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Eagles

RIP to Eagles Legend Bill Bergey

Kevin Kinkead

By Kevin Kinkead

Published:

Jan 25, 1981; New Orleans, LA, USA; FILE PHOTO; Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Bill Bergey (66) in action against Oakland Raiders tight end Raymond Chester (88) in Super Bowl XV at the Superdome. The Raiders defeated the Eagles 27-10. Mandatory Credit: Manny Rubio-USA TODAY Sports

Eagles legend Bill Bergey passed away. His son Jake, who was a standout lacrosse player with the Wings, posted this on social:

Bill Bergey is one of the greatest Eagles of all time. Just a hulking monstrosity of a middle linebacker. His career came to an end in 1980, so a younger generation might not be familiar, but he played in the Eagles/Raiders Super Bowl and spent seven seasons here after a 1974 trade between the Birds and Bengals.

During his Philadelphia run, Bergey went to four Pro Bowls and was a two-time First-team All Pro and a three-time Second-team All Pro. He was an old school defensive player, a tackling and interception machine who played pretty much every game before a 1979 knee injury, and even then he came back in 1980 for one final season that saw the Birds go 12-4 and win the NFC. He was one of the best linebackers from an era that also included Jack Lambert, Jack Ham, Dick Butkus, and Robert Brazile.

Bergey stayed in the region after retiring. He did a little bit of radio and television over the years and would appear at various Eagles events. Really nice guy, almost alarmingly nice considering how nasty he was on the field, and how big he was. He was 6’4″ and played at more than 240 pounds back then, which would make him a defensive end in today’s NFL. I remember we went to a Wings game and we were sitting in a suite, and Bergey was there to watch Jake play. My uncles kept trying to talk to him about the Eagles teams of the 1970s, but he would continually change the subject because he wanted to talk about his son and the Wings’ current run of results instead. It was funny, but at the same time telling, because he was rattling off all of these lacrosse facts and talking about the standings and other teams and you could tell how invested he was in his sons’ athletic career. He just seemed like a genuinely decent dude. RIP.

Kevin Kinkead
Kevin Kinkead

Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com

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