'Eagle Joe' getting by, with help

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Eagles can sustain an injury here, an injury there. But if one certain training camp fixture were to get hurt, it might tilt the Eagles' planet off its axis.

His name is Joe Borden.

He is better known around these parts as "Eagle Joe."

On the first day of camp last week, Borden stood on the sideline as he's done in 35 previous Eagles training camps.

A ball was then thrown in his direction and nearly decapitated the 60-year-old.

Eagles coach Andy Reid was standing midfield and keeping tabs on every inch of camp as he is wont to do and called to one of his aides.

"Make sure you give Eagle Joe a heads-up," Reid said. "Can't have Eagle Joe going down."

Borden is as much a part of Eagles training camp as are the hills that surround Lehigh, the August heat and the "E-A-G-L-E-S" chanting fans. Only Reid strikes as much a lasting image. Borden is more than 6 feet tall and skinny, save for his six-months-pregnant belly. He wears large wraparound shades, has a white goatee, and is as tanned as George Hamilton.

He resembles the character "Bill the Cat" from the comic strip Bloom County.

Borden, of course, predates Lehigh. His first camp was in 1975 at Widener University when Mike McCormack was the Eagles head coach.

"Dick Vermeil came the next year," Borden said, "and that's when it got fun."

The Eagles were at Widener until 1979. They relocated to West Chester before finally settling on Lehigh in 1995. Through it all, Borden was there. In 1988, coach Buddy Ryan gave Borden special sideline access. It's been that way ever since, with each successive coach faithful to the tradition.

Three years ago, however, Borden's eyesight threatened the streak. He was declared legally blind and therefore could not drive to Lehigh from his home in Upper Darby.

The Eagles caught wind of Borden's predicament, and Derek Boyko, the Eagles' director of football media services, arranged for a limousine service to drive Borden to camp three or four days a year.

"I like it so much," Borden said, "I rent the limo myself and come up a few other days."

- Jeff McLane