Everything Invincible Doesn't Tell You About The True Story

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Philadelphia fans and their home team, the Eagles, go together like cheese and steak. For seasons before the Birds won a Superbowl — big shoutout to then-backup quarterback Nick Foles — the underdog spirit surrounding the team seemed to go hand in hand with the city it called home. The City of Brotherly Love may be the birthplace of America and the birthplace of Kobe Bryant, Joe Frazier, Tina Fey, Eve, Kevin Hart, and Will Smith, but it's almost never in the same conversation as cities like Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, or Boston.

Given the devotion of the team's fan base and what the team means to the city it plays for, it's no wonder Disney's 2006 football drama "Invincible" about Vince Papale blew up in popularity like ex-Eagles safety, hall of fame inductee, and human sledgehammer Brian Dawkins used to demolish offensive strategies.

For the unfamiliar, Papale was a Philly local who made the Eagles roster in 1976 with no prior collegiate football experience at the age of 30. At that point, he was the oldest NFL rookie in history. He was a lightning rod on special teams and played three seasons with the Eagles. While the film is very entertaining, it's not particularly accurate to Papale's incredible story. Keep reading to find out everything "Invincible" doesn't tell you about the story.

South Philly — a Philly neighborhood bordered by South Street and the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers — maintains a special reputation. It's home to Little Italy and has a long tradition of housing immigrant communities in the city. It was also a mafia stronghold in the mid-20th century (via Philly Mag).

But a lot of its reputation comes from "Rocky." Rocky Balboa, the fictional boxer who launched a multidecade-spanning franchise played by Sylvester Stallone, lives in South Philly in the movie. His story minted the legend of South Philly toughness and the folks who give the city its color.

With all of this history, it's no wonder "Invincible" leans into Vince Papale's standing as a stalwart of South Philly. He's practically a real-life Rocky. Except for one thing: Vince Papale was born in Chester and grew up in Glenolden, a working-class suburb of Philly (via The Washington Post). None of this is to say Papale had no ties to the famous neighborhood.

Vince tended bar in South Philly and lived in the neighborhood intermittently throughout his 20s. So while Vince wasn't born in South Philly, he spent a lot of time there and quickly became a legend in the community (and the larger city) as soon as his spot in the Eagles' training camp was announced. He even told Sports Illustrated that South Philly really supported him during training camp and explained that his family, friends, and neighbors came to practice to cheer him on.

When the audience meets Vince Papale in "Invincible," he's a married 30-year-old part-time substitute teacher who tends bar at night. Recession and deindustrialization loom over the city of Philadelphia like fans over a cooler at a tailgate. His wife, Sharon Papale (Lola Glaudini), isn't particularly happy with her husband's seeming lack of motivation to better himself.

Eventually, Sharon has enough. She leaves Vince and writes one of the coldest break-up notes in film history. It reads, "You'll never go anywhere. You'll never make any money and you'll never make a name for yourself." However, the film places the event right before Vince is given the opportunity to try out for the Eagles. In real life, Papale's first wife left him in 1971, four years before the events of "Invincible," but the note was real (via IGN).

In the end, Papale got the last laugh (it's even the title of a book he co-authored). Papale said his first ex-wife did give him a call after it was announced that he made the Philadelphia Eagles. But he felt that if he hadn't been good enough for her then, why should he be with her now? Interestingly enough, Papale does concede the note may have been the wake-up call he needed to unlock his own potential. Considering he went from bartender to pro football player in just over four years — the note seemed to do the trick.

One of the movie's seemingly more unbelievable touches is Vince Papale's participation in a local bar league with full-contact, no-pad games held in South Philly lots. However, this league is real. In real life, it's called the Delco (Delaware County) Rough Touch League and it still exists to some form to this day.

In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Papale said he played for four Delco League teams from 1969 until he joined the Philadelphia Eagles in 1976. Like the movie, the real-life games were rough. Papale remembers their playing field (located behind a bar called T-Bar) being covered in "rocks and broken beer bottles." He also recalls how rough the league was. The Delco league had, he said, "more fights than touchdowns" and he said that in his time representing local watering holes in competitive contests, he received "three broken ribs, a dislocated jaw and a couple of concussions." The film doesn't go far enough, as Papale said (per IGN) the games are "nothing compared to how they were in real life. We got to the point where we really did need to have police on board all the time."

However, the movie does include a scene where Vince reunites with his buddies for a rough touch game the week before his second NFL appearance. Papale confirmed this is fiction. No player in their right mind — even one as tough as "in-Vince-ible" himself — would ever risk an avoidable injury before a game. Especially when you're an Eagle and your upcoming match is your division rival and general football bad guys the New York Giants.

Vince Papale's pre-Eagles athletic career was likely removed for budgetary reasons and to frame Vince as the ultimate Philly folk hero. However, it's harder to discern a reason for the film's biggest exclusion: Papale's second wife, Sandy Bianchini.

"Invincible" follows about a 10-month window from the end of the Eagles 1975 season to the beginning of the Eagles 1976 season. In that time, Papale tried out for a spot with the Birds, fought through camp, and eventually made the team. All along, he was supported by his second wife, Sandy. Papale said his second wife's support meant everything to him (per Sports Illustrated), saying, "Thank God for Sandy. [...] She kept my spirits up when I would've quit otherwise." Yet she does not appear in the movie.

It's hard to know why the call to exclude Sandy from "Invincible" was made. Likely, the studio sacrificed Sandy in the name of putting a more conventional romance in the film. It could also have something to do with Papale and Bianchini's 1983 divorce. Either way, it was not a decision Sandy took lightly. After the film's release, it was reported Sandy sent a letter to various media outlets asking just why exactly her role in Vince's life had been removed from the movie (via Los Angeles Daily News). "Invincible" doesn't suffer from its Disneyfied romance; however, it's always good to take a movie's "truth" with a grain of salt.

In the final uplifting moments of the movie, "Invincible" recreates the Eagle's 1976 home-opener against the New York Giants. In the movie, as in real life, the Eagles' season was off to a terrible start. They'd been smoked by NFC East competitors the Dallas Cowboys 7-27 the week prior and now had to face another major rival. Both Vince Papale and Vermeil were staring down the barrel of their first regular season appearance on the grass at Veterans Stadium.

In the movie, the final game is portrayed as a knock-down-drag-out fight between the teams' dueling defenses. It's so close — the Eagles look like they may lose. Then, Papale recovers a punt return fumble for a touchdown to win the game. It's a glorious movie moment. The crowd swells and Wahlberg's Vince opens his arms wide to the cheers of CG fans.

Unfortunately, that's not exactly how the play went down. Vince recovered a fumble and ran the football into the endzone. However, the recovery was ruled a muff (via The Los Angeles Times). The NFL's muff rule prevents players from advancing a ball they've touched before they had possession. In other words, since Vince heroically knocked the ball wild with his body from the hands of the Giants' receiver, he couldn't run the ball in for a touchdown. The Eagles converted the turnover into a touchdown in the next few drives. So in reality, Papale only created the opportunity to score against the Giants — he didn't score himself.