Terry Hoage is a Vintner?

It’s been a while since I found something post-worthy on the Eagles, and to be honest, I felt a pang for football tonight, so I went digging. On the Eagles site they have a section called, “Where Are They Now?” I absolutely love these things. (See Lefty Malo’s Lenny Dykstra discovery, for a good laugh).

The list has over 50 names, and quite a few are from the late-eighties/early-nineties Buddy Ryan teams. My favorite Eagles era. One in particular caught my eye, Terry Hoage.

If you don’t remember Hoage, he was a hard-hitting, ball-hawking, blue-collar safety who thrived in Buddy Ryan’s “46” defense. I loved the guy, mainly because his is the all-time best name to say with a bad Philly accent (seriously, try it.)

When I saw they did a profile on Hoage’s life after the NFL, I thought maybe he bought a construction company or something. Well, I was more than a little shocked when I saw that Hoage is now a vintner. The coolest thing about the story is that Hoage named one of his wines “46.” For some reason, I think the significance is lost on most of his clientele.

The teams that Hoage played on made me the nutjob football fan that I am today, and I still say Buddy Ryan had the best defense in the history of the game in Philadelphia. If only he’d hired an offensive coordinator and let him call the plays…oh well. What could have been.