The Pulse: Of popes and football

Jimmy Murray will be among the throngs on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Sunday celebrating Mass with Pope Francis. He knows the odds are long of repeating what happened when a pope last visited Philadelphia 36 years ago.

The former Eagles general manager and famed raconteur is now 77, or as he puts it, "a Red Grange." In the fall of 1979, he was Eagles owner Leonard Tose's right-hand man.

"I ran into Councilman Franny Rafferty at Cous' Little Italy in South Philly. By the way, that was what I call the ultimate takeout restaurant," he says with a laugh. (The Italian restaurant that was then at 11th and Christian is where mob boss Angelo Bruno ate his final meal before being executed in 1980.) "Franny offered me four silver tickets to see Pope John Paul II."

Murray took his wife, Dianne, and their 10-month-old son, named John Paul. He gave the fourth ticket to the Eagles' official photographer, Eddie Mahan.

The Murrays dressed baby John Paul in blue and convinced noted artist Dick Perez, now the official artist of the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame, to paint a sign in Vatican colors, saying, "I, too, am named John Paul in your honor."

The goal was to have Mahan take a picture should the pope and his namesake appear in the same frame. Murray's final touch was to entrust his son to a priest, Father Joe Murray (no relation), the chaplain of the Father Judge football team.

Arriving at Logan Circle, Murray was told by Kevin Tucker, then a Secret Service agent who would later become Philadelphia police commissioner, that the pope would exit the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul and drive around Logan Circle in the Popemobile.

"But," says Murray today, "lucky for us the pope called an audible." Instead, he proceeded into the crowd. Whether it was the baby's attire, Perez's catchy sign, or Father Murray's grasp of the baby, we will never know. All that is certain is that the pontiff stopped and blessed the child - and Jimmy Murray missed it.

"I was too emotional," he says. "I didn't see it."

The following day Murray was in Tose's office with head coach Dick Vermeil when Mahan walked in. ("Mahan had some juice at Quaker Photo and got quick turnaround.")

"I blew the shot," Mahan told the Eagles execs, before producing a picture featuring only the pope's hand with a ring. Murray was devastated.

"I told him that's like the Marines blowing it at Iwo Jima," recalled Murray.

After having fun at Murray's expense for a few minutes, Mahan unveiled his real handiwork: a color photograph showing the outstretched right arm of the smiling pope blessing John Paul Murray.

"You couldn't take a better picture if you went to the Vatican and posed," Murray said.

Tose, one of the first Jewish graduates of Notre Dame, insisted that the picture be given to the Associated Press, whereupon it was distributed nationwide.

On Nov. 12, the Eagles traveled to Dallas for an important Monday night game against the Cowboys. During a lull in the action, veteran broadcaster Howard Cosell had the picture displayed on national TV and explained who was in the photograph.

"I had friends from across the country calling me and saying, 'Yo, Mur, baby pictures with the pope are one thing, but, c'mon, Monday Night Football!"

Later, Ed Piszek, the founder of Mrs. Paul's Kitchens, who was a friend of Pope John Paul II, took the photograph to Rome to have it signed. He explained to the pontiff that it was for the manager of the local football team, which sported two Polish quarterbacks (Ron Jaworski and Joe Pisarcik). The pope gave Piszek two gold medals for the QBs, which "Mr. P" gave to them in the locker room before a playoff game the following season. The Eagles advanced.

At the 1981 Super Bowl against the Oakland Raiders in New Orleans, Murray was seated in the Superdome with Cardinal John Krol. A woman approached and said, "They must be outdoor medals, because they're not working." Without missing a beat, Krol replied: "God always answers our prayers. Sometimes the answer is no."

Murray would himself meet the pope on three subsequent occasions - including attending an Aug. 11, 1987, Mass at Castel Gandolfo, the pope's summer home, after which he enjoyed breakfast with the pontiff and a few others for more than an hour.

"I told him he was the head coach of the world," and he laughed, Murray said.

It's been three decades, but the story rolls off the tongue of the man who recites his Catholic pedigree with alacrity ("altar boy from West Philly, Our Mother of Sorrows at 48th and Lancaster, Holy Cross Parish in Springfield, West Catholic High, and Villanova"). Early in life, he was called to the priesthood. Drawn to the Augustinians, Murray joined the seminary only to be drummed out after 21/2 years for a trip to Radio City Music Hall that he never made.

"Being thrown out for something I didn't do prepared me for life," he offered.

Murray graduated from Villanova in 1960, having been mentored by Arthur Leo Mahan, the athletic director - and father of the future Eagles photographer. His response to an ad in the Villanovan seeking a student manager for the baseball team was his introduction into the world of sports management.

Jimmy and Dianne Murray will return to the Parkway on Sunday. They've been married 48 years, ever since he spied her for the first time and said, "I'm going to marry you." ("She initially gave me the Heisman," he says, referring to the statue's stiff-arm pose.) They've raised two girls and three boys.

John Paul Murray is now 36, a Boston College graduate and an assistant to a local money manager.

"I got my 15 minutes of fame early in life," he likes to say. His copy hangs in his dining room in Clifton Heights.

Michael Smerconish can be heard from 9 a.m. to noon on Sirius XM's POTUS Channel 124 and seen hosting "Smerconish" at 9 a.m. Saturdays on CNN.