John Spagnola doesn’t consider himself anything special, rather just an ordinary alumni of Bethlehem Catholic, who just so happened to play in Super Bowl XV (1980) with the Philadelphia Eagles.

The former NFL veteran came back to Bethlehem Catholic last week to a welcome that was anything but ordinary, as Spagnola was honored by the school apart of the NFL’s Super Bowl High School Honor Roll program, which celebrates high schools and their alumni who have participated in a Super Bowl.

Spagnola, a 1975 graduate of Becahi, is one of 3,000 former NFL players across the country to be recognized with the distinction of presenting a special gold football to their alma mater to commemorate the achievement of playing in football’s ultimate game.

A packed audience was in attendance at Becahi for the ceremony, which included Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders, Eagles mascot Swoop, former teammates, coaches and family.

Spagnola addressed the student body with stories from his time at Becahi and was quite thankful for the foundation the school instilled upon him as a student, player and person which helped him achieve the success of playing 11 years as a tight end in the NFL, nine with the Eagles (1979 to 1987) and one-year stints with the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers.

“I don’t think I’m special in any sense of the word,” said Spagnola, who currently works as a Managing Director for Public Financial Management (PFM) in Philadelphia. “I think I’m ordinary. I think I’m a product of this school. I’m a product of good parents and a product of just the will and desire to succeed. If you set your mind out to do something, you’ll do it.

“It was not easy and I was not the most talented athlete in the world, but I had what this school gave me, what my college [Yale] gave me, what my coaches gave me and I had the internal drive to succeed at the highest level.”

Rich Mazza, who was Spagnola’s wide receiver’s coach at Becahi, told a story to the audience about his first encounter with Spagnola when he was a 5-foot, 120-pound freshman.

“This skinny kid comes into our room after practice and he had this cast on his arm,” Mazza said. “He told us he broke his wrist and he was out for the season, but wanted to know if he could become the freshman team manager. We said of course and I didn’t really think much of him after that until the next season when the coaches sat down and went over the depth chart.

“Spagnola’s name came up and they told me had grown a foot since last year. He always had soft hands, but he also had the desire and now he had the size and just needed to fill in.”

Mazza was awarded direct credit from Spagnola when he addressed the room in regards to his competitive fire and determination playing a sport he’s loved his entire life.

“I always wanted to play under coach Mazza,” Spagnola said. “It was a goal of mine at Becahi. He was the best coach I ever had. Nobody in college or in the pros came even close to being second to him.”

Outside of the NFL’s golden ball ceremony, Spagnola was also inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame, as senior football captains Brandon Blobe and Julian Spigner presented him with the honor.

For Spigner, who will transition from a quarterback at Becahi to a wide receiver at Lafayette this fall, Spagnola’s message hit home.

“I think when he said that he wasn’t special and just an ordinary guy really meant a lot to me,” Spigner said. “We all need to have a work ethic to aspire to be great. I knew a little bit about him before this, but after hearing about all his accolades and accomplishments, it means a lot for him to come back here and it was an honor to speak and introduce him today.”

With Super Bowl 50 concluding over the weekend, the memories of losing Super Bowl XV 27-10 to the Oakland Raiders, still hit a nerve with Spagnola 35 years later.

“It’s really 35 years now and I’m still surly on Super Bowl Sunday,” he said. “You get that one chance in life and we chose to play a bad game that day. Ron Jaworski threw three interceptions that day and two of them were in my direction. It’s something that’s still unsettled with me and I think that goes back to Rich Mazza and the passion I have for the game.”