PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Longtime Eagles season ticket holder Jim Montgomery defines dedication to Philadelphia sports.
He's a fan of all the teams — Union included.
Jim Montgomery with his wife Abby and their kids Ella and Thatcher at Subaru ParkJim Montgomery
Montgomery, a native of Coatesville who currently lives in Oreland, is a husband, father of two and educator who became enamored of Philadelphia sports bonding with his family growing up. Today the 45-year-old shares that passion with his wife and kids.
"Jim's passion never wavered," says friend Matt Moore. "No matter what."
And every day, no matter what, he gets in front of a microphone for 15 to 30 minutes to give his two cents on current events in Philadelphia sports and to turn back the clock to visit a moment in Philly sports history.
Montgomery hosts and produces a daily podcast called "This Day in Philly Sports History." He also orchestrates one of the more unusual season ticket packages you'll find, which is historic in its own way.
Flashback: New Year's Eve, 2000. The Eagles were in the postseason for the first time since the 1996 season, and hosting a playoff game for the first time since Dec. 30, 1995. Montgomery went to Boscov's, as he recollects in his podcast, to get Eagles tickets that were more affordable than what the folks could get waiting in line outside Veterans Stadium.
That game gave Montgomery a spark. The Eagles advanced by beating the Buccaneers 21-3. Donovan McNabb ran for a touchdown and threw a couple to Na Brown and Jeff Thomason. Hugh Douglas was dominant — sacking Shaun King twice, which included a strip sack.
"I just was like, 'This is incredible,'" Montgomery told KYW.
He says as soon as the Eagles offices opened after the calendar flipped to 2001, he called and asked about season tickets. These days, there's a waiting list. A quarter century ago — believe it or not — according to Montgomery, there wasn't.
"I was like, 'Well how many season tickets can I get?' And they were like, 'How many do you want?' I'm like, 'I don't know. That's what I'm asking. How many can I get?' And they're like, 'No, how many do you want?' It floored me. I could have gotten 100."
Montgomery approached a bunch of his Temple buddies about joining him. Each person needed $100 to sign on. Moore says he only had $96 in his checking account, but Montomgery spotted him the other $4.
"That's just the kind of guy [Jim] is," Moore said.
They got 11 seats. Harry Kalas would be proud.
Thus, you could say Montgomery and his buddies — all the way up in section 746 at Veterans Stadium — were on the ground floor of the Donovan McNabb/Andy Reid era. Their first season the Eagles won their first NFC East title since 1988. It was the first of four in a row. Montgomery sensed McNabb and Reid were building something special. He was right.
Jim Montgomery with his wife Abby at Lincoln Financial FieldJim Montgomery
Today, Montgomery and his friends still have 11 tickets with 10 in a row near the top of the Linc, and one seat in the row behind that.
Unless my calculations are wrong, there have been 193 regular season home games in South Philadelphia since Montgomery and his friends got there. Additionally – there have been 15 postseason games, not including the one this weekend.
🏈 There's been the heartbreak of Tampa Bay's Ronde Barber shutting down The Vet. Joe Jurevicius is still running.
🏈 Fourth and 26 became possible.
🏈 Freddie Mitchell thanked his hands.
🏈 Chad Lewis broke his foot on the way to helping the Eagles finally win the NFC.
🏈 Lito Sheppard picked off Drew Bledsoe and took it to the house over 100 yards. A couple years later, the Eagles dominated the Cowboys 44-6 to make the playoffs.
🏈 Brian Dawkins wore another team's uniform at the Linc after pouring everything he had, and then some, into midnight green.
🏈 LeSean McCoy made the "Snow Bowl" epic.
🏈 Somehow, someway the Eagles prevented Julio Jones from catching a game-winning touchdown for the Falcons.
🏈 Patrick Robinson saved the 2017-18 NFC Championship Game against the Vikings. And how cool was Nick Foles' flea-flicker?
🏈 Carson Wentz threw only four passes in a playoff game against the Seahawks before getting a concussion.
🏈 The Eagles won two NFC titles in a span of six seasons.
🏈 Saquon Barkley became the Eagles single-season rushing leader and eclipsed 2,000 yards in South Philadelphia.
Did I miss something?
These are the memories Montgomery and his friends — with about half of the original group still part of the season ticket package — have experienced because of Montgomery's assertiveness at the start of the century.
"[The season ticket package] really is a special thing," Moore — who is part of the group — said, "and Jim's responsible for that."
To this day, Moore said Montgomery is still the one that collects payments, distributes the tickets and figures of the tailgating logistics. It has become a way for these college pals to stay in touch, even after they've started families.
"And here we are, 24 years later, hanging out with some of the same guys from college," Montgomery said. "It's just a cool experience."
And the other neat thing about it all is he gets to talk about these moments on his podcast, which never skips a day.
To hear more about Montgomery, tune into this week's edition of KYW Newsradio's Philadelphia Sports Fan of the Week.
