This summer's Philadelphia Eagles training camp was a pretty exclusive affair. The Eagles invited only about 100 people from all of the hundreds of thousands who annually yearn to play pro football. The average male who received an invitation stood six feet, three inches and weighed 230 pounds. Most of the Eagles candidates had played before in the National Football League and on major college football teams. But for every 225-pound monster who received an invitation, a 145-pound weasel was admitted too. Several competitors who did not go to college and others without varsity playing time also found their way into camp. Once there, each player got an equal and objective chance to make the team. The Eagles, a league doormat for ten straight seasons, offer four difficult, but not impossible, ways to find yourself doing toe-touches with 100 other smelly athletes on a miserably hot summer morning at Widener College training grounds.
The first method is least helpful but most realistic: be a professional football player already. The Eagles offered about 40 slots to those who played for them last year. Another half dozen invitations went to those who played for other clubs and were then traded to or released and signed by the Eagles.
The National Football League's annual college draft provides the second route into training camp. The teams take turns choosing players from that year's crop of college graduates. In order to be drafted a player has to get a pro scout to notice him. This can be difficult if you don't play in one of the post-season bowl games or for a name school like Ohio State or UCLA. Before professional football's recent expansion, getting noticed at an obscure football school was almost impossible. Now there is a national syndicate that helps scout players at every school in the country. The scouting organization rates all the players, allowing each team to compare a player at a lesser football school with one at a football power. The Eagles also have two full-time scouts who prowl the nation in search of potential professionals.
The rubric "free agent" covers the rest of this year's invitees. A free agent is a person unaffiliated with a professional team. If he has intrigued the coaching staff, he can sign with the Eagles for a training camp invitation and a small amount of money. Most free agents in the Eagles camp used one of two means to gain invitations. Many in the free agents category have tried and failed with the second route, the college draft. They were drafted by the Eagles or another team within the last few years and later were cut or quit. Undaunted by earlier failure, they have pleaded with the Eagles for another chance.
For those who never have had a chance to play pro football or be drafted, there is still one more avenue open: the Papale method. This path gets its name from a legend in the Philadelphia area, Vince Papale, who never played college football but decided to try his luck at professional football anyway. Several years ago Papale quit his job to start conditioning to be a professional wide receiver. On paper Papale's decision seemed foolhardy. He knew little about football, no more than those who watch it on television on Sundays. His build and speed are not exceptional by pro standards. But he had great determination. He started a series of rigorous workouts. He spent two sessions with The Philadelphia Bell of the now-defunct World Football League, the second session riding the bench. Two years ago he showed up at an annual spring tryout camp, held each year by the Eagles to give athletes overlooked in the college draft a chance to show their stuff. From there he got an invitation to summer training camp. Camp gave him a chance to show what he does best, work with determination. At each round of cuts, week after week, his name came up in coaches' meetings. Each time someone suggested that Papale did not have as much talent as other wide receivers and perhaps should be let go. But each time another coach spoke up in his behalf. He stayed and eventually made the 43-man roster.
A more typical story would be that of Scott Hilton, a 23-year-old carpenter who did not go to college, but who impressed Eagles scouts at this year's spring tryout. His only previous experience was as tight end for the Somerton Stars in the Delaware Valley Semi-Pro Conference. Hilton excelled in the opening days of training camp. After a few weeks, however, he quit. "I simply wasn't mentally prepared," Hilton says now. "I wasn't used to getting up at seven to eat breakfast, getting on the field by nine for a morning workout, stopping for lunch and a nap and then going back on the field again. At night I had to lift weights, study my playbook and make the 11-o'clock bedcheck. I didn't have enough time to study the playbook. 1 just couldn't take it all in. I began to look forward to the nights when I could call home for 20 minutes of relief. It got to be too much mentally."
No matter what path the 102 prospective Eagles used to get into training camp this July, each athlete had one thing in common: he was scared. No one, whether veteran, rookie or free agent, has immunity from the late-night note under the door requesting him to return his playbook in the morning. From the day's first deep knee-bend to the last late-afternoon stride, these would-be professionals were thinking about the cuts the Eagles must make to trim the roster to 43 by opening day.
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