Ted Dean: The Eagles' forgotten hero

Considering that the Eagles and Green Bay Packers are two of the oldest continuous franchises in NFL history, it would seem that the teams would have a long and intense playoff history against each other. Yet despite a combined 168 seasons in the NFL, the Packers and Eagles have squared off in the postseason just twice.

Of course both of those games rate amongst the greatest games in Eagles’ history and were the site of some of the most iconic plays.

No one will ever forget the 4^th-and-26 pass from Donovan McNabb to wide receiver Freddie Mitchell with 72 seconds remaining in regulation to set up the game-tying field goal from David Akers and the eventual game-winner in overtime. Ask anyone who was around for the 1960 championship game, played on a Boxing Day, Monday afternoon and they will tell you that the most memorable play was the very last one of the game. That’s where the legendary two-way player, Chuck Bednarik, sat on fullback Jim Taylor until the clock expired at the Eagles’ 8-yard line.

As we’re often reminded, the 17-13 victory was the last time the Eagles were champions of the NFL. Only two other NFL teams (Lions, Cardinals) have suffered through a longer championship drought.

So if 50 years of history coupled with just a pair of playoff games is any indication, Sunday’s NFC Wild-Card showdown at The Linc could be another classic. Of course none of that matters now, but it sure is fun to measure how the past links with the present. There’s a line between Bart Starr, Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers. There also is one with Norm Van Brocklin, McNabb and Michael Vick and the two-game winning streak on the line.

Still, the thing about classic games like the 1960 NFL Championship and the 2003 NFC Division playoff is that people rarely remember the details of the game leading up to the final plays. They remember the broad strokes, like the ’60 title game was Vince Lombardi’s only loss in the playoffs or that the Packers have gone 1-5 in the playoffs since the ’03 loss.

But often the game’s most notable hero is the one least expected. Did anyone think McNabb would look for Mitchell on 4^th-and-26 on the do-or-die play? Sure, the immodest Mitchell, in his bizarro reality, probably talked himself into thinking that only he could have delivered on that game-turning play. The reality is Mitchell will go down as one of the biggest first-round busts ever.

But Ted Dean was a victim of bad luck and was the proverbial meteor shooting through the sky.

Certainly every Eagles fan knows all about Ted Dean, right? Just a 22-year-old rookie out of Radnor High and Wichita State during the 1960 title game, Dean scored the championship-winning touchdown on a 5-yeard run with 5:21 remaining in the game. Dean’s TD run was a run set up by his own 58-yard kickoff return to the Packers’ 40-yard line at snowy Franklin Field.

So, obviously those two plays turned Dean into an instant legend in Philadelphia… right?

Guess again.

Though he led the NFL in kickoff return yardage during his rookie year, injuries and a motorcycle accident limited Dean’s career to just 44 games over parts of four seasons. Interestingly, Dean’s TD run in the championship game was one of three he had in his career, while the 13 carries and 54 yards on the ground were the third-best outputs in the NFL.

Even more interestingly, the winning touchdown play wasn't called for Dean by Van Brocklin in the huddle, but for running back Billy Barnes instead. However, according to Reuben Frank in, Game Changers: The Greatest Plays in Philadelphia Eagles Football History, Van Brocklin changed the play while walking to the line, choosing to give the ball to the rookie.

Here's how Dean described the play to Frank in 2008:

“We were walking up to the line and he yelled out, ‘Switch,’ and changed the play,’” Dean said. “I can’t speculate why he did it, and I never had the opportunity to ask him. He had faith in me. He knew my potential and put his trust in me. I was elated, of course. I wanted to be the one running over the goal line.

“I had fumbled earlier in the game, and I rarely ever fumbled. Van Brocklin knew I was still hot from fumbling, so maybe that’s why he gave me the ball.”

By the age of 26, Dean was out of football and teaching at Gladwyne Elementary School. That wasn't uncommon, though, noting that the NFL (or even Major League Baseball) hardly paid enough in those days to be a full-time job. Interviews of Dean are tough to find and he chose not to attend the 50-year reunion of the 1960 team last September before the season opener between the Eagles and Packers. Instead, the hero of the Eagles’ last championship chose to stay at his home in Arizona, far from the limelight.

Nevertheless, Frank says he had a nice chat with Dean while working on his book and he remembered the winning play well:

“I put my head down like a battering ram, ran behind a block behind Gerry Huth, and I was in,” Dean said. “I wasn’t touched until just before I got into the end zone.”

It might have been the motorcycle accident and the resulting hip injury in 1965 that soured Dean’s interest for football. Though he attempted to make a comeback as a kicker in 1967 with the Steelers, Dean put the game behind him and never looked back.

Dean preferred to talk about piano playing, not football as he told writer J.F. Pirro.

“I got anxious with football,” he said in that old interview. “I don’t want to get serious with any other sports—but maybe some hobbies.”

No, Dean would not become a folk hero in Philadelphia like so many under-the-radar ballplayers dream about. He was the shooting star, here for a glorious moment and then choosing to make his mark in another walk of life.

Regardless, Dean’s touchdown run was not only one of the most significant plays in franchise history, but also one of the rarest. Take away Dean’s run and the Eagles have had just six, fourth-quarter rushing touchdowns to win or tie a game in the 28 years that followed.

Coincidentally, Dean and Mitchell were both out of the NFL by age 26. Counting the playoffs, Dean and Mitchell also scored six touchdowns in their career.

Makes one wonder what will happen to this Sunday’s hero.