The following article appeared in the Main Line Times newspaper of the Philadelphia, Pa. area. The date being August 31, 2006. It was written by Lou Tilley under the section known in the paper's sports section as "Tilley's Take". It starts, as I started; "Invincible, Part 11".

By now, you've seen the response - most of it good, even outside of Philadelphia. "Invincible", the Disney flick loosely based on the the former, real life Rocky Vince Papale, ran straight into the end zone as the weekend's top box office winner.

I couldn't be happier. Vince is a real Philly guy, a real friend. But there's something you might not know, even with the crush of publicity and hype.

The real Vince Papale story, is even better. Call it Invincible - Part 11.

Star fading

By the time I returned to Philadelphia, as the sports director at KYW-TV in 1986, Vince was eight years past his run as a special teamer for Dick Vermeil's Eagles. He had come up two seasons short of the payoff, the Super Bowl run. His own star was fading in the light of Montgomery, Bergey, Jaws and Carmichael.

By 1986, Papale was in his 40's, and found that life after his walk-on success as a pro football player was proving a far more difficult try.

There were the aborted attempts to cash in on his old celebrity. A short-term stint as a weekend sportscaster on Channel 10, and a similar short run on the radio.

The calls from the banquet circuit were dwindling. Worse, true to form in the film, were the blindside hit Vince took from marriage. No kids either.

I met him when he was managing a Jaworski gym in Center City. I remembered him well, as I had my own NFL dreams, coming out of college in the same era.

We became friends - and more, as I began using Vince on my Sunday night show "SportsRap," playing to his strengths as an analyst rather than copy reader. Many weekends at my shore house ensued.

Leading Lady

And then came Janet - Janet Cantwell, ironically the older sister of my own high school girlfriend. Like Vince, she was an accomplished athlete. Like Vince, nearing 40, with Papale closing on 50, she had given up on the prospect of children.

Whaddya know? Papale crashed into his 50's with two kids. A matched set, and a determined, focused partner who pushed and pulled like a coach, until Vince had done it again. He had an all-pro career with the Sallie Mae company.

Icing on cake

Steve Sabol and NFL Films brought the Papale story back to life in a halftime feature a few years ago, and Disney saw the potential. As far as I'm concerned, the flick is icing on the sweet cake of family and friends.

Oh, the movie? Well, Greg Kinnear as Vermeil is scary good. Mark Wahlberg as Vincent did his best, but looked like a kid playing dress-up in his Eagles uniform. Vince, is, and was, a big man at 6-foot-2 and 210 strapping pounds.

The Hollywood over-characterization of the local media (especially the TV sportscaster) is laughable. And, maybe too much takes place in the South Philly bar (Vince is really from Delaware County).

But, I am an over informed, biased critic. For fun for the family, in Philly this will rank just behind "Rocky" as the best local sports flick ever.

After a private screening of the movie, with Vince's family and mine present, I told him, "Hey, we both know the sequel is the greatest story."

I couldn't be prouder.

Lou Tilley is a long time Main Line resident and Emmy Award winning sports broadcaster. Comments can be directed to Lou by e-mailing sports@mainlinetimes.com.

Editors Note: The above was contributed by a reader/supporter of Jerry (webmaster) and I's (editor) efforts. He also is my cousin, much to my pleasure. Clarke, thank-you.

Mike Toone