The story behind a 'Miracle' photo

With the news this week that Pope Francis confirmed his visit to Philadelphia in September, 2015, people are talking about the previous papal visit, that of John Paul II, in 1979.

Among the stories told in the Inquirer today is that of Jim Murray, cofounder of the Ronald McDonald House, and at the time the Eagles' general manager. Murray was so devoted a Catholic that he had named his newborn son John Paul, and brought the infant to Logan Circle where the pope celebrated a Mass. More than a million people were jamming the Ben Franklin Parkway, but as the pope walked in the procession from the Cathedral to the circle right in front of them.  A family friend priest held up the child, the pope noticed him and amazingly turned, placed his hand on the child's head, and blessed him - a moment captured in a photo that soon appeared on national television, and that even today can be found in Catholic homes. Murray called it the "McMiracle."

But that's not the end of the story. That picture was taken by a photographer who had already photographed another "miracle."

Ed Mahan, the team photographer for the Eagles since 1971, made had already made another historic photo, just a year earlier of the "Miracle at the Meadowlands" at Giants Stadium. He was in the endzone in October, 1978 when Eagles cornerback Herm Edwards scooped up a fumble and ran 26 yards for a touchdown to defeat New York, 19-17. The Giants could have run out the clock by simply taking a knee, but quarterback Joe Pisarcik instead attempted a handoff to fullback Larry Csonka that went awry. It is always listed as one of the greatest moments in Philadelphia sports history.

(Ed talks about the photo here).

The photo of him taking "the picture" was shot by the Evening Bulletin's Sal DiMarco, Jr. (who passed away in 2004) from a press riser. How Ed came to be standing on a folding chair with his Nikon F, with a 35mm lens (and another with a 180mm) involves a whole another set of minor "miracles."

Ed's father was former Phillie Art Mahan. He played one major league season before serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II (When he died at 97 in 2010 he was famous for being the oldest living member of the team).

The senior Mahan was a longtime athletic director and baseball coach at Villanova, and for a while was Jim Murray's boss. It was while Murray was Sports Information Director at 'Nova that he met the young Ed Mahan, there at a time when students took all the photos for the university. Ed worked for Murray, "just a little," as a photographer, covering a few sporting events. He was majoring in business, something he really wasn't interested in, and then enlisted in the U.S. Army, and was assigned to an artillery unit in Vietnam. It was there that he pursued his interest in photography, getting a friend on leave to buy a Nikon F with a 135mm f4 lens for him in Japan. He read everything he could on photography - "I never took a single class" - and gleaned all he could from the Army photographers attached to his unit. "I would show them my pictures, and they would say, 'Ed, you're in focus, you just used too slow a shutter speed.' They were great." Ed saved his money, and when he had his own leave, went to Hong Kong, "a shopping nirvana." He bought a medium format, and more lenses - a wide angle lens and a 200mm, f/4 for his Nikon. "In those days, we said you paid $1 per millimeter. A 50mm cost $50 and a 300mm would be $300."

He returned to the States "with a bunch of cameras, but no job." His artistic side, brought out through his photography in Vietnam, took him to The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts - and work on the side painting houses. It was while painting for Jim Murray - having then moved from Villanova to the Eagles - that his old family friend "saw talent in me and asked if I would shoot the Eagles games. The first game I ever photographed was the last game at Franklin Field in 1970 when we beat the Steelers."

Murray became his advocate during the off season. They didn't have a team photographer, Ed says, they just had a Rolodex, and apparently sometimes the photographer they'd call would get to games late. Or not at all. So Murray tells him "if we say you'll be our team photographer, we want to make sure you'll show up." And he did. Ed is still shooting the Eagles - he'll be on the sidelines at today's game against Tennessee at Lincoln Financial Field,

So, Jumping ahead a few years, back to the "McMiracle" photo. Murray, now the General Manager of the Eagles, scores a few tickets a few tickets to Pope John Paul II's mass on Logan Circle. With his nine-month old son John Paul, he wanted to ensure he got a good photo of the event, so along with his wife, Dianne, and some of his five children, he brought Ed.

"Our seats were not right in front, but we had noticed empty seats, as it got closer and closer to the mass, maybe like a busload of Catholic ladies never made it," he recalled. So they pulled the "old sneak into the ballpark" move and ended up in the front row. But still, they thought they would be seeing the pontiff pass by in the "Popemobile."

They were lucky. Not only did the pope not ride from the Cathedral to the Logan Circle altar, but they could see he was walking right toward them. "It was a solemn procession," Ed recalls, "they were walking slowly like they would entering a church. The pope was not like a politician, he wasn't working the crowd."

Murray handed his son, wearing a JOHN PAUL shirt, to a taller priest he knew, who held up the pope's  nine month-old namesake, "and he starts shouting out to the pope - in Latin."

Murray handed over his son, wearing a JOHN PAUL shirt, to a taller priest, who held up the pope's  nine month-old namesake, "and he starts shouting out to the pope - in Latin."

Ed was shooting the pope with his 180mm, and then saw him make eye contact. "it's kickoff time," he thought as the pope got closer, and swictched to his Nikon with the 35mm lens. "I knew he was going for the baby. I got up on one of the empty chairs, and I pre-focused on the baby's head."

At that moment, Ed says, he realized he was a photographer. "I didn't get excited about the pope, about the moment, I was only thinking of the picture." The pope stopped, made the sign of the cross, and then reached out to touch young John Paul's forehead. "After that everything was pandemonium. Everyone around us could not believe what just happened."

"But it showed me I can keep my cool. it was my turning point. maybe I could have been a famous painter, but instead I knew I was a photographer." Just another of the "miracles" that day.

In picture above, also shot by Sal DeMarco, Jr., you can see Jim Murray at the upper right, holding both hands on top of his head, behind his wife Dianne, who is using Ed's Lecia. That's Ed at left, with John Paul, after the mass.

In addition to his work with the Eagles, Ed Mahan has been the photographer for the Flyers, Phillies, Sixers and University of Penn athletics. He is also the Director of Photography for the Penn Relays and the Big 5.