Vincent Papale (born February 9, 1946) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

wide receiver. He played three seasons with the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

, primarily on special teams, following two seasons with the Philadelphia Bell of the

World Football League The World Football League (WFL) was an American football league that played one full season in 1974 and most of its second in 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a worldwide stage, the farthest the ...

. Papale's story was the inspiration behind the 2006 film ''

Invincible Invincible may refer to: Film and television * ''Invincible'' (2001 drama film), a drama by Werner Herzog about Jewish cabaret during the rise of Nazism * ''Invincible'' (2001 TV film), a fantasy / martial arts TV movie starring Billy Zane ...

''.

High school years

Papale was born in

Glenolden, Pennsylvania Glenolden is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 7,153 at the 2010 census, down from 7,476 at the 2000 census. Geography Glenolden is located in eastern Delaware County at (39.898812, −75.292456). ...

, attended

Interboro High School Interboro High School is a high school located in Prospect Park, Pennsylvania, part of the Philadelphia metropolitan area. As the sole high school in the Interboro School District, students from surrounding communities Glenolden, Norwood, Pro ...

in Prospect Park and lettered in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

, basketball, and

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

. In his only year of varsity football, Papale won All-Delaware County Honorable Mention honors. In track, he was a standout

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the M ...

er,

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

er, and

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a ...

er. He began competing in track during his senior year at Interboro. He won the District I (Philadelphia suburban area) large-schools championship in pole vault, then finished fourth in the state meet. Papale's best pole vault that year was 12 ft 9 in (3.886 m), which edged him into the top 10 all-time PA high school vaulters.

College

Papale attended

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

Saint Joseph's University Saint Joseph's University (SJU or St. Joe's) is a private Jesuit university in Philadelphia and Lower Merion, Pennsylvania. The university was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1851 as Saint Joseph's College. Saint Joseph's is the seventh olde ...

on a track scholarship (the university did not have a football team). As a junior, he won a United States Track & Field Federation (USTFF) college development pole vault at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylv ...

(February 10) with a vault of 14 ft 6 in (4.42 m). He never placed at IC4A or Penn Relays. Papale did score in the Middle Atlantic Conference championships. He graduated in 1968 with an MS degree in Marketing/Management Science.

Track and field personal bests and meet results

; Sophomore Year (1966): : Second in Pole Vault (winner 14'-3" (4.34 m)) : Second in the

(winner 45'-3" (13.79 m)) ; Junior Year (1967): ; Senior Year (1968) : Third in the pole vault (winner Peter Chiniese 15'-1¾" (4.616 m)) : First in the long jump (22'-1¼" (6.737 m)) : First in the triple jump (46'-6" (14.17 m))

Professional career

Minor League Football

Vince Papale's post-collegiate football career began with the Aston Green Knights of the semi-pro

Seaboard Football League The Seaboard Football League was an American football minor league that operated from 1971 to 1974.Bob Gill, with Steve Brainerd and Tod Maher, ''Minor League Football, 1960-85'' (McFarland and Co., 2002), pp84, 99-100 It folded during the 1974 ...

. At that time, Papale was a teacher at

and was coaching the junior varsity football team when he successfully tried out for the Philadelphia Bell of the

as a wide receiver. In an ESPN documentary, Papale claimed he lied about his age to join the team (claiming to be 24 years old, when in fact he was 28 at the time.) In his first season with the Bell, Papale caught nine passes for 121 yards, averaging 13.4 yards per catch including catching the first pass in the history of the new league. In 1975 Papale caught only one pass, but it was for a forty-nine yard touchdown. In both seasons with the team, Papale was a special teams standout.

Philadelphia Eagles

His performance with the Philadelphia Bell earned him a meeting in 1976 with head coach

Dick Vermeil Richard Albert Vermeil (; born October 30, 1936) is a former American football coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons. He was the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles for seven seasons, the St. L ...

of the

after

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Jim Murray got him an invitation to a private workout held by Coach Vermeil. Papale eventually made the team, thereby becoming, at age 30, the oldest rookie non-

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

in the history of the NFL to play without the benefit of college football experience. He went on to play wide receiver and

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

for the Eagles from 1976 through 1978. During that time, he played in 41 of 44 regular season games (regular seasons being 14 games in 1976–1977 and 16 games in 1978) recording two fumble recoveries and one 15-yard reception. He was voted Special Teams Captain by his teammates and "Man of the Year" by the Eagles in 1978 for his many charitable activities. A shoulder injury ended his career in 1979. After retiring from the NFL, he worked as a TV and radio broadcaster for eight years, then became a commercial mortgage banker. Papale, who earned the nickname "Rocky" (after the

Sylvester Stallone Sylvester Enzio Stallone (; born Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, ) is an American actor and filmmaker. After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, h ...

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

) while playing with the Eagles, is the subject of the

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

movie ''

'', with

Mark Wahlberg Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg (born June 5, 1971), former stage name Marky Mark, is an American actor, businessman, and former rapper. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Mark Wahlberg, multiple accolades, including a B ...

portraying him. In addition, Papale's legend was cited as a factor in the Eagles' signing of construction foreman/tight end Jeff Thomason for 2005's

Super Bowl XXXIX Super Bowl XXXIX was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles to decide the National Football League ...

Personal life

Diagnosed with

colorectal cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel ...

in 2001, Papale has recovered from the disease, to become a spokesman encouraging people to get regular check-ups. He has appeared in commercials for

Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Thomas Jefferson University Hospital is the flagship hospital of Jefferson Health, a multi-state non-profit health system based in Philadelphia. The hospital serves as the teaching hospital for Thomas Jefferson University. History Originall ...

encouraging others to be tested. Papale is a sought after

motivational speaker A motivational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. Such speakers may attempt to challenge or transform their audiences. The speech itself is popularly known as a pep talk. Motivational speakers c ...

. Previously, Papale was the regional director of marketing and senior account executive for higher-education marketing at Sallie Mae. He resides in

Cherry Hill, New Jersey Cherry Hill is a township within Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a population of 74,553, which reflected an increase of 3,508 (+4.94%) from the 71,045 counted in the 2010 census.< ...

, with his wife Janet and two children, Gabriella and Vinny, and remains a diehard Philadelphia Eagles football fan. He is also currently listed as the Secretary/Treasurer of the Philadelphia Chapter of the NFL Alumni Association. His son Vinny played wide receiver for the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 ma ...

Blue Hens and currently is with the Tampa Bay Bandits of the

USFL The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

References

External links

IMDB link to Invincible

Vince Papale's Official Website

Eagles Fly for Leukemia

Vince Papale's interview with John Kline and Elevation Radio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Papale, Vince 1946 births Living people Sportspeople from Chester, Pennsylvania American football wide receivers American sportspeople of Italian descent People from Cherry Hill, New Jersey People from Glenolden, Pennsylvania Philadelphia Bell players Philadelphia Eagles players Players of American football from Pennsylvania Saint Joseph's Hawks athletes Sportspeople from Delaware County, Pennsylvania United States Football League announcers