How an Eagles fan who was abandoned as a baby reconnected with his biological siblings — and won a trip to the Super Bowl

Jim Scott still asks the question: “Why me?”

Considering his life story, it’s a fair question to ask, but he’s not asking it for the reasons one might assume.

Scott, 90, is going to the Super Bowl this weekend with his daughter, Maryland Haig, courtesy of the NFL.

“I don’t know why I’m being so fortunate and having this opportunity,” Scott said during an interview at his Lafayette Hill home last week.

The simple answer: the pair of tickets for Scott and Haig came from the NFL’s allotment of surprise. But the longer answer started in 1932 on the rear porch of a home in Pittsburgh’s Garfield section, where a 12-day old Scott was left, wrapped in a blanket, inside a basket without any identifiers. It continued decades later, when Scott reconnected with his biological family.

Scott’s story was featured by various media publications, including Inside Edition. That’s when the NFL got wind of Scott’s late-in-life reconnection, and worked with the Eagles to surprise Scott with two Super Bowl tickets during Philadelphia’s Week 18 game against the Giants. A few weeks later, Scott watched as the Eagles — the team he adopted after moving to work in the Norristown School District in the 1960s — won the NFC championship.

» READ MORE: Eagles fans deliver a Super Bowl send-off: ‘I wish it were today’

Scott wanted to join the Naval Air Cadets during the Korean War, and he needed to produce a birth certificate. That’s when the truth was revealed to him. His stepmother handed him his birth certificate, which said “unknown” in the space for his parents’ names.

For all he knew, he belonged to his father, Walter Scott, who was widowed twice.

In the 50s, long before modern DNA testing, Scott had very little to go off of to pursue the truth about his past. Plus, he said, he was “exceptionally cared for and loved.”

“Where would you even start?” said Haig.

Life went on. Scott moved to the Philadelphia area to work as a school psychologist in the Norristown School District, where he eventually became director of pupil services. Later, after completing a master’s degree, he worked at Saint Joseph’s University as a psychologist.

Around the time he retired at age 83, his four children, led by Haig, the oldest, urged him to pursue his past. Scott wrote a letter that published in a Pittsburgh publication early in 2016, expressing that he wanted to find his birth family.

Haig led the charge. She went to Ancestry.com and ordered DNA testing. The pieces of the puzzle started coming together. The biggest piece fell into place in 2022, when Haig found Felix Zabroski, her father’s brother. The similarities were striking. Both were athletes in Western Pennsylvania. Both played split end in football. Both had spent time coaching amateur sports. Both worked in education.

The families connected in person in 2022, and a 90-year-old man hugged his younger brother for the first time.

“As soon as he got out of the car, I knew it was my brother,” Scott said.

The one difference between the brothers: Felix, of course, is a Steelers fan. He sent his older brother a Steelers Santa hat for Christmas.

Scott’s family is already big — he has nine grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. The DNA testing revealed 14 blood-related siblings, though not all are alive today.

There was one minor disappointment along the way, Scott said. Years ago, he called the organization that put him up for adoption and they told him his information was in a special file. No one had ever contacted the organization to see what happened to him.

“People have asked me: weren’t you angry? No,” Scott said. “I had a fantastic life.”

Scott and Haig attended the Eagles-Giants Week 18 game at Lincoln Financial Field and were down on the field before the game. A few Eagles players came over to introduce themselves, including defensive end Brandon Graham, who told Scott he was touched by his story.

Scott and Haig watched as the Eagles clinched the No. 1 seed. They then learned they would be going to the Super Bowl, no matter which teams were playing.

» READ MORE: Brandon Graham’s impact off the field is best described by those whose lives he’s touched

Scott became an Eagles fan as soon as he moved to the area decades ago. Even throughout years of disappointment, he said he was “never discouraged by them.” Scott and his wife, Maryland Scott, used to frequent Ron Jaworski’s restaurant in Erdenheim. And the family always loved watching the Eagles play.

Scott loves watching the Eagles’ receivers most, because he used to play the position — which was then known as a split end.

“Oh you better believe it,” he said. “Those guys are fast.”

In 2018, Haig hosted a family Super Bowl party. There were two areas in the house: one upstairs for the more serious watchers and one downstairs for the not-so-interested or the children in the family.

Last week, when the Eagles were playing the 49ers in the NFC title game, Scott’s son, Jim, called to check in. The father was short and sweet: “the Eagles are on Jim, I can’t talk right now.” He hung up.

A few hours later, the reality set in: Scott and Haig were going to the Super Bowl, and their Eagles were, too.

An Eagles win would be the icing on the cake. Scott, who said family has meant everything to him along the way, would get to live out a once-in-a-life-time experience with his daughter, even if he doesn’t think he deserves to be there.

“It will be great. It will be fantastic,” he said. “I can’t overemphasize the work that she did. It’s unbelievable what she did.”