Bill Bergey, All-Pro linebacker and Philadelphia Eagles legend, dies aged 79

Bill Bergey, a five-time Pro Bowl linebacker who played in a Super Bowl for the Philadelphia Eagles, died Wednesday, the team announced. He was 79.

His son, Jake, posted on social media that Bergey died of cancer. Bergey, a three-time Eagles team MVP in a vote of his teammates, had been open about his fight with the disease over the last few years.

Bergey, who was inducted into the Eagles Hall of Fame in 2009, said he had a form of jaw cancer since 2021.

“I didn’t give it the old, ‘Why me?’ or anything like that,” he said in 2003. “I just thought that I had to fight it just like I would fight anything else that I needed to fight.”

Bergey was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals in 1969 and made one Pro Bowl appearance for them before he was traded ahead of the 1974 season. Bergey’s career took off in Philadelphia and he became one of the more popular Eagles players in his era. He made the Pro Bowl in 1974, 1976, 1977 and 1978 and was named an All-Pro for the 1974 and 1975 seasons.

“I’ve always had a love affair with the fans of Philadelphia,” Bergey said in 2023. “I have always been kind and courteous to them all the way up that ladder of success that I had because, you won’t believe it, but I’ve met the same people coming back down off that ladder.”

Team owner Jeffrey Lurie said Bergey “gained the respect of players and coaches across the league for his blue-collar work ethic and hard-nosed play.”

“Bill exemplified what it meant to be an Eagle in every way, and proudly represented the team in the community well after his playing days were over,” Lurie said in a statement.

Bergey, who had 27 career interceptions, highlighted by five in 1974, was one of 60 nominees that the Pro Football Hall of Fame seniors committee considered this fall. He failed to advance to the next round.

His last season was 1980 under coach Dick Vermeil when the Eagles lost to the Oakland Raiders. Bergey, who played college ball at Arkansas State, played in all 16 games but he retired because of a lingering knee injury.

“I always had a sense that we were moving in the right direction,” Bergey said in 2015. “Even in the early years (under Vermeil) when the wins were few and far between, we could see the intensity of the play picking up. Dick’s personality rubbed off on us.”

Bergey served in various roles on Eagles radio broadcasts after he retired.

“Number 66 was one of the greatest players of all time,” longtime Eagles announcer Merrill Reese wrote on social media. “Nobody ever loved his family, friends, and Eagles fans more. May Bubba rest in peace.”

Bergey, who recorded nearly 1,200 tackles in seven seasons with the Eagles, was born 9 February 1945, in South Dayton, New York.

Bergey was a plaintiff in the concussion-related lawsuit against the NFL.