Every time Matt Falcone put on the helmet and pads for the Palmerton Blue Bombers, and later the Temple Owls, his ultimate destination was clear — the National Football League.

While three collegiate knee injuries kept him from pursuing a professional playing career, Falcone fulfilled his dream in August by accepting a sales position based in the league’s New York office.

A promising start

Falcone graduated from Palmerton in 2009. His Bomber football career was nothing short of stellar.

A four-year letter winner and two-year captain, he became the first player in school history to throw and rush for more than 1,000 yards in a season in his role as a quarterback. He also averaged more than 37 yards as a punter, a position in which he garnered first team All-State honors. Defensively, Falcone recorded 111 tackles at linebacker.

Off the field, Falcone was a four-year honor student, served as vice president of the National Honor Society and class president, and named the 2008-09 National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame Lehigh Valley Chapter’s Scholar-Athlete.

His career at Temple got off to a to promising start as a special-teams player his freshman year.

Three consecutive ACL injuries in his right knee, however, ended any hope he had of extending his playing career.

Under Matt Rhule, Falcone stayed on at Temple as a student assistant and later worked in compliance while attending graduate school.

His dream of working in New York City came true when he landed a sales job with Discovery Communications.

It wasn’t long though before football withdrawal set in. That is when Falcone noticed the National Football League had a job opening.

Dream come true

Getting the job wasn’t easy. Falcone was up against thousands of candidates. Making things even more challenging, the job requirements asked for five years of experience. Matt had two.

“I had taken the job with Discovery, but I was getting the itch to get back into football in some way,” he said. “I knew with injuries, I wasn’t going to be able to play, and when the job opening came up with the NFL, some of my mentors at Discovery encouraged me to apply. I’ve lived my entire life with an underdog mentality and I knew I just had to go for it.”

Falcone advanced through several rounds of interviews and was offered the job in August 2017.

Religion is a big part of Falcone’s life and he credits his good fortune to his faith in God.

“The values instilled in me by my family and my faith allowed me to stay strong,” he said. “It was my dream to play professional football, but I knew I had to switch gears and make the most out of my situation. Getting the job here was just unbelievable and I couldn’t be happier.”

Working as a sales executive, Falcone works with clients who buy advertising space on one of the NFL’s numerous properties, whether it is the league’s official website or one of its social media channels.

“It’s rewarding when you go to NFL.com and see something you played a part in making happen,” he said.

Falcone’s success comes as no surprise to his high school coach at Palmerton, Paul McArdle.

“I think it is only natural that Matt ended up with this kind of opportunity,” McArdle said. “He had that uncanny ability to draw in all groups around him in a positive way. His coaches loved him, his teammates respected him, the school community rallied around him, and maybe most amazing is that even our opponents liked him. You couldn’t help but root for him and be happy for his successes. I’m sure the NFL is looking for people like Matt who can draw people in like that with his infectious positive attitude to help promote their league.”

Staying grounded

His day-to-day duties have Falcone around some of the NFL’s biggest names, past and present. He’s worked events with headliners such as Joe Montana, Steve Young and Archie Manning.

Within Falcone’s first few weeks on the job, he was in the same room with players like A.J. Green, Alex Smith and both Peyton and Eli Manning.

Having had his own aspirations of playing professional football, and coming tantalizingly close, Falcone said he finds it easy to stay grounded.

“You see a lot of familiar faces in the hallway,” Falcone said. “Working in the NFL offices in New York, we’re around the commissioner a lot and many of these big names, but you have a job to do and that brings you down to earth pretty quick.”

Falcone said he also regularly stays in touch with former Temple players such as Brandon McManus, the kicker for the Denver Broncos.

Witnessing history

Having been tabbed for the NFL job in August, Falcone was sent to the Super Bowl in Minneapolis in February. He spent most of his time taking clients to different events as a way of thanking them for their business throughout the year.

One of his assignments was overseeing a clients versus clients flag football game coached by New Orleans Saints running back duo Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara.

“It was really fun to be a part of,” Falcone said. “Mark Brunell and Rich Gannon were the quarterbacks and the clients just had smiles on their faces the whole time.”

For a Pennsylvania kid who played his college ball at Temple, however, the stars aligned when it became apparent the Philadelphia Eagles would be one of the game’s participants.

“It’s just so unbelievable the way things worked out being able to be there in person for the Eagles first Super Bowl win,” Falcone said. “At Temple, we played in their stadium and to have this connection, for everything to play out the way it did, it still hasn’t really sunk in.”

There are no shortage of Eagles fans in Falcone’s circle of family and friends, which made for a busy two weeks between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl.

The Palmerton native fielded a lot of ticket requests and while they were in scarce supply, he was happy to do what he could to make some people feel part of the event.

“I had a chance to get on FaceTime and hopefully make them feel like they were there,” Falcone said. “Hopefully in the future, I’ll have a chance to take a few people to the Super Bowl. If I had 50 tickets this time, I would have taken everybody.”

Giving back

Though he’s taken his talents to the Big Apple, Falcone is quick to remember his roots. He makes the trip home to Palmerton as often as possible and takes advantage of Temple’s open invitation for former players to stand on the sidelines during home games in Philadelphia.

He is able to put into practice much of the advice he learned from his mentors on a daily basis.

“Any coach I’ve ever had, whether it be Paul McArdle or Chris Walkowiak at Palmerton, or Al Golden at Temple, has instilled in me that the team is bigger than me,” Falcone said. “I carry that with me every day.”

Falcone had his own role models as a Palmerton student, and he now hopes to serve in that capacity for future Bombers or other small town athletes with big dreams.

“No goal is too big,” he said. “I firmly believe if a goal is easily attainable then it’s not a high enough goal. If my experience can steer others in a positive direction, to keep pushing forward, then I’m truly happy for that. We’re all human and that means anything is possible.”

Coaching future?

Falcone is comfortable in his current role, but coaching is in his blood and he’s not ruling out a return to the sideline in the future.

It’s no surprise either, with his father Mike having had coaching stints at Nazareth, Central Catholic, Palmerton, and Pleasant Valley.

“I’ll never block out any opportunity,” he said. “When football is in your DNA, it’s hard for it to ever leave.”