For Eagles fans, Sunday is about family, history and a region overdue for football triumph

Some say wine gets better with age. But a 37-year-old bottle of Andre brut champagne probably doesn't fit that stereotype.

Dover's Frank Markert has had that bottle chilling in a refrigerator since 1980. A Philadelphia native from the Juniata Park area, the lifelong Eagles fan bought the bottle in December that year when the Ron Jaworksi-led Eagles were making a playoff run. He was set to pop it after Super Bowl XV, when the Eagles met the Oakland Raiders in search of the franchise's first Super Bowl victory.

They lost, of course. But Markert vowed to keep the bottle in the fridge until the Eagles finally won a championship.

Their next opportunity comes Sunday against the New England Patriots, and fans hope the Eagles crush the dynastic team that denied them glory in the 2005 Super Bowl and kept the cork on Markert's bottle.

Markert, now 87 and hooked up to oxygen after recent health issues, has one thing on his mind.

"We’ll open that bottle up and we’ll all have a drink out of shot glasses," Markert said.

He's sure it'll probably taste like vinegar, but it won't matter.

Markert's roots and history of Eagles fandom are emblematic of what this Super Bowl Sunday means to a football-crazed region and the families that make it known as one of America's greatest sports towns. Many in the Delaware Valley root for the four main professional sports teams in the city, but nothing compares to the love people have for the Eagles.

Markert said his favorite early football memories were watching players like Pete Pihos help the Eagles win the first two of their three NFL Championships in 1948 and '49. He loved watching Tommy McDonald and Chuck Bednarik, who was on the team when they won their last championship in 1960.

But no one really counts those titles.

The Philadelphia region is hopeful that Sunday reverses history and gives the city the biggest celebration it has ever seen.

A region readies

Steve Torpey said seats at his Stanley's Tavern – not far from the Pennsylvania border – have been sold out since early in the week. Capacity at the Foulk Road tavern is 305 and the sports bar is one of many that will be brimming with Eagles fans throughout the region and beyond.

Stanley's and the Newark Grotto Pizza are the two Delaware locations listed on the official Green Legion website, the unofficial Eagles fan group that has fan clubs meeting at bars from Miami to Portland and San Diego to Montreal.

Torpey is a lifelong resident, a graduate of Mount Pleasant High School and longtime friend of former Eagles linebacker Bill Bergey. He has added more televisions inside his banquet room and expanded to seating to allow for patrons to share in what could be a big celebration. In the 2005 Super Bowl, Torpey said the bar didn't reach capacity.

At 66, he remembers the team's past failures well. This year, he said, it feels different. 

"It feels like, as a fan, there’s been a void," Torpey said. "It doesn’t equate to us as fans that we have not been world champions. For us to be able to do that would be finally coming full circle. We’ve always had better teams. It doesn’t make sense that this hasn’t happened before.

"I’m not even questioning whether we’re winning or not. I’m convinced."

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Brandywine School District superintendent Mark Holodick seemed pretty convinced, too, saying the Eagles would win by seven.

Holodick, who graduated from the Brandywine district, is a lifelong Eagles fan. With the help of Mount Pleasant junior Amaya Williams, families in the district received a message declaring Friday Eagles Spirit Day across the 16 schools. Schools throughout the greater Philadelphia region will be filled with Eagles colors.

Holodick said the enthusiasm during this recent run is unlike anything he's ever seen before.

“A lot of our families have grown up here as Eagles fans and the kids are feeding off the parents' excitement and enthusiasm," Holodick said. "It’s safe to say that the Eagles are the focal point of the community for engagement and pride."

Holodick's earliest football memories were the Eagles teams that featured Jaworski, Harold Carmichael, Wilbert Montgomery and Bergey. His favorite player was Michael Quick, now the team's radio analyst alongside legendary play-by-play man Merrill Reese.

On Sunday he'll watch at his brother's house and hopes to share what will become a lifelong memory with his daughters and his father.

"It’s nice to be with immediate family and particular watching with my dad," he said.

Holodick's father, Michael, is in his mid-70s, and, like Markert, has been waiting literally his whole life for a Super Bowl. And if history is any indicator, opportunities like Sunday don't come often.

That's why Mike Struempfler, a Philadelphia native and current Chester County, Pennsylvania, resident didn't have much of a choice. He was there in Jacksonville in 2005 with a group that he attends about five games a year with to this day.

"We vowed if they ever got back we would try to go," Struempfler said. "Here it is, 13 years later and it’s time for revenge."

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They followed through. Struempfler traveled Thursday morning with his wife, Anne, and son, Kevin, from New York's LaGuardia Airport to Chicago, where they rented a car and drove to Minneapolis. Many people had issues getting hotel rooms close, but Struemplfer has a fraternity brother from Penn State who's putting the Struemplfers and others up for free. Struempfler said he bought four tickets, two in the upper level and two in the lower level, that averaged around $3,500 per ticket.

"I feel pretty good. I’m cautiously optimistic," said Stuempfler, who is also a Flyers season ticket holder. "I think it’s going to be a close game, but I think the difference is going to be our defensive line."

Struempfler, 57, said his father was a big Eagles fan, and his dad took him to games back in the Franklin Field era. He was in attendance for the Bounty Bowl and the time Santa Claus was pelted with snowballs, incidents that built a reputation the rest of the country can't seem to let go.

This year's team, many said, is easy to root for. They seem to have an identity that matches with the city in a way maybe not seen since the 1993 Phillies. And once the Eagles started rallying around the underdog moniker, the fanbase fell deeper in love.

"You want to prove to the world that, 'Hey I'm better than all you damn critics out there,'" Struempfler said of the region, relishing the underdog role.

That's something running back Wendell Smallwood understands. Though he barely played after the Eagles acquired Jay Ajayi, and hasn't been active in the playoffs, the Wilmington native understands what's at stake Sunday in Minneapolis, where he's sharing the moment with his parents.

"It would mean everything to me, and just the joy that it would bring to Philly, Delaware, all the Eagles fans around the world," Smallwood said. "How we’ve been waiting for us and grinding for this, and how we’re so close. We’re four quarters away from getting what everyone has dreamed of. It’s just going to be good to bring it home to all those crazy maniac Eagles fans."

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'We're gonna whomp them'

Frank Markert bought his house in Dover for $12,500 when he came to Delaware in 1962 to work as a Navy recruiter. The basement has an exit with sliding doors that leads to a backyard that backs onto the St. Jones River.

It's inside that basement where relics from ancient Eagles history live. There are old newspaper cutouts, pennants and action figures. Among them is a newer poster with a list of results from this season. In an open space on the next to the Super Bowl, a few family members have made their score predictions for the game. Three of the four are pretty reasonable, including Market's wife Theresa's prediction of 33-31 Eagles.

But Markert is having different thoughts.

“My prediction is 40-13," Markert said. "We’re going to whomp them this time.”

He said he believes in quarterback Nick Foles, and always has. 

Markert, who came from a large family, spent 20 years in the Navy and about 20 years working for General Foods in Dover before it eventually became Kraft. His Philadelphia highlights include attending the first and last games at Veterans Stadium. (“What other city in the country had a courtroom set up in the basement?”) He even used to take bus trips from General Foods up to Philadelphia to watch Eagles games.

These days watching is more of a family affair. Sunday will be no different for Markert and many others.

Ray Didinger, the legendary sportswriter, radio and television personality and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, summarized the family component better than anyone earlier this week talking to Angelo Cataldi on 94WIP.

“If they actually win this thing on Sunday, yeah I’m gonna feel it,” Didinger said Wednesday on the Sports Radio 94WIP Morning Show. “I’m gonna feel it for my family, I’m gonna feel it for the city. I think it’s the best sports town in America, I think it’s the best sports fans in America that waited a long time for this moment, and if it happens Sunday night I’m gonna feel good for millions of people.”

Didinger said he'd think first of his parents and his grandparents if the Eagles win. They're gone now, but he'll never forget being with them in 1960 at Franklin Field when the Eagles beat the Green Bay Packers in the 28th NFL title game.

“Family is so tied in to what people feel about this team," Didinger added, "that everybody is going to feel exactly the same thing: ‘I wish grandpop was here. I was Uncle Bill was here. I wish they could all share in this.’ 

"Or, if they are still here, they’re all gonna share in it together.”

On Evergreen Drive, the Markerts will share in it together.

Because Frank Markert is still here. And there's a bottle of champagne awaiting his popping.

Contact reporter Jeff Neiburg at (302) 983-6772, jneiburg@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @Jeff_Neiburg.