A much-needed parade for the city

We needed that parade. Maybe more than the Wildcats did.

Sure, Villanova University is six miles beyond City Avenue in Radnor Township, but the whole region's fans desperately needed a moment of bliss to put Philadelphia's recent sports futility out of mind. Just a couple of hours in Center City to claim the NCAA champions as our own and latch onto a college squad that has almost as many NBA-ready prospects as the 76ers.

"We should be honored," Pete Soens said Friday as he waited for the parade to roar into Penn Square.

Soens, a former Catholic University shooting guard, whose uncle played center for the Wildcats in the 1960s, dismissed the argument that a Main Line school shouldn't get a Market Street parade.

"You've got to embrace Villanova," said Soens, who works in commercial real estate on Broad Street.

On Friday, Philly did. A throng estimated by city officials to number 60,000 lined the parade route and crammed into Dilworth Park to celebrate Villanova's first national men's basketball championship since 1985.

Everyone seemed to be trying to get taller, standing on tiptoes - or whatever they could find - to catch a glimpse of the winners as they made their way toward City Hall.

"It's been a long time since we had anything to celebrate," said Lafayette Johnson, a parking attendant from Northeast Philadelphia. "You need to bring some spirit back to this city."

Girls sat comfortably on their fathers' shoulders. Villanova students perched precariously on other students' shoulders. Smartphones on selfie sticks soared like periscopes. Security guards barked at gawkers climbing the walls at the Clothespin. High-rise windows were dotted with faces. Work stopped inside.

Subway riders trying to make it to street level were temporarily blocked at the stairway by a sea of humanity that not even Philly Jesus, a.k.a. Michael Grant, was able to part.

The team arrived around 2 p.m. behind an escort of blaring fire trucks and rumbling Harley-Davidsons. Bubbles and the occasional cloud of marijuana smoke rose in the air.

"The shot! The shot!" said a street vendor selling large photos of Kris Jenkins' three-point buzzer-beater that defeated North Carolina. Some parade-goers paid $5 for the photo. Others went cheap and meta, whipping out phones to snap a photo of the photo of the shot.

Another vendor hawked the unlikely combination of pennants and bean pies. A guy in a Temple Owls hat walked by yelling " 'Nova sucks" and was immediately shunned.

Tony McBryan attended the parade with his wife, Janis, a 1981 Villanova graduate. He was wrapped in a 'Nova blanket, which, it turns out, was homemade. The couple run a small business that sells blankets, pillow, and scarves for colleges, high schools, and country clubs.

"We know the 'Archie' family," said Janis McBryan, referring to Villanova guard and Neshaminy High School grad Ryan Arcidiacono. "We've been watching Ryan since he was a kid."

In the suburbs, before the parade's start, a line of students snaked around SEPTA's Regional Rail Villanova station and through an adjacent parking lot.

"We thought we'd just be able to walk on, but it doesn't look like it," junior Kim Nowakowski said, joining the end of the line at 11:30 a.m. "It's good. It means a lot of people are excited."

Freshman John Rechichi said everyone he knew was going to the parade, and some of his friends had left campus at 9:30 a.m. to catch a train. "I'm pretty nervous" about making it on time, he said. But before noon, a train came and SEPTA fit everyone in.

Celebrations continued on the Lancaster Avenue campus all week, Rechichi said. He predicted they would start to die down after Friday.

Freshman Maureen Archbold differed. "I feel like the excitement's never going to die down," she said. "It's like a dream come true."

Peg Sweeney Boova, a 1974 Villanova graduate, took a crowded train in from Malvern with her 4-year-old grandson. "The students were literally doing somersaults in the aisles of the train," she said.

Those gathered at Dilworth Park were able to hear coach Jay Wright stress the university's bond to the city.

"We are honored to be a part of Philadelphia," Wright said. "Today and forever."

After everyone had spoken, including Arcidiacono and forward Daniel Ochefu - who was wearing the nylon net cut from the hoop in Houston - Wright asked the fans to throw up their streamers after Jenkins' shot played again on the big screen.

"It's unreal. It's unbelievable," Arcidiacono said afterward. He said he attended the 2008 Phillies' World Series parade. "That one had two million people, and this one had nowhere near that close. But we really appreciate what we got. Once we started moving, I said, 'Wow, there's way more people than I expected.' We were waving to people in the buildings. It was awesome."

As the team bus pulled up by City Hall, the crowd flooded onto the street and escorted the Wildcats. Students yelled up to friends on the open-topped bus.

"It reminded me of when the pope was here, seeing throngs of people," Wright said afterward. "It wasn't that big. But it was overwhelming. It was really cool. I think all of us feel like we're walking on a cloud."

Villanova guard Josh Hart said he wasn't surprised by all the support because "we're a Philly team, a little on the outskirts of Philly."

"I'm always going to remember this," Hart said. "I wouldn't change it for the world."

benderw@phillynews.com

215-854-5255 @wbender99

Staff writers Joe Juliano and Jack Tomczuk contributed to this article