It started with a coincidence.

Interview season for the Philadelphia Eagles – mid-late 90s – and team owner Jeffrey Lurie was making his rounds, scouting for potential additions to his team.

He had a second cousin that he didn’t know too well. This cousin’s husband was Paul Pasqualoni, then-head coach of the Syracuse football team, who evidently helped Lurie familiarize himself with Donovan McNabb.

And it wasn’t long before Lurie saw that McNabb had a real “sense of stability.”

Fourteen years, four NFC championship game appearances, two years away from the Eagles and a further two in quasi-retirement later, Lurie had many more positive things to say about McNabb at the 36-year-old’s retirement press conference.

“[He is a] franchise-changing quarterback, and those words are not spoken very often,” Lurie said.

McNabb was the Eagles’ first draft pick in 1999, and was a starter for the Eagles for 11 years. His jersey will be retired by the team in mid-September.

Monday was a, “special day, special day” McNabb said.

McNabb, who finished his Syracuse career in 1998, fought back tears as former Eagles teammates Brian Dawkins and Brian Westbrook spoke of lessons learned and memories shared throughout a decade of playing with the six-time Pro Bowler.

Westbrook said he and McNabb shared a lot on and off the field, and they were, and are, “best friends around the game” – a “duo in sports.”

Dawkins spoke of the days “before ‘5’ got here,” and described McNabb as a leader.

“It was a pleasure going to war with you,” he concluded, before a long, over-the-shoulder hug with McNabb.

McNabb hasn’t played in the NFL since 2011. He holds many of the Eagles franchise records, with numbers like 216 touchdown passes and 32,873 passing yards.

Lurie described Monday morning as a time to honor the greatest player in the history of the Eagles.

“I just can’t say enough about No. 5,” Lurie said. “Tough? There’s never been a player tougher.”

When McNabb took the podium, he spoke of the love he has for his parents, for always motivating, challenging and driving him in life, and of the love he has for his college-sweetheart wife, Roxie, and their four children.

“What you do on the field or on the court does not make you a great role model. It’s the decisions that you make away from your place of business, and when no one is looking,” he said.

He spoke of the appreciation he has for his teammates and their sacrifice, passion and resolve throughout his tenure in Philadelphia.

McNabb attributes a lot of his success as a professional football player to his time spent on the turf at the Carrier Dome.

“My time at Syracuse prepared me for everything here,” McNabb said.

He spoke of how privileged he was to have the opportunity to learn from former SU coaches Kevin Rogers and Pasqualoni. He described Rogers as “sort of like my father in the New York area.”

“Kevin Rogers prepared me for each and every time as a quarterback in this league,” McNabb said.

McNabb said that he plans to “be around” Syracuse, where he led the Orangemen to a 35-14 record, more frequently, and plans to get more involved in the community. The University will retire his jersey in November.

Said McNabb: “If you want to be great, make the man next to you greater.”

Published on July 29, 2013 at 3:18 pm

Contact Allie: ajcaren@syr.edu