Ex-President Biden also attended Columbus Day event
Vermeil, who turns 89 later this month and whose father was Italian and French, was clearly the draw at an event that hasn’t been held for the last few years. The breakfast at the hotel’s Gold Ballroom was attended by some 200 members of Delaware’s Italian community and their guests, plus the state’s political elite, including former President Joe Biden.
While Columbus Day remains a federal holiday, many states now recognize Oct. 13 as Indigenous Peoples’ Day or both as holidays. Neither is a state holiday in Delaware.
But pride for the Italian explorer and the contributions of Delaware’s Italian community were on display at the hotel which is now owned by the Buccini Pollin Group. Two of the real estate development company’s principals — brothers Chris and Rob Buccini — are Italian Americans who grew up in the Wilmington area.
Many attendees flocked around Vermeil, who says DNA tests show he’s “27% Italian,” but the appearance of Irish American Biden, who sat next to the former coach, drew even more attention.
The former president, who is now undergoing radiation treatment for prostate cancer, quipped to WHYY News that he was only the second-most popular person in the ballroom. Biden, who briefly played football for the University of Delaware, praised Vermeil as a coach and human being.
“He was not only a hell of a coach, he was a man with a lot of integrity,” Biden told a reporter.
While Vermeil was the main draw at Monday’s breakfast, many attendees also flocked around former President Biden. (Cris Barrish/WHYY)
Biden also addressed the audience, noting Vermeil’s work with charitable causes like the Mary Campbell Center in Delaware, which provides services for children and adults with disabilities, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
“You care a lot about people,” Biden said to Vermeil during a five-minute speech. “Look at what you’ve done for Children’s Hospital, what you’ve done for people in need, what you’ve done for people who didn’t know that they were as good as they are. You convinced them they had the talent to be whatever they wanted to be. So coach, it’s a great honor to have you here. It means a lot to all of us.”
Rob Buccini agreed.
“It’s unbelievable to have him here,” Buccini, a former local high school football standout, said of Vermeil. “It shows how nice of an event this is today to have someone of his stature speaking here. And then anytime you can have the president of the United States in attendance, we take that to the heart.”
More than 200 people filled the Hotel du Pont’s Gold Ballroom for the first Columbus Day breakfast in recent years. (Cris Barrish/WHYY)
Wilmington Mayor John Carney, a former high school and college standout on the gridiron, said he’s been a fan of Vermeil for decades.
“I have never met him but always, like most Eagles fans, just adored him and what he did,” the mayor and former two-term governor said. “Most people don’t remember that before Vermeil came, the Eagles weren’t very good. And he turned them around and made them the winner they’ve become.”