Vince Papale – The Ultimate Underdog Story

Vince Papale is from Philadelphia and he is the real life version of Rocky, 

"Here's the thing here, my story is your story. It's everybody's story. Everybody's an underdog. At one point, everybody wants to take a risk  and go out and, you know, chase that dream," says Papale

Papale fulfilled a childhood dream in the mid-seventies.  He was the season ticket holder of the Philadelphia Eagles,  and he ended up making the team in an open tryout. On top of that, he never played college football, "I thought I was going to get a shot because of what I heard from Coach Vermeil and what I said right from the beginning, I ran a four-five 40 on grass, I mean, that's like  four, three, five, four, four. That's unheard of back then.  And and then he just says, well, you know, throw a few balls to him. Well, that was like these rough touch legs that I was playing. I mean, I was just  come on, this is this is a joke," says Papale.

So it was easier?

 "Yeah, I thought it was pretty easy. "

His remarkable story was made into a movie, Invincible, which came out in 2006,  

"So what they didn't say in the movie is that  before I did have that conversation with me,  that happened in the elevator at Veterans Stadium  and 15 minutes later I'm called up to the general manager's office.  And I signed the $21,000 a year contract," says Papale

Since the movie's release 17 years ago, Papale admits he is living a charmed life,

"Still pinching myself.  Can't believe it happened to me.  You know, the reaction of people that  you know, that just insane.  And there's a lot of kids out now that are struggling. And I hopefully they'll be able to look up at me and and say, you know what, I can do this," says Papale.