The Philadelphia Eagles’ path to the Super Bowl made a stop in Two Rivers, albeit over eight decades ago.
In 1941, the Eagles organization held its six-week training camp in the Cool City.
The Wisconsin State Journal ran a story in 1996 on the visit, where they noted that the teams used “the high school athletic facilities and football field” to prepare for the upcoming season.
The Eagles were coached by Earle “Greasy” Neale, who arrived in Two Rivers on July 29th, 1941, along with players such as Tommy Thompson, Leonard Barnum, and Vic Sears.
Anyone who has visited a Green Bay Packer training camp has likely noted that there are a lot of players on the field.
That was not the case in 1941, as WWII had erupted, and a large number of NFL players were taken overseas.
The Eagles only had 38 players at that year’s camp.
The players were all fed at the Community House in the Downtown area, with food that was reportedly so good, Coach Neale took the cook with him for the next ten years of training camp.
The first year culminated in an exhibition softball game, which was played in front of 500 locals, and an intrasquad game, which drew 1,500 fans.
The team would return the following year, but in 1943, the Eagles merged with the Pittsburgh Steelers for one season to create the Steagles due to even more players being called up to serve in WWII.
And thus, the NFL’s short stint in Two Rivers came to an end.
Famed artist Lester Bently was also commissioned to paint some of the scenes from the training camp for Life magazine, but they were never published.
The reason is reportedly because Bently demanded that they be printed in color, which Life Magazine refused.
They are currently on display in the Lester Public Library.
The Super Bowl will be aired on 107.9 FM WOMT starting at 1:00 p.m. Sunday.
