Eagles fans took over Broad Street after Sunday’s NFC championship game win over the Commanders, but the celebration took a tragic turn.
An 18-year-old Temple University student died after falling from a pole during the celebration, casting a dark cloud over what was supposed to be a night of elation for Eagles fans.
Climbing light poles on and around Broad Street has long been a tradition for Eagles fans, becoming even more popular when Philadelphia won its first Super Bowl seven years ago, but the act is strongly discouraged by local police, who have greased up the poles ahead of significant games to prevent climbers.
Here are the details on the tragedy that took place during Eagles fans’ celebrations on Sunday night.
Eagles fan dies falling from pole
18-year-old Tyler Sabapathy died Tuesday after falling from the top of a light pole Sunday night. Video shows Sabapathy losing his grip, falling to the sidewalk and hitting his head.
Sabapathy was an exercise and sport science major at Temple, and he was a member of the school’s club gymnastics team. Sabapathy was originally from Toronto.
Temple president John Fry released a statement Tuesday calling Sabapathy’s death “tragic and traumatic.”
“There are no words that can make sense of it, and the entire Temple community mourns his passing,” Fry said. “Our hearts go out to Tyler’s family, friends, classmates and all who knew and loved him.”
Thousands of fans took to the streets to celebrate the Eagles’ third trip to the Super Bowl in the last eight seasons, but the celebration was marred by a handful of incidents. In addition to Sabapathy’s death, a woman was arrested after speeding into bystanders. No one was killed in that incident, but several were injured.
Philadelphia police said 31 individuals were arrested for disorderly conduct or “failure to disperse” during the celebrations.
Eagles light pole celebrations, explained
Sports can bring out all of the emotions in fans, and one way Philadelphia fans put those emotions into action is climbing lamp posts.
The celebration first exploded at the end of the 2017 season, when the Eagles rolled past the Vikings to punch their ticket to Super Bowl 52. After dethroning the Patriots and winning their first championship, fans climbed the poles again.
By 2022, when the Eagles returned to the Super Bowl, Philadelphia authorities put more emphasis on greasing up the poles to make them more difficult to climb. Climbing lamp posts is dangerous, and Sunday’s incident is a tragic example of why the city would rather keep the celebration on the ground.
