Category: Sports

When Joe Pagliei moved to the Azalea senior living facility in September of 2023, word spread quickly. This was not just because he spent a season playing for the Eagles.

It was also because of his unabashed personality.

Pagliei would walk the halls of the Cinnaminson retirement home practicing his golf swing. If he lost a game of bingo, he’d throw the cards into the air and accuse his neighbors of “cheating.”

Every day, at 3 p.m., he’d sit at the bar, nursing a ginger ale, with copies of a book about his life stacked beside him. Before long, residents began to ask for some.

This wasn’t your average nonagenarian, after all. Pagliei spent parts of the 1950s and 1960s as a pro football player, first in Canada in the CFL, then in the NFL, and eventually, the AFL.

He played the 1959 season as a fullback and punter with the Eagles. Pagliei was the last cut in training camp before the 1960 season. The Eagles called him back, asking if he’d want to rejoin the team, but it was too late.

The fullback had already signed with the New York Titans, later to become the New York Jets. Pagliei ended up missing out on a championship.

“Big mistake,” joked his daughter Vicki.

It didn’t hamper Joe’s confidence. The former football player worked in auto sales and real estate for a few years, and became a jockey agent in 1970 out of Garden State Park Racetrack.

When the track burned down in 1977, Pagliei headed to Atlantic City, where he became a casino host, crossing paths with everyone from Mickey Mantle to Joe Frazier to Sammy Davis Jr.

He moved to Mount Laurel with his wife of 62 years, Rita, and four children in 1991. He sold cars for a few years, retired in 2000, and moved to Azalea after Rita died in 2023.

At 91, Pagliei is believed to be the oldest living former Eagle. It is not a title he takes lightly. Last year, before the Super Bowl, his senior facility arranged for a visit from an Eagles-themed bus.

Dressed in his kelly green jersey, Pagliei signed one of the bus panels: “Joe Pagliei, #32.”

When he’s not lifting weights, or playing poker, he is watching Eagles games in his apartment, often with critiques of his own. Philadelphia will always be his favorite team, but he does have some misgivings about how he was used back in the day.

“I was awfully good to be sitting down,” the 91-year-old said. “Not enough [playing time].”

‘I’m going to make you famous, buddy’

Pagliei grew up in Clairton, Pa., a small town southeast of Pittsburgh, full of hard-nosed steel mill workers. His father, Alberto, emigrated from Italy and spent 48 years working as a janitor at the local plant.

The elder Pagliei, a pragmatic man who saved every dollar, didn’t see the benefit in his son joining the football team. He refused to let him play until the 11th grade.

Despite missing a few seasons, the younger Pagliei was not short on confidence. On the first day of practice, he walked straight up to his new coach.

“I said, ‘I’m going to make you famous, buddy,’” Pagliei recalled. “He said, ‘You’re full of [expletive].’ And I said, ‘Oh really?’

“I didn’t know the plays. I went out on a Wednesday. I ran two touchdowns. He said, ‘Wow.’ I said, ‘You just put my [butt] in there. Don’t worry about it.’”

Famous might have been an exaggeration, but Pagliei did catch the attention of some big-name schools. According to his 2017 self-published book, The Roast Master, he received more than 100 recruitment letters.

The fullback chose Clemson University in South Carolina. His arrival on campus in 1952 marked the first time he’d ever traveled outside of Western Pennsylvania. He played both football and baseball, and separated himself on the gridiron.

In 1954, he led the Atlantic Coast Conference in punting, averaging 37.8 yards on 26 kicks. In 1955, his senior year, he topped the conference again, averaging 39.1 yards on his punts. He also made a dual-threat impact for the Tigers on offense, rushing for 476 yards and catching 10 passes for 233 yards.

Clemson’s 1955 team program referred to the fullback as a “flashy performer,” a characterization that seemed apt, though perhaps insufficient in retrospect.

“I did a number on ’em when I went to Clemson,” Pagliei said. “I just ran everybody the hell out. They had me as number five. I said, ‘I’m number uno.’ They said, ‘You’re five.’ I became the best one.”

After going undrafted in 1956, Pagliei received free-agent invitations from the Green Bay Packers and Washington, but said neither came “with any form of guarantee.”

He ended up getting a better contract outside the NFL, with the Calgary Stampeders of the CFL, where he played the 1956 season. Pagliei was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1957.

He joined the football team on the base while serving at Fort Knox in Kentucky, and the Eagles offered him a contract for the 1958 season. Because of his military commitment, he was unable to suit up until May 1959, when he was discharged from the Army.

The Eagles had a deep backfield, and as Pagliei noted, he didn’t get much playing time (only two carries for minus-5 yards and two catches for 9 yards). He didn’t get much time as a punter, either, because he was the backup for Hall of Fame quarterback Norm Van Brocklin.

But Pagliei did emerge with one stat to be proud of. According to The Roast Master, on Dec. 6, 1959, in the middle of a rainy game against Washington, Van Brocklin suggested that Pagliei take the kick.

He did, for 45 yards. It was the NFL rookie’s only punt of the 1959 season, giving him a yearly average of 45 yards (for his one attempt) while Van Brocklin had only 40.8 (for his 53).

“I always rubbed that in with Van Brocklin,” Pagliei wrote. “And he’d say to me, ‘You son of a [expletive]. One punt and you lead the team.’”

Pagliei again faced stiff competition in training camp the following year. He was cut on the day the Eagles took their team photo, Sept. 19, 1960, thereby capturing his final moment on the future championship-winning squad.

After he signed with the Titans of the AFL, the Eagles contacted Pagliei again. Fullback Theron Sapp had broken his leg in a preseason game and would be out longer than the team had expected.

They asked Pagliei if he’d like to return to Philadelphia, but he’d already signed his Titans contract. While missing out on history was bittersweet, the 91-year-old always felt like he was a part of the 1960 Eagles group.

It included some of his closest friends. Defensive tackle Jesse Richardson was the best man at Pagliei’s wedding. Wide receiver Tommy McDonald was like a family member. McDonald’s wife, Patty, was the godmother to Pagliei’s daughter Lizanne and the confirmation sponsor for Vicki.

Pagliei left professional football in 1961 but continued to stay a part of that fraternity. His kids would play with McDonald’s kids, and linebacker Bob Pellegrini’s kids. The team always invited Pagliei to reunions and celebrations of the 1960 championship.

In 2018, after the Eagles won their first Super Bowl, former players and their families were invited to the NovaCare Complex to see the Lombardi Trophy up close.

McDonald had been diagnosed with dementia. He attended the event in a wheelchair, donning his gold Hall of Fame jacket. The former receiver’s recall was shaky, but when he saw Pagliei, his face lit up.

“He knew who my dad was,” Vicki said. “He didn’t know too many people, but he knew who my dad was. He used to call him his brother.”

The mayor of Azalea, senior living

The staffers at Azalea of Cinnaminson say that Pagliei is something akin to a mayor. He knows everyone in the building. He also knows everything going on in the building, for better or for worse.

The 91-year-old goes to the gym once a day, where he rides a bike, and does “40 reps of each weight.” On Tuesday and Thursday nights, he plays poker, a game that he might take more seriously than any other.

“I make a lot of money,” Pagliei said, pointing to a stack of bills totaling $21 on a nearby counter. “Big time. Big time.”

The former Eagle is 66 years removed from his last NFL season, but he has not lost his competitive spark. The Azalea staff learned this the hard way.

Gracie Pouliot, a guest services manager, has had to intervene in a few contentious games of bingo.

“He’s not a very good loser,” she said. “Everyone is cheating if he loses. He’s like, ‘This is [expletive]! They cheated!’

“And we’re like, ‘No!’ He’ll throw the cards. He just cracks us up. He’s so funny.”

Linda Bryant, a life enrichment assistant, said that Pagliei used to make fun of how she’d play pool.

“He was joking around,” she said. “‘You guys don’t know how to do it.’”

Bryant and Pouliot wouldn’t have it any other way. Pagliei might not be able to punt the ball, or run the length of a field, but he still has the spirit of a teenager.

“He’s our little, fun-loving guy,” Bryant said.