The excitement brought to the region last week when the Philadelphia Eagles destroyed the Kansas City Chiefs in winning the 59th Super Bowl brought plenty of discussion about the present-day titans, but it also brought to mind numerous other stories about the team from the City of Brotherly Love, including a story from my friend Bill Gardiner of Nesquehoning.

Bill related in days gone by the Eagles were as popular as they are today, especially when they visited the area, sometimes for the benefit of civic organizations. They don’t do it anymore, probably because of multimillion dollar contracts and management’s protection of players in offseason activities, but the Eagles, Bill recalled, used to visit towns to play another sport — basketball — to help the nonprofits.

Such was the case in 1967 when they soared into the Panther Valley for a benefit of the Lansford Jaycees, leaving triumphantly just like Saquon Barkley and his teammates did last week.

I’m always intrigued by the past, and names in particular, so I looked up the report of the March 31 game 58 years ago when greats like Timmy Brown and Izzy Lang posted a 94-76 win over the Panther Valley Stars, a contingent made up of former prominent stars like Bill.

Brown, who was described in the Evening Record as “the greatest all-around offensive back in Eagles’ history with lightning speed, quick change-of-pace and is more powerful than most fans are aware,” fired in 32 points to lead the Birds. After Saquon’s record-breaking campaign this past year, perhaps Brown’s label as the greatest Eagle is now a thing of the past?

Lang followed Brown with an impressive 25 points. Others who hit the Eagles’ scoring column were Ike Kelly, Dave Graham, John Meyers, Fred Hill and Nate Ramsay. Incidentally, the Record called Lang “a powerhouse fullback and a rugged runner with excellent pass receiving capabilities.”

For the Stars, our former editor, Bobby Parfitt, a prolific athlete at Coaldale High School who later attained Carbon County Hall of Fame status, tallied double digits with 10. I never knew he played in that game, but I did know he was a great athlete for the Tigers, just like he was a great boss.

Besides Bobby, the Record’s Tony Zonca led the Stars with 16 points, while Joe Paluck netted 13, Tom Ouly had 12, Gardiner and Bernie Markey, 7, Doug Paton, 4, Don Fredericks and Len Mikulski, 3 each, and Jack Ruzicka, 1.

The matchup that night had a preliminary to the featured game as a team comprised of Panther Valley High School faculty members defeated the Jaycees’ squad, 56-54.

Dick McIntyre, Charlie McHugh and Bobby Gelatko paced the faculty team with 14, 13 and 11, respectively. Others in the winners’ scoring column included Jerry Farnsworth, 6, and John Wandzolak, Vince Spisak and Frank Bydlon, 4 each. Other team members included Joe Pilconis and Jim Szczecina.

On the Jaycee side Paul McArdle tallied 7 points; Vorrie Macom, John Wieczorek, Jack Marshall and Joe Yanacek, 6 each; Bob Dvorsky, 5; Dave Raab and Joe Orsulak, 4 each; Emmett McCall, 3; Ken Arndt, Bob Silver and George Greco, 2 each, and Joe Slakoper, 1. Stephen Kopunek coached the hosts.

In addition to the players and coach, the Jaycees apparently did a great job that evening hosting the NFLers, and raising funds for the annual programs the club supports. Macom and Mikulski chaired the committee that included all of the players, as well as Lawrence Burr, Paul Hackash, Norbert Huber, Thomas Pollock and Al Sommers.

At halftime of the featured game, the Jaycees honored the 1967 PVHS Panthers’ District 11 championship team coached by John Harkins and assisted by Bydlon. Team members included Tom Domarecki, Ed Flyzik, Bill Kissner, Bill Knepper, Michael Leonzi, Bob Maruschak, Bill Maynard, Dave Padora, Bill Pilconis, Walter Scheese, John Terray and Ken Vermillion.

Names, names, names. Interesting, huh?