Eagles fans descended on an Oaks autograph event — and they didn’t only show up for just the players

Only in Philadelphia can the biggest names at an autograph signing not be athletes at all.

Of course, at the Philly Show at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center, there were plenty of cheers for Jalen Hurts and DeVonta Smith upon their entrance into the venue.

But a number of fans also paid upwards of $300 for their chance to meet a few Eagles cult heroes — offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, and head of security Dom DiSandro. Autograph seekers came armed with helmets, posters, jerseys, and more.

Bill Moyer and his 13-year-old son, Jayson, came armed with two kelly green helmets, one for the defense and one for the offense. “By the time the weekend’s over, we’re going to have everyone but Zach Baun, and he’s coming back, so we’re getting it finished,” Bill Moyer said.

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Morgan Murphy, a 16-year-old flag football champion, showed off her own ring at the event, a title she won as quarterback in the Eagles’ flag football league this year.

Instead of wearing jerseys for their favorite players, one group of brothers, Tony and Nick Mirabito, dressed up like DiSandro. They were fitted out in his signature black tracksuit, and brought an Italian flag for their photo op with DiSandro and fellow Italian Nick Sirianni.

“Our parents are Italian immigrants, so we just love how he represents Italian culture,” Nick Mirabito said. “ … He just embodies Philadelphia. He’s a hardworking guy, wanted to serve others. He’s the man.”

“He’s the fixer!” Tony said.

DiSandro has been a part of the Eagles’ organization since 1999, and has grown into a favorite within the organization over nearly three decades with the Eagles. But he’s quiet, and stayed under the radar for the most part until an incident against the San Francisco 49ers during a 2023 matchup, in which DiSandro shoved 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw and was ejected, to raucous applause from the Lincoln Financial Field crowd.

Since then, DiSandro’s profile has grown far past just being a cult hero — he’s turned into an Eagles icon.

Stoutland, another icon, was greeted by an excitable Sirianni in the back room. Sirianni nearly jumped on his back to give the longtime Eagles offensive line coach a hug at the show. Fans in line waiting for his autograph were nearly as rowdy.

Tom Donohue, from Reading, brought a “Stoutland University” poster with him, in honor of Stoutland’s success developing offensive lineman. Jordan Mailata used the same phrase during his Sunday Night Football introduction. Other fans wore “Stoutland University” T-shirts to meet Stoutland — although not the ones Stoutland sells through the Eagles Autism Foundation, which Stoutland joked about in the photo booth.

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How many offensive line coaches are popular enough for people to make bootleg merchandise about them?

“It just goes to show that this organization itself is probably one of the greatest organizations in the entire NFL and in all of sports, I would say,” Donohue said. “When you have people like Dom and Stout, and people, not just Eagles fans, people outside of the Eagles organization, know who they are, and they actually want to know what they’re doing, why they’re being so successful, and take that into their own organizations to win.”

There’s never been a better time to be an Eagles fan — the Birds won Super Bowl LIX and fans felt optimistic about the future with the core group for the next few seasons. But the love for the Eagles’ many side characters, and not just the players on the field, makes the Birds’ fan base special.

“We have a fan base where, we’ll go out of our way to go meet the assistant coach,” Chris McGranaghan said. “We’re going to wait in line for an autograph for the head of security. What fan base does that? How funny is it that a guy like Dom is absolutely a celebrity? It is the greatest thing in the world, especially going back to hearing stories of him from a decade ago, to see where he is now.”