A nail-biter but happy ending in Audubon
When it was over, and the Baltimore Ravens had hung on to win, 34-31, the several hundred football fans gathered at a South Jersey restaurant let out a Super Bowl-sized yell for the pride of Audubon: game MVP Joe Flacco.
"We feel so proud to be from Audubon. He put Audubon on the map," said Janice Frankowsky, who lives around the corner from Flacco's parents, Steve and Karen, and went to high school with the couple in Haddon Township.
Flacco, 28, who played quarterback at Audubon High, had fixed up dozens of his family members with tickets to the Super Bowl in New Orleans. It seemed like almost everybody else from Audubon was at the Kove, a local bar and eatery.
As the last few seconds ticked down on the game clock, a chant rose up in Audubon.
"MVP! MVP!"
On the screen, Flacco soon was being showered with purple and yellow confetti at the Superdome.
"We did it, baby, we got it!" yelled Brian Kane, one of the owners of Evolution Fitness in Cherry Hill, where Flacco trains during the off-season.
After calming down, Kane said, "I was very nervous."
Some of the people knew Flacco when, as a boy, he shot hoops on the elementary school playground near his parents' house on Haviland Avenue. Some watched him play basketball and football at Audubon High. They may also have watched one of his younger brothers - he has four, plus one sister - play.
More important than personal connections, however, was what Flacco represented: An ambassador for Audubon, projecting the tight-knit town of 9,000 into the national spotlight.
The party was organized by the Audubon Celebration Committee, which plans the town's Fourth of July Parade, and by the Audubon Fathers Association, which awards scholarships to high school students. Mayor John Ward got the idea for the event during the AFC Championship game, when the Ravens beat the New England Patriots to earn a trip to the Super Bowl.
"All the kids look up to him," Ward, whose father also served as mayor, said of Flacco. "He's a very approachable person. He's one of our own."
Another player with Philadelphia-area ties, Ravens running back Bernard Pierce, a rookie out of Temple University, also got significant game time in the Super Bowl.
"It's exciting for me to see a young man who's done very well for himself, after leaving our school. I can't say anything but good things about him," said Pierce's football coach, Kevin Owens, of Glen Mills School. "We're very proud of him at Glen Mills School."
Pierce's mother, Tammy, was in New Orleans to see her son play.
Pierce, who grew up in Ardmore, left Glen Mills in 2009.
Contact Maddie Hanna at 856-779-3232 or mhanna@phillynews.com.
Inquirer staff writer Linda Loyd contributed to this article.
