Saquon Barkley walked down the Benjamin Franklin Parkway holding the Lombardi Trophy above his head, celebrating with the thousands of fans who showed up for the Philadelphia Eagles' Super Bowl parade. The Coplay kid and former Penn State star running back basked in the moment as he and his teammates made their way to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where, one by one, they walked up to a podium to address the massive crowd.
“It was crazy,” Barkley said in a recent interview. “I remember sitting on the Rocky stairs and just looking down. It was like, ‘This is not even real.’”
Oh, but it was real. Very real. And Barkley was the biggest reason why.
2024 was the season of Saquon. Regardless of what the MVP voting said, Barkley was the best player in the NFL. The league’s Offensive Player of the Year set records, electrified the fan base and guided the Eagles to Super Bowl LIX, where they beat the Kansas City Chiefs. After six years with the New York Giants, the first-year Eagle captured the hearts of everyone in Philly — and had Lehigh Valley and Penn State fans beaming with pride along the way.
The breath-taking runs. The leadership. The brilliance, week after week. Without Barkley being the same game-changer he was at Whitehall High School and Penn State, the Eagles would not have made it to the Super Bowl and hoisted the Lombardi Trophy.
Barkley’s excellence (and his bright future at only 28 years old) puts him in rarified air: it enters him into the conversation of the best Pennsylvania athletes of all-time.
Before you get upset or start arguing for others, there are specific requirements and parameters to the argument I’m about to make for Barkley’s candidacy. Barkley is uniquely positioned in a way only a handful of others are. He is a Pennsylvania native who rose to stardom in-state and whose greatness delivered a professional championship to an in-state team.
That’s not as common as you’d think. There have been countless greats born and raised in Pennsylvania, but their transcendance largely benefitted other regions of the country. Only a select group has brought success to the state like Saquon.
It all started at Whitehall High School, where Barkley propelled the Zephyrs to a pair of league titles before signing with Penn State. Barkley was a catalyst for James Franklin’s Nittany Lions, spearheading an offense that delivered a 2016 Big Ten championship. Barkley was a two-time Big Ten MVP and a unanimous All-American in 2017. Somehow, he finished only fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting that year. In three years, Barkley helped alter the perception of Penn State’s program and paved the way for the Nittany Lions' success — now and in the future.
Penn State fans from the Philly area bemoaned when the fan favorite was selected by the Giants with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 draft. But after a six-year stint in New York, Barkley came home, signed with the Eagles and recharged a rabid fan base.
In his debut season, Barkley set the NFL’s single-season rushing record with playoffs included. He ripped off seven scoring runs of 60 yards or more. He had 574 total yards and five touchdowns in four postseason games. And yes, he hurdled a guy backwards.
What Saquon did was special. And what he’s accomplished — at Whitehall, at Penn State and now with the Eagles — puts him in a different kind of class. From a prideful, local lens, it differentiates him from the athletes you’d typically associate with Pa.‘s greatest.
Joe Montana, Joe Namath, Johnny Unitas and Jim Kelly were all from the Pittsburgh area and are considered among the all-time great quarterbacks. But they went to Notre Dame, Alabama, Louisville and Miami, respectively. Montana (San Francisco 49ers), Namath (New York Jets) and Unitas (Baltimore Colts) won Super Bowls outside of the commonwealth.
Marvin Harrison, a Philadelphia native, is one of the greatest wide receivers of all-time and a Super Bowl champion ... with the Indianapolis Colts. Aliquippa legend Ty Law won three Super Bowls ... with the New England Patriots. Erie’s Fred Biletnikoff has an award named after him and won a Super Bowl ... with the Raiders. Youngwood’s George Blanda won three titles ... with the Oilers and Raiders.
LeSean McCoy, the Bishop McDevitt and Pitt standout, was a franchise legend with the Eagles. But he didn’t hoist the Lombardi until he played with the Chiefs and Buccaneers. Dan Marino, Aaron Donald, Tony Dorsett, Darrelle Revis and Mike Ditka are from the Pittsburgh area and thrived at Pitt. Lenny Moore, a Reading native, was a two-way star at Penn State in the 1950s. None of those greats ever won a title with the Steelers or Eagles.
It’s not just contained to football. Kobe Bryant was born in Philadelphia and went to Lower Merion High School. But when he played in south Philly it was for the Los Angeles Lakers, the franchise he won five championships with. Aliquippa’s Pete Maravich and Philly’s Earl Monroe are among the best players in NBA history, but never starred for the Sixers.
In baseball, you have Stan Musial, Reggie Jackson, Nellie Fox, Christy Mathewson, Roy Campanella, Bruce Sutter and Mike Piazza. None won titles with the Phillies or Pirates.
There are multiple athletes who achieved individual success. Arnold Palmer, Betsy King, Mario Andretti, Larry Holmes, Billy Conn, Bill Tilden and Jim Furyk come to mind. There are also plenty of Olympic gold medalists from Pa.: Dawn Staley, Meghan Klingenberg, etc. Jim Thorpe, the multi-sport legend who was born in the Oklahoma area but literally has a town named after him in Pa., probably deserves his own separate category.
But when you look at the Pa. greats who delivered professional championships to their state, the list is surprisingly small. Barkley has joined a rare group of “hometown heroes,” if you will.
Wilt Chamberlain: Arguably the greatest basketball player of all-time, Chamberlain was born and raised in Philadelphia. Chamberlain, after leaving Kansas, won the 1967 NBA title and secured four league MVPs in Philadelphia.
Paul Arizin: Arizin was a Philadelphia native who starred at La Salle College High School before securing the 1950 NCAA scoring title at Villanova. Arizin played the majority of his hall of fame career with the Philadelphia Warriors, winning the 1956 NBA championship.
Tom Gola: Gola followed a similar path. He was a standout at La Salle College High School and won the 1954 NCAA championship at La Salle University before joining the Warriors. He and Arizin beat the Fort Wayne Pistons in the 1956 NBA title.
Honus Wagner: Regarded by many as the greatest shortstop of all-time, the “Flying Dutchman” grew up in what is now Carnegie. Wagner, an eight-time NL batting champion and five-time stolen bases leader, was a Pirates legend and won the 1909 World Series.
Dick Groat: Groat isn’t in the Baseball Hall of Fame like Wagner, but he was Pittsburgh through and through. One of the best athletes of his time, Groat was the 1960 NL MVP and led the Pirates to a World Series title. He was also a star basketball player at Duke.
Josh Gibson: Gibson was born in Georgia but moved to Pittsburgh at a young age. Considered by many as perhaps the greatest catcher to ever live, Gibson was a 12-time All-Star and won two Negro League World Series titles as a longtime member of the Homestead Grays.
Jack Ham: Ham, a Johnstown native, is on the Penn State football “Mount Rushmore.” The star linebacker was a part of two undefeated Nittany Lion teams (1968, 1969) before becoming a franchise legend with the Steelers. The six-time All-Pro won four Super Bowls in Pittsburgh.
Matt Bahr: The Philadelphia native was an All-American kicker at Penn State in 1978 and won Super Bowl XIV with the Steelers. His brother, Chris, was a Super Bowl-winning kicker for the Raiders and Rams. And their father, Walter, was an integral member of the United States soccer team that upset England at the 1950 World Cup. Impressive family.
Chuck Bednarik: Bednarik checks all the boxes. The Bethlehem native, after flying combat missions in World War II, was a star center and linebacker at Penn. He won the Maxwell Award and was the No. 1 overall pick by the Eagles in the 1949 NFL draft. Bednarik spent all 14 seasons with the Eagles, winning two NFL championships in 1949 and 1960.
That’s about it. I might have missed one or two (and if I did, let me know). But the common thread among those greats — from “Concrete Charlie” to the “Flying Dutchman” — is they delivered for their home state. They were raised in Pennsylvania, honed their craft in the Keystone State and brought pride and joy to Pa. via a team title.
Now — after delivering another Super Bowl to Philadelphia, an hour or so away from his hometown of Coplay — Saquon Barkley is part of that rare, legendary group.
And who knows? Maybe Barkley will win another Super Bowl with the Eagles.
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