This Frankford High football coach will be a guest of the Eagles at the Super Bowl
Damon Brockington is a mentor and a role model at Frankford High. The Eagles took notice. The result: A trip to New Orleans.
Damon Brockington has a routine for Eagles games: phone off, drink in hand, blast the national anthem before kickoff, walk loops around his Northeast Philadelphia home during halftime.
When the Eagles take on the Kansas City Chiefs in Sunday’s Super Bowl, Brockington is going to mix it up: He’ll be in New Orleans, inside the Caesars Superdome, a guest of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Brockington is what’s called a climate specialist at Frankford High, keeping hallways free of trouble and running smoothly during arrival and dismissal, at lunch, and during class changes. He’s also a Frankford alum. But he’s best known as “Coach Brock,” the head coach of a football team that won a Public League championship this fall.
In December, the Eagles named him high school coach of the year, honoring him as a top role model and athletic leader. And recently, Brockington’s dreams came true when Jason Kelce surprised him on national TV.
“ESPN and the Eagles wanted to recognize you for your dedication to the community, the kids, and on behalf of the NFL, we wanted to award you with these two Super Bowl tickets to New Orleans!” Kelce said, handing over two comically large ceremonial pieces of cardboard as two of Brockington’s children looked on.
Giving kids the right mindset
Brockington, 37, has Frankford bona fides: Born in Germantown and raised in Juniata, he was a Frankford High football star, a 2006 graduate who went on to play in college and then semiprofessionally. After his playing days were over, Brockington took a job at Sullivan Elementary School in Frankford, where he fell in love with Crystal Ferrara, a teacher who is now his wife.
When Brockington’s position at Sullivan got cut, he landed back at Frankford. He never plans to leave.
He worked his way up, coaching JV, then moving onto the varsity squad as an assistant coach, then, in 2021, assuming the head coaching job. The Pioneers were undefeated in Brockington’s first season.
It wasn’t always easy. Frankford had a few losing seasons in Brockington’s tenure, but there were plenty of lessons along the way — for the kids, but for Coach Brock, too.
“I always tell them: ‘Sometimes, you’ve got to lose to win,’” said Brockington, who’s also a wrestling, lacrosse, and basketball coach, as well as a coach of his son’s football team for the Liberty Bell Patriots.
He relishes being a mentor, passing on lessons he’s learned from sports and life: Learn from your environment. Loyalty matters. Live by the two C’s — consistency and commitment.
“I can’t let the kids fail now — that’s why I go so hard in the hallways, on the field,” he said. “I can give kids the right mindset. I feel as though I know a lot of resources from the time that I’ve been in the game.”
‘It’s an honor’
For a guy who still owns a vintage Jeremiah Trotter jersey and whose childhood dream was to play for the Eagles, finding out that the organization had chosen him as its high school coach of the year was “crazy,” Brockington said.
“It’s an honor to be a part of the Eagles organization like this,” he said.
And then the Super Bowl news? Next level.
Pretty much everyone Brockington knows wanted to be his plus one for the Super Bowl — kids in the hallway ask every minute, he jokes — but Brockington didn’t think twice when deciding whom to bring with him to New Orleans.
“When I coach the football games, my wife runs the kitchen for me,” Brockington said. “She’s my everything.”
Football is a family affair, for sure. Brockington learned to love the game from his mom, Keisha Mickens, the head cheerleading coach for the Northwest Raiders, who put Brockington on a football team at age 5. She’s still at every game one of his teams plays, cooking team meals, talking to the players.
“Whenever I feel like I’m having a bad moment, I walk straight to my mom before I walk to the locker room,” Brockington said. “She’s such a positive role model.”
Brockington’s five kids, all athletes (except the youngest, 4, who’s not quite there yet but who likes to run around the house on game days shouting “Eagles!”), are pumped for their dad.
Taking time away from his usual cycle of working-coaching-shuttling kids to activities (”team no-sleep,” he said) is a thrill. Brockington has never been to New Orleans and plans to try gumbo and crawfish, but he is zero-percent nervous about the game.
“I’m just excited,” Brockington said. “I feel like this is our time — the way we’re rolling, the way our defense is playing, this is our time.”