Eagles fan hopes to keep the team’s good karma going by paying a found jacket forward

Walking home from the Super Bowl parade on Valentine’s Day, Philadelphia Eagles fan Amy Rannabargar found a vintage team jacket hanging on a pole with a note inside that read, “I found this jacket on the night of the Super Bowl in 2018 and it only felt right to release back into the city when the Eagles won again.”

New York Giants fans had to watch their team’s former star running back, Lehigh Valley native Saquon Barkley, have a season for the ages in his first year with the division rival Philadelphia Eagles, and propel the Birds to Super Bowl glory.

Now, fans of the archrival Dallas Cowboys have to endure the indignity of a Dallas native playing a starring role in one of the most feelgood stories to spin off from the Eagles’ Super Bowl victory.

As the Super Bowl parade wound down late in the afternoon on Valentine’s Day and an estimated one million fans were clearing out of the Philadelphia Art Museum area, 36-year-old Amy Rannabargar came across something unexpected: a vintage kelly green Eagles Starter jacket hanging from a light post. She was initially going to leave the jacket where it was, thinking that someone had accidentally left it behind and may come back to claim it. That was until Rannabargar noticed a note taped to the inside of the jacket, which read: “If found, do not return. This jacket belongs to you! I found this jacket on the night of the Super Bowl in 2018 and it only felt right to release back into the city when the Eagles won again. Enjoy the jacket. I hope you get the opportunity to release back into the world with another Super Bowl win soon. Go Birds.”

At that point, Rannabargar decided the jacket was coming home with her.

“When I went up to the jacket and read the note that was attached to it, I thought it was such a cool idea — to pay it forward,” Rannabargar said. “So I decided I was going to take it home and carry on the tradition.”

Philadelphia Eagles fan Amy Rannabargar found this note inside a vintage team jacket hanging on a pole after the Super Bowl parade. (Photo: Amy Rannabargar)

Rannabargar, who is studying social work at La Salle University, identifies as a Deadhead, a member of the community of Grateful Dead fans who share free tickets and help out fellow fans however they can. 

“When I saw the note in the jacket, I thought ‘Oh my God, this is the Eagles’ version of leaving “miracle tickets” for fellow Deadheads,’” Rannabargar said.

She also said the gesture of paying it forward with the Eagles jacket reminded her of why she fell in love with the team and its fanbase when she moved to Philadelphia from Dallas five years ago.

“I wasn’t a Cowboys fan growing up in Dallas, and I wasn’t really a sports fan until I moved up here,” Rannabargar said. “I just fell in love with the passion of the fans, and how much the Eagles mean to the city.”

Rannabargar posted a photo of the jacket with the note attached on the Philadelphia Eagles Fan Group Facebook page, and received many suggestions regarding what she should do with it. Hours after the parade had ended, a friend’s husband also offered to buy it from her. 

She’s already decided what she’ll do with the jacket, and it involves making the note a more permanent accessory.

“I’m going to keep the original note, but I’ll make a copy of it and turn it into a patch, and sew it into the inside of the jacket,” Rannabargar said. “Whenever we win again, hopefully next year, I’m going to write my own note, and also turn that into a patch and sew it into the jacket as well.”

Rannabargar said continuing to pay the jacket forward is just the right thing to do. Besides, she doesn’t want to be held responsible if the Eagles’ fortunes suddenly go south following the team’s second Super Bowl victory in seven years.

“I’ve had a few people say, ‘I would keep it,’” Rannabargar said. “But I said no. If we don’t win the Super Bowl again, then it will be my fault. People are superstitious when it comes to sports and I understand why.”