John Stephen Spagnola (born August 1, 1957) is a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The club entered the NFL a ...

, and the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

Early life and education

Spagnola was born in

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bethlehem is a city in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton and Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh counties in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Bethle ...

. As a

Boy Scout A Scout, Boy Scout, Girl Scout or, in some countries, a Pathfinder is a participant in the Scout Movement, usually aged 10–18 years, who engage in learning scoutcraft and outdoor and other special interest activities. Some Scout organizatio ...

at Notre Dame Elementary School, he was awarded the

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of Scouting America. Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Scout rank has been earned by over ...

rank, and was inducted into the Eagle Scout Hall of Fame.

High school career

He attended Bethlehem Catholic High School in

, where he played wide receiver and linebacker. Bethlehem Catholic went 11-0-0 in 1974 with Spagnola as one of the team captains. He was a grade school and high school classmate of

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

Mike Guman (Bethlehem Catholic, 1976), who later starred at

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

and played 10 seasons in the

with the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

Collegiate career

After his 1975 graduation from Bethlehem Catholic, he attended

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, where he played wide receiver. He graduated in 1979 as the university's all-time leading wide receiver in receptions (88) and yards (1554). He was an honorable mention All-American tight end at Yale in 1979.

Career

NFL career

Spagnola was drafted in the ninth round of the

1979 NFL draft The 1979 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held May 3–4, 1979, at the Waldorf Astoria ...

by the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

. He played in eleven NFL seasons from

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

for the

, the 1988 for the

, and the

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

for the

. Spagnola was voted the Eagles' MVP (offensive) in 1984. His best year in the NFL came during the

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

season for the

when he caught 65 receptions for 701 yards and five

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s. In 1985, Spagnola and Mike Quick combined to set two club records; most receptions by two players (135) and most combined receiving yards (2,019), breaking a record previously shared by Hall of Famer Tommy McDonald and Timmy Brown. He was a pro-bowl alternative in 1985 and 1984. He caught more passes (129) than any other tight end in the

National Football Conference The National Football Conference (NFC) is a conference of the National Football League (NFL), the highest level of professional American football in the United States. The NFC and its counterpart, the American Football Conference (AFC), each h ...

in 1985 and 1984. He appeared in Super Bowl XV for the

versus the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

, catching one reception for 22 yards. Spagnola ranks 14th on the Eagles' all-time reception list with 256 catches for 2,833 yards. His 12 catches in one game against the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...

in 1985 were just two short of the club record shared by Brian Westbrook and Don Looney. Spagnola served as a player representative of the

National Football League Players Association The National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) is the labor unions in the United States, labor union representing National Football League (NFL) players. The NFLPA, which has headquarters in Washington, D.C., is led by executive directo ...

. During the labor strike in 1987, Spagnola's

were the only NFL team whose players did not cross the strike line. Spagnola was the first executive vice president of the

. In 2008–2009, Spagnola was sought by the

's executive search firm Reilly Partners in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

to succeed

Gene Upshaw Eugene Thurman Upshaw Jr. (August 15, 1945 – August 20, 2008) was an American professional American football, football guard (gridiron football), guard who played for the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League (AFL) and later the Nati ...

as executive director. Spagnola remained in the running after the union pared its list of finalists to five.

Broadcasting career

Spagnola began broadcasting for

ABC Sports ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial America ...

television in 1991. He covered

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the network as a

color analyst A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The person may also be referred to as a summariser (outside North America) ...

sideline reporter In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present tense. There are two main types of sports broadcast ...

, and studio analyst through the 1998 season.

Business career

In 1984, Spagnola began his career in the financial services industry, working for First Boston Corporation in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. During this time, Spagnola worked in institutional sales and trading where he developed an in depth knowledge of capital markets,

proprietary trading Proprietary trading (also known as prop trading) occurs when a trader trades stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities, their derivatives, or other financial instruments with the firm's own money (instead of using customer funds) to make a profit ...

. and corporate underwriting. In 1992, with Michael Cosack, he co-founded Spagnola-Cosack, Inc., an independent investment consulting firm that serviced public, Taft-Hartley, corporate, hospital, endowment, and foundation Funds. Over a ten-year period, assets under advisement grew to over $3.5 billion. In 2003, Spagnola-Cosack, Inc. was acquired by Public Financial Management Group, a Philadelphia financial advisory firm. He brings over 23 years of investment experience to PFM Advisors. As managing director of PFM Advisors, Spagnola serves on the investment committee, oversees marketing and client service and consulting with public, hospital, endowment, and Taft-Hartley Fund clients of the firm.

Academia

Spagnola has taught a course on managing public funds for the Fels Institute of Government at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

Other

Spagnola currently serves on the board of directors of Magee Rehabilitation Hospital, the Buckley Institute at

, and the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. He also serves on the advisory committee of St. Rose of Lima Parish in

West Philadelphia West Philadelphia, nicknamed West Philly, is a section of the city of Philadelphia. Although there are no officially defined boundaries, it is generally considered to reach from the western shore of the Schuylkill River, to City Avenue to the n ...

and on the investment committee of

Jefferson Health Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, Inc, branded as Jefferson Health, is a multi-state non-profit health system whose flagship hospital is Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Center City Philadelphia. The health system's hospitals serve ...

Personal life

Spagnola has three daughters, Nicole, Megan, and Kelly.

References

External links

John Spagnola records
at Ivy League Sports {{DEFAULTSORT:Spagnola, John 1957 births Living people American football tight ends Bethlehem Catholic High School alumni College football announcers Green Bay Packers players Sportspeople from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania Philadelphia Eagles players Seattle Seahawks players Players of American football from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania University of Pennsylvania staff Yale Bulldogs football players