Eagles fan Ryan Quigley was celebrating New Year’s in New Orleans when he and his best friend and former Princeton football teammate, Tiger Bech, were among the victims hit by a terrorist’s truck. Bech died that day. Quigley is still recovering from his injuries, and he says a gesture by the Eagles lifted his spirits.
Quigley was on the parade route at the Eagles’ championship celebration on Friday when offensive linemen Jordan Mailata, Cam Jurgens, and Landon Dickerson spotted him and insisted he joined the team, carrying his wheelchair and helping him onto the team bus.
The players already knew Quigley because from the moment word broke that Bech and Quigley, two big Eagles fans, were among the victims in the attack, the team has made a point of embracing him.
“I feel like the Eagles are truly family,” Quigley told Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I feel like some of these guys are my best friends now.”
Quigley said the Eagles inviting him to return to New Orleans for the Super Bowl was empowering.
“It’s kept my mind off of some really dark things,” Quigley said. “I don’t even think they know the impact that they’ve had on the Bech family and myself, and how generous they’ve been. I don’t even know how to thank them, but I just know that we’re all going to be Eagles fans for life.”
