Radnor >> Pro Football Hall of Famer Ray Didinger was the featured speaker at the Sports Legends of Delaware County Museum in Radnor May 7.
The topic was “Ray Didinger’s Top Ten Philadelphia Sports Memories,” to which the Pro Football Hall of Famer added some personal reflections and anecdotes to each of his top 10 picks.
Didinger, who was born in 1946, picked events that he remembered during his lifetime; so only one of his top 10 was before 1974. In descending order, here’s his list, with Didinger’s reflections:
No. 1: Philadelphia Eagles win Super Bowl LII, Feb. 4, 2018 – “It’s amazing, there were 1,151 yards of total offense in this game, the most every in any NFL game, and the play that everyone remembers, the Philly Special, went for only one yard. It didn’t win the game but it defined the game. The Eagles were going for it on fourth down; they were going to be the same aggressive, go-for-it team they had been all season long. It was such a Philly way to win. … I had thought Doug Pederson called the play, but my son David, a cameraman for NFL Films, was assigned to Nick Foles, so he heard every word, every signal call, and right after the game, during a commercial break, my son said Foles called that play and Pederson signed off on it. We never would have known that Foles had called it if he hadn’t been wired.”
No. 2: Phillies win 1980 World Series, Oct. 21, 1980 – “I guess the play that I’ll always remember in the final game (Game 6) is when Bob Boone dropped the popup near the first base dugout that Pete caught. How many guys would hustle over there from first base to cover in case Boone dropped the ball, which is what happened. Pete had such awareness, and I really do believe that Pete was the difference on that team – I don’t think they would have won the World Series without him. And the 1980 National League Championship Series was one of the best postseason series ever.”
No. 3: Flyers win first Stanley Cup, May 19, 1974 – “Everyone remembers them as ‘The Broad Street Bullies’ but they could do more than fight. They were a really talented team; they had the league’s MVP Bobby Clarke, and Bernie Parent was just unbelievable – he played 73 of their 78 games, all 17 of the playoff games, and while his goals-against average was 1.89 in the regular season, it was even better than that in the playoffs. … Another interesting fact about that team is the idea of playing Kate Smith singing ‘God Bless America’ before a game was actually the inspiration of (Radnor resident) Lou Scheinfeld, who first played it (ine 1969) because he thought people weren’t paying attention during the pre-game playing of the National Anthem.”
No. 4: Villanova defeats Georgetown for the NCAA men’s basketball championship, April 1, 1985 – “This was a tough year for ‘Nova; they were the eighth seed in the Southeast Region, and they won each (NCAA tournament) game by a small margin. Every game was a struggle. And they shot 22-for-28 from the field in the final to win by just two points.”
No. 5: Phillies win 2008 World Series, Oct. 29, 2008 – “Game 5 being played out over three days, and Brad Lidge was unbelievable – 48 saves in 48 opportunities. And the final pitch he threw, a slider, was unhittable.”
No. 6: Sixers win NBA title, May 31, 1983 – “They just swept through the league that year. … And Billy Cunningham did a great job coaching all of those strong personalities on that team.”
No. 7: Eagles win 1960 NFL Championship, Dec. 26, 1960 – “There were two Radnor guys playing in this game, one on each side – Ted Dean, who scored the winning touchdown, and Emlen Tunnell on the Packers. Green Bay had a very strong team – there were 12 future Hall of Fame players on that team. Chuck Bednarik played 139 of the 150 snaps in that game – not only was he the center and linebacker but he was the long snapper too.”
No. 8: Roy Halladay’s no-hitter in the 2010 National League Division Series, Oct. 6, 2010 – What really made it remarkable was that the Reds were the highest scoring team in the National League that year. He threw 104 pitches, and only 25 of them were balls, he threw 25 first-pitch strikes to the 28 batters he faced, and only four balls were hit to the outfield.”
No. 9: Flyers defeat Soviets in the “Check Heard Round the World,” Jan. 10, 1976 – “The Soviets had been beating up on NHL teams, and this was their last game against an NHL team. The Flyers were the NHL’s last hope, so for that one day, everybody in the NHL loved the Flyers. (League president) Clarence Campbell offered to give the Flyers a pre-game pep talk, but Ed Snider turned him down. The game was scoreless when Ed Van Impe knocked Kharlamov to the ice with a legal body check, and the Soviets went off the ice for 18 minutes. Ed Snider told them, ‘If you don’t return to play, you won’t get your $250,000.’ The Soviets came back, and the Flyers beat them 4-1.”
No. 10: Eagles beat Cowboys in 1980 NFC Championship Game, Jan. 11, 1981 – “It was 8 degrees that day with 35 MPH winds, and the Eagles had to practice in Tampa all week. … I was interviewing (Cowboys president) Tex Schramm when the Cowboys were informed that they would have to wear their (unlucky) blue jerseys, and I remember his face turned beet red….When Wilbert Montgomery scored on a 42-yard run on the second play from scrimmage, the press box actually shook from the crowd noise.”
Didinger added that there were many highlights that he thought of that didn’t make the list – the 1967 Sixers, the 1993 Phillies, Villanova’s Kris Jenkins’ buzzer-beater to win the 2016 NCAA men’s basketball championship, Bryce Harper’s home run in the deciding game of last year’s National League Championship Series, Wilt Chamberlain scoring 100 points in a game in 1962, and the Immaculata women’s basketball team winning the national title.
A brief question-and-answer period and a book signing followed Didinger’s talk. Prior to Didinger’s talk, he was introduced to the audience by legendary St. James baseball coach John Mooney, who also happened to be Didinger’s English teacher at St. James. Didinger paid tribute to Mooney’s support and encouragement while he was a student at St. James, noting, “Good teachers teach, but great teachers inspire.”
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On May 16, Didinger and Main Line resident Glen Macnow will be hosting a Sports Movies night at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute at 7:30 p.m.
Didinger said, “We did a similar program when our sports movie book came out (The Ultimate Book of Sports Movies, in 2009). Glen and I will show clips from some iconic sports movies — Rocky, Hoosiers, The Natural, Caddyshack and others. We’ll talk about how the films were made, how they were cast (Jack Nicholson was the original choice for the coach in Hoosiers) and we’ll have a question-and-answer session with the audience. It really is a fun night.”
