| For Lurie, A Special Day Is Smashing Success March 7, 2001  Through all the handshakes and the smiles and the words of congratulations came the message from Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie: this is but one means to the end of winning championships. "This" was the official opening of the NovaCare Complex on Wednesday night, a truly spectacular evening featuring current and former players, corporate bigwigs, politicos. They all came to see what had taken 3 1/2 years to come to fruition -- the finest training and office facility in the NFL and, indeed say those who know, in all of sports. Lurie cut the ribbon, along with his wife Christina, architect Michael Graves, Ed Miersch, the president of NovaCare Rehabilition, Rocky Ortenzio, the Chairman/CEO of NovaCare's parent company, Select Medical Corporation and Philadelphia City Council President Anna Verna. The folks in the crowd clapped, and then went on a jaw-dropping tour of the 108,000 square foot facility. Bravo to Jeffrey Lurie and the Eagles. For too long, he was doubted for his ability to pull this office. I distinctly remember the day at Veterans Stadium three football seasons ago when Lurie and the people from NovaCare announced the partnership. The media were seated in a room with leaks, with spotted roof tiles, with a noisy fan disrupting the sound. There was a loud sound, a backfire from the corridor of the Vet, and everybody laughed. They laughed at the Vet. They laughed at the Eagles. Won't happen, said the cynics. The Eagles are going nowhere, boasted the cynics. A stadium? Forget it. Well now look at what's happened. Lurie and his "comrade in arms," as Lurie called him, Joe Banner made it all happen. They've turned the fortunes of this football team into something beyond promising. And they've done the little things that mean so much to guys like Bill Bergey. The former Eagles linebacker said he felt like he had "leprosy" when he walked in the hallway of Veterans Stadium when Norman Braman owned the team. Now he feels welcome. Bergey saw the dozens of pictures throughout the NovaCare Complex that paid tribute to the past of the franchise, to those whose hearts and souls were laid out in combat to get the organization to where they are today. So while the Eagles have built this mecca of a facility, they've made certain the past was weaved into the fabric of the present. "It means everything to me," said Bergey. "You know, I always felt like such an outcast before Jeffrey bought the team. I felt like I wasn't welcome, like I didn't belong. I couldn't understand it. "I told Jeffrey when he bought the team: 'We don't want to be stroked. We don't want to take away from the glory of these players. We just want to be welcomed.' He's made us feel welcomed." So that was the theme of the night. Here are the Eagles, with open arms and the best home in the world. The football part revs back into high gear on Thursday. Free agency kicks into high gear. But for one night, it wasn't about who the team was going to draft or who they would sign in free agency. It was about creating, as Lurie said, "a building block." This building block, this NovaCare Complex, is the kind of place to savor, to treasure, to show off. It's a piece of what is and what will be with the Eagles. |
