Pro Football Hall of Fame home to numerous Eagles items, including Nick Foles’ helmet and Brian Dawkins’ Bible

The Eagles date back nearly 90 years, and much of the team’s storied past is part of the extensive archives at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

But the Hall of Fame’s vaults are vast enough that much of the collection goes unseen by the public, stored on shelves in dark rooms that give the government warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark a run for its money. The museum is home to more than 40,000 artifacts and 40 million pages of documents, most of which can only be seen if you purchase a $2,000-per-group, behind-the-scenes tour.

Jon Kendle, the Hall of Fame’s longtime archivist, opened up the museum’s vault to offer a peek at some of the Eagles memorabilia that visitors don’t get a chance to see.

» READ MORE: Eagles fan visiting the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton? Here’s what you need to know.

Though he ultimately decided to leave the Eagles rather than back up Carson Wentz, Nick Foles will always be a hero in Philadelphia for his part in securing the team’s first Super Bowl victory (including calling the game’s defining play).

Kendle said the Hall of Fame worked with the Eagles to collect items that embodied their underdog victory against the New England Patriots. Foles — the game’s MVP — was central.

His helmet is stored in the Hall of Fame’s archives, as are the cleats he wore during an Eagles game in November 2013, when he tied an NFL record by throwing seven touchdown passes against the then-Oakland Raiders. His Super Bowl LII jersey is on display in the museum’s Super Bowl gallery, where it hangs alongside the jerseys of two Hall of Famers — Tom Brady and Joe Montana.

But Canton won’t be allowed to keep Foles’ Eagles memorabilia forever.

“Well, I’m going to get ‘em back, let’s make that clear,” Foles jokingly told reporters in 2018. “Those will go to my kids. Hall of Fame, if you’re listening, those will go to my kids someday.”

The famed Eagles defensive back was open about his religion during his 16 seasons in the NFL, and his personal Bible was among the items he donated to the Hall of Fame when he was enshrined in 2018.

Inscribed on the Bible is “Minister Brian Dawkins,” since he acted as the Denver Broncos’ religious leader during his three years with the team. Kendle said the Hall of Fame is now the home of six Bibles, including ones donated by coach Tony Dungy and running back Curtis Martin.

“What I like about Brian’s Bible is it was very well used,” Kendle said.

In addition to the usual helmets and game-worn jerseys, Dawkins donated several statues of the X-Men character Wolverine, where his “Weapon X” nickname originated. He also included a drawing of him as the famed Marvel character.

“I was a huge fan of Wolverine,” Dawkins told The Inquirer in June. “I was blessed to be able to kind of use some of that energy he displayed in the comic books on the field. That kind of animal-like instinct.”

Most football fans know John Madden as a coach, broadcaster, or video game icon. But few remember he was once a player drafted by the Eagles.

Madden was an all-conference lineman out of California Polytechnic State University in 1958, and the Eagles selected him in the 21st round with the 244th pick (back then, the NFL draft went 30 rounds). Madden hurt his knee during training camp and never played a down in the league, but the injury also put him on the path to coaching.

“While I was rehabbing, [Eagles great] Norm Van Brocklin would be watching films and would explain what was happening,” Madden told Electronic Gaming Monthly in 1995. “I ended up with a degree in teaching, and my love for football meshed with teaching.”

Madden’s 1959 contract with the Eagles paid him $7,000, which would work out to about $71,000 in today’s dollars.

“Madden would say, ‘I don’t have hobbies. I don’t fish. I don’t play golf. I do football,’” Kendle said. “All the way up until the day he passed, he did football.”

» READ MORE: ‘I might have cried:’ Former Eagles remember the honor of being named All-Madden

Vermeil wears his heart on his sleeve, but he stored his NFL secrets in massive binders.

One is his offensive notebook from the 1982 Eagles season, which features about 700 pages of formations, plays, and definitions players were expected to learn. It also includes touches of Vermeil’s connection to the team, like a heartfelt introduction dedicated to six former players and coaches who took jobs with other teams but “exemplify what it means to be an Eagle.”

“Part of his coaching philosophy was all about building strong relationships with every individual in that organization,” Kendle said. “And you see that in all of his books.”

Vermeil donated other playbooks, including a 2005 Kansas City Chiefs offensive binder and his playbook while head coach of the then-St. Louis Rams. Vermeil was also the first special teams coach in NFL history, and on display is his playbook from the 1969 Los Angeles Rams.

» READ MORE: Hall of Fame coach Dick Vermeil on representing the Eagles: ‘This is my community’

The “Minister of Defense” spent eight sack-filled seasons in Philadelphia, but 1987 was easily his best.

In the strike-shortened season, White recorded 21 sacks in just 12 games, an astonishing pace that has yet to be matched. White also scored a touchdown during the season’s first game after stripping the football from Washington quarterback Doug Williams and returning it 70 yards.

“He could toss offensive linemen in the air. He could run over them. Sometimes he did both inside of the same play,” wrote former Daily News columnist Sam Donnellon. “And he was so ridiculously fast that he occasionally ended practices by running pass routes with the receivers.”

White’s 1993 Pro Bowl jersey, which he earned during his first year with the Green Bay Packers, is also on display.

Bednarik was known as “Concrete Charlie” for a reason, and the nicks and scratches on his helmet are hard to miss.

It was during the 1960 season that Bednarik knocked former Giants running back Frank Gifford unconscious with a tackle so vicious it has simply become known as “The Hit.” The image of Bednarik celebrating is an iconic photograph symbolizing the game’s violence.

“Frank missed a whole year of football the following season, that’s how hard he got hit,” former Giants linebacker Sam Huff told NFL Films. “I thought Bednarik killed him.”

What often gets overlooked is later that season, Bednarik made a game-saving tackle in the closing seconds of the 1960 NFL championship game against the Green Bay Packers, securing an Eagles’ victory.

» READ MORE: Chuck Bednarik, Frank Gifford, and the collision that still reverberates, 60 years later

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is located in Canton because that’s where the association that became the NFL first organized in August 1920.

The Eagles didn’t become part of the league until 1933, when they were selected as an expansion team to replace the Frankford Yellow Jackets, who played eight seasons in North Philly. (The Eagles kept the team’s blue and yellow color scheme for several years.)

Instead of taking their names and logos from their baseball counterparts like other new NFL franchises that season, the Eagles took their inspiration from the Blue Eagles, symbolizing the National Recovery Administration, which was an important part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal program.

The Eagles’ franchise certificate is signed by Joseph Carr, who served as the NFL’s president from 1921 until 1939.

Famed Eagles wide receiver Harold Carmichael, dubbed the “King of the Contested Ball,” earned his gold Hall of Fame jacket in 2020. In exchange, he gave the museum one of his own.

» READ MORE: Eagles great Harold Carmichael finally gets his Hall of Fame enshrinement

Among the items Carmichael gave was the XXL Eagles track suit jacket he wore during the 1980 season on away trips. The coat has both Carmichael’s name and his number — 17 — embroidered on the front.

Carmichael played 14 seasons, 13 of them in Philadelphia, and still holds the Eagles ‘records for receptions (589), receiving yards (8,978), and touchdown catches (79). After he retired, he spent nearly 20 years working in the Eagles’ front office, and still serves as a team ambassador.

While the Eagles didn’t win their first Super Bowl until 2018, Philadelphia did win three NFL championship games before the merger between the NFL and AFL in 1970.

Among those was the 1948 championship game against the Chicago Cardinals, which was later dubbed the “Blizzard Bowl” because it was played during a heavy snowstorm. There was so much snow on the ground at Shibe Park that Eagles fans were told if they arrived to the stadium with a shovel, they could watch for free.

According to Kendle, Hall of Fame running back Steve Van Buren went through his own version of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles to get to the stadium after waking up assuming the game would be postponed because of snow.

“He goes to get into his car, but it’s snowed in,” Kendle said. “So he walks to the bus station and takes the bus to the train, which takes him into the city. Then he has to take the subway, which drops him four to five blocks from the stadium, and walks the rest of the way in the snow.”

The stressful commute didn’t stop Van Buren from scoring the only touchdown and being named the game’s most valuable player.