Philadelphia Eagles Name Was Inspired By FDR’s NRA Eagle
On March 4, 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated as President of the United States. In the summer of that year, came the announcement of a new NFL football team in Philadelphia. The team’s owner, Bert Bell (who later lived in Narberth) drew his inspiration for the team’s name from the Blue Eagle of FDR’s brainchild, the NRA (National Recovery Administration).
The NRA was esablished on June 16,1933 as part of the National Industrial Recovery Act. NRA was the agency that was created by the act to implement industry-wide codes that intended to guarantee the right of labor to bargain collectively, eliminate unfair trade practices, establish minimum wages and maximum hours and reduce unemployment.
By July14,1933, U.P.I. (United Press International) was reporting that –
Your patriotism will soon be measured by the sign of the “Blue Eagle.'” Blue Eagle is the trademark of the N.R.A. National Recovery Administration.
Posters for prominent display and picturing the national bird will be sent to all businesses and industries which comply with the Roosevelt planning program.
“Blue Eagle” buttons will denote “NRA Worker” and “NRA Consumer,” those who are employed in industries which follow the government and who deal only with such businesses.
In this way the government plans to single out “slackers.”
Enter DeBennevile “Bert” Bell, a former Penn Football star (when they were a national powerhouse).
That same summer of 1933, Bell secretly married film actress and former Ziefeld Follies star, Frances Upton. On their wedding day, Bert and Frances went to bankruptcy court in Philadelphia City Hall, and bought the Frankford Yellow Jackets (with Upton’s money). As they were walking out of the building, Bert spotted an NRA Eagle on a placard. He thought that would make good name for the football team that he had just moments before purchased. And Frances concurred.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the Philadelphia Eagles got their name.
The Philadelphia Eagles are in the midst of their 88th season (If you count 1943 when they were merged with the Pittsburgh Stealers, and were known as the Steagles).
The NRA on the other hand, didn’t live to see its second anniversary. On May 27, 1935, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional.
Bert Bell historic marker in front of former Mapes and Davis’s store in Narberth