Bill Bergey obit

Bill Bergey, a Pro Bowl linebacker for the Eagles, dies at 79

 

He was not on the list.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Bill Bergey, a five-time Pro Bowl linebacker who played in a Super Bowl for the Philadelphia Eagles, died Wednesday, the team announced. He was 79.

His son, Jake, posted on social media that Bergey died of cancer. Bergey, a three-time Eagles team MVP in a vote of his teammates, had been open about his fight with the disease over the last few years.

Bergey, who was inducted into the Eagles Hall of Fame in 2009, said he had a form of jaw cancer since 2021.

“I didn’t give it the old, ‘Why me?’ or anything like that,” he said in 2003. “I just thought that I had to fight it just like I would fight anything else that I needed to fight.”

Bergey was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in 1969 and made one Pro Bowl appearance for them before he was traded ahead of the 1974 season. Bergey’s career took off in Philadelphia and he became one of the more popular Eagles players in his era. He made the Pro Bowl in 1974, 1976, 1977 and 1978 and was named an All-Pro for the 1974 and 1975 seasons.

“I’ve always had a love affair with the fans of Philadelphia,” Bergey said in 2023. “I have always been kind and courteous to them all the way up that ladder of success that I had because, you won’t believe it, but I’ve met the same people coming back down off that ladder.”

Team owner Jeffrey Lurie said Bergey “gained the respect of players and coaches across the league for his blue-collar work ethic and hard-nosed play.”

“Bill exemplified what it meant to be an Eagle in every way, and proudly represented the team in the community well after his playing days were over,” Lurie said in a statement.

Bergey, who had 27 career interceptions, highlighted by five in 1974, was one of 60 nominees that the Pro Football Hall of Fame seniors committee considered this fall. He failed to advance to the next round.

His last season was 1980 under coach Dick Vermeil when the Eagles lost to the Oakland Raiders. Bergey, who played college ball at Arkansas State, played in all 16 games but he retired because of a lingering knee injury.

“I always had a sense that we were moving in the right direction,” Bergey said in 2015. “Even in the early years (under Vermeil) when the wins were few and far between, we could see the intensity of the play picking up. Dick’s personality rubbed off on us.”

Bergey served in various roles on Eagles radio broadcasts after he retired.

“Number 66 was one of the greatest players of all time,” longtime Eagles announcer Merrill Reese wrote on social media. “Nobody ever loved his family, friends, and Eagles fans more. May Bubba rest in peace.”

Bergey, who recorded nearly 1,200 tackles in seven seasons with the Eagles, was born Feb. 9, 1945, in South Dayton, New York.

Bergey was a plaintiff in the concussion-related lawsuit against the NFL.

He played college football for the Arkansas State Red Wolves. He was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals of the American Football League (AFL) in the 1969 NFL/AFL draft, the year before the AFL–NFL merger was completed, and continued to play with the Bengals in the NFL until 1973. Bergey subsequently signed with the Eagles the following year, where he played seven seasons until retiring in 1981.

During his career, Bergey was named to five Pro Bowls, was a two-time first-team All-Pro, and made one Super Bowl appearance in Super Bowl XV, his final professional game. He is an inductee of the Eagles Hall of Fame and the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame.

Bergey was born in South Dayton, New York, in 1945. He graduated from Pine Valley Central High School in South Dayton in 1964, and graduated from Arkansas State University (ASU), where he played under coach Bernie Ellender, was an All-American for the Arkansas State Indians (now Red Wolves) and has since been voted by fans the Top Player in Arkansas State history

He graduated in 1969 with a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education, and a commission in the Army Reserves.

He had two interceptions for the Bengals in his rookie year. For his efforts as a rookie, he was named the AFL Defensive Rookie of the Year by the Associated Press, the final selections made for the AFL as a league prior to the merger.

Bergey played under hall of fame coach Paul Brown at Cincinnati. He recorded three interceptions in the 1970 season, the first year for the team in the NFL. The Bengals made the postseason that year, losing to the Baltimore Colts in the divisional round 17–0, but Bergey did not record a statistic. He recorded a fumble recovery to go with an unofficial "sack". He recorded an interception in his next two combined seasons (1971–1972). In his final season with Cincinnati in 1973, he had three interceptions and recovered three fumbles.

Bergey signed a personal service contract on April 17, 1974, with the Washington Capitols, the owner of the World Football League (WFL)'s Virginia Ambassadors, which would later become the Florida Blazers once the circuit began play in July of that year. He was to have joined the WFL team in May 1976, after his contract with the Cincinnati Bengals expired following the 1975 season. However, the Bengals filed suit against Bergey for breach of contract and a temporary restraining order against the WFL and its franchises two days later on April 19. In the hearing, which began on April 29 and was adjudicated 15 days later on May 14, the court concluded that Bergey had not breached his contract and the Bengals' motion for a temporary injunction was denied.

Bergey never received any compensation from the Blazers and was released from his WFL contract. He was traded from the Bengals to the Philadelphia Eagles for a 1977 first-round selection, Wilson Whitley, and first- and second-round picks in 1978, Ross Browner and Ray Griffin respectively, on July 10, 1974.

His son Jake Bergey is a retired lacrosse player for the Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League and his son Josh Bergey is a retired lacrosse player for the Chesapeake Bayhawks of the Major League Lacrosse. Bill's brother Bruce Bergey was a standout player for the Portland Storm of the WFL.

In the film Silver Linings Playbook, Robert De Niro’s character Pat Solitano Sr., an Eagles fanatic, wears a number 66 Bill Bergey jersey.