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.