{"id":281427,"date":"2025-08-12T05:51:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T05:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/281427\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T05:51:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T05:51:09","slug":"a-philadelphia-tradition-eagles-training-camp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/281427\/","title":{"rendered":"A Philadelphia Tradition; Eagles Training\u00a0Camp."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Photo Courtesy of Eagles Nation on X. <\/p>\n

I still remember grandpop recalling it as vividly fifty years after as it was to him on that very day. The Philadelphia Eagles\u200a<\/a>\u2014\u200aonly having come into existence two years previously in 1933\u200a\u2014\u200ahad moved Training Camp from Atlantic City, New Jersey to Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia. A short bus ride from West Philadelphia<\/a>\u200a\u2014\u200ahe set out with a boxed lunch to get a glimpse of the 1935 Eagles.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

In 1935\u200a\u2014\u200athe world was a different place and football was no exception. Training Camp wasn\u2019t just a place to study playbooks\u200a\u2014\u200ait was a time to get back into shape as many players had offseason<\/a> jobs. Eagles like (Defensive End Bill Hewitt<\/a> who worked as a repairman<\/a> at a service station. The Eagles had began life ninety-two years ago<\/a> in 1933 with two seasons at a resort in New Jersey. What awaited fans like grandpop at Chestnut Hill Academy was a chance to see the team\u2019s practice, to get right up next<\/a> to the field, and even an opportunity for interaction with players.<\/p>\n

The Eagles would only practice at Chestnut Hill Academy for one season before moving to Temple University<\/a> in 1936\u20131937. In 1938 and 1940 and then again between 1944\u20131945\u2014 they practiced at what would become West Chester\u200a\u2014\u200awhich was known at the time<\/a> as West Chester State<\/a> Teachers College. In 1939 and 1943\u200a\u2014\u200athe Eagles trained<\/a> at St. Joseph\u2019s College<\/a>. They even called a high school in Wisconsin home between<\/a> 1941\u20131942.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the first championship years for the Eagles between 1948\u20131949\u200a\u2014\u200athey began summer practices outside of Pennsylvania. Right after the Second World War (1946\u20131948 )\u200a\u2014\u200aPhiladelphia<\/a> traveled to Saranac High School, in Saranac Lake, New York. Between 1949\u20131950\u200a\u2014\u200athe first NFL team to win a World Championship on the West Coast with a summer start at the University of Minnesota North Central Agricultural<\/a> School.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Photo Courtesy of Wikapedia<\/p>\n

Starting in 1951\u200a\u2014\u200athe Eagles began a tradition of more permanent destinations for Training Camp locations. Between (1951 and 1967)\u200a\u2014\u200athe Eagles would begin some sixteen NFL seasons<\/a> in Hershey, PA. They even made Reading their home while utilizing the facilities<\/a> at Albright College from 1968\u20131972. Between 1973 and 1979\u200a\u2014\u200aPhiladelphia<\/a> even utilized Widener University. Between the years of 1980 and ending in 1995\u200a\u2014\u200athe Eagles even returned to the University of West Chester after<\/a> thirty-five years. And then for seventeen<\/a> years\u2014 Lehigh University in Bethlehem was the site of Training Camp for the entire Andy Reid Era in Philadelphia. It was August of 2012 when Reid\u2019s oldest son Garrett was found dead at Lehigh<\/a> University as a result of a overdose of drugs.<\/p>\n

Finally in 2013\u200a\u2014\u200ajust in time for the arrival of Coach Chip Kelly\u200a\u2014\u200athe Eagles joined the growing trend of NFL Teams staying at home<\/a> in their own (Facilities) at the Novacare<\/a> Complex<\/a> for the yearly Training Camp. Today\u200a\u2014\u200aPhiladelphia hosts <\/a>only one open practice during<\/a> August at (Lincoln) Financial Field. Unlike ninety years ago in 1935\u200a\u2014\u200asecurity and crowd control now dominate the experience. Fans are packed into stands and interaction with players are limited<\/a>. But like that 1935 experience that my grandpop had in Chestnut Hill\u200a<\/a>\u2014\u200athe chance to see the Philadelphia Eagles before the start of the season\u200a\u2014\u200ais the pinnacle of excitement for Eagles fans. That excitement\u200a\u2014\u200ahasn\u2019t changed one bit.<\/p>\n

Tags: #JalenHurts<\/a> Andy Reid<\/a> Chip Kelly<\/a> Lincoln Financial Field<\/a> Training Camp<\/a> <\/p>\n

Categorized:Eagles<\/a> More PHL<\/a> Unique Columns<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo Courtesy of Eagles Nation on X. I still remember grandpop recalling it as vividly fifty years after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2068],"tags":[31730,501,2251,25,7,15509,6,242,109,2476,8896],"class_list":{"0":"post-281427","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-eagles","8":"tag-jalenhurts","9":"tag-andy-reid","10":"tag-chip-kelly","11":"tag-eagles","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-lincoln-financial-field","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-philadelphia","16":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","17":"tag-philadelphiaeagles","18":"tag-training-camp"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115014237177239893","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}