgets it, especially McNabb.
The fans didn’t really boo the quarterback, however, they booed that he wasn’t Ricky Williams.
Hextall Scores a Goal
Flyers’ goalie Ron Hextall became the first goalie to ever score a goal by shooting the puck into the opponents net in an NHL game when he did so against the Bruins in a 5-2 Flyers win, December 8, 1987.
The 2001 Sixers and A.I.
We didn’t want to include teams that got to a final and lost, because the list would grow too long. But the Allen Iverson-led 76ers captured the city that year. And there were very few athletes in the city’s history that were as intriguing as Iverson.
1964
The Phillies Collapse
Memorable isn’t always good.
The Phils were up 6 1/2 games in the NL with 12 to play. They lost the next 10 straight, the first seven at home. And the Cardinals caught and passed them for the pennant.
Gola Goal
LaSalle wins 1954 NCAA title
Led by Tom Gola, the Explorers won the ’54 title beating Penn State in the Final 4 and Bradley for the championship in Kansas City.
The Keenan Years
An unknown coach took over basically an unknown team and took them to two Stanley Cup finals in 1995 and 1997. Both times they lost to the dynasty known as the Edmonton Oilers.
Mike Keenan’s four years with the Flyers never got him a Cup, but he would later get one with the Rangers.
The Stars are Born
While football fans suffered and waited for the Eagles to win a title after 1960, along came the Philadelphia Stars of the USFL. They made the title game in 1983 only to lose to Michigan. But the Stars came back in 1984 and beat Arizona for the title, July 15, 1984. Had to include this, of course, because JerseyMan and PhillyMan’s publisher, Ken Dunek, played for the Stars.
