The Eagles gave a Super Bowl ring to a former secretary who inspired the NFC Championship flea flicker

For the first time in franchise history, the Philadelphia Eagles got to throw a party to celebrate getting Super Bowl rings. Each ring is a huge piece of jewelry with 219 diamonds and 17 green sapphires, but maybe the best part of the ceremony Thursday was that the Eagles organization didn’t forget the underappreciated employees who can sometimes fall through the cracks.

They even gave one to a former employee who spent decades with the organization before getting fired by Chip Kelly.

But wait, there’s more.

Aunt Carol isn’t just a former employee — she earned that ring by contributing to the Eagles’ Super Bowl run this offseason. In a profile on Doug Pederson written by Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, the Eagles coach credited the longtime administrative assistant for inspiring the team’s 41-yard flea flicker touchdown pass from Nick Foles to Torrey Smith in the NFC Championship.

“When I was here working with Andy, back then we would write the game plan quite literally up on the grease boards,” Pederson said. “And Carol was the one who would always type our game plan list into the computer. And so, every week I’d walk her through it, so she could understand the handwriting. She’d always look for one section of the game plan. ‘Is the flea flicker in?’ She just loved the flea-flicker. She loved the play, and I think she even loved the name. Flea-flicker. Every week, I’d say, ‘Oh, Carol. Sorry. It didn’t make the list this week. Maybe next week.’ Every week she’d ask, and I might say, ‘Yeah, it’s in this week, it’s gonna be great. We might call it this week!’ That went on for four years. Every week. Every week she’d ask. We never called it. Not one time.

According to Pederson, she texted him before the NFC Championship to congratulate him on getting through the Divisional Round and asked again about the flea flicker. Later in the week, he told her it was in the game plan.

Lo and behold, it worked like a charm. Here it is in action:

The touchdown extended the Eagles’ lead to 31-7 early in the second half and shut down Minnesota’s hopes of climbing back into contention after a rough first half. And Pederson said he was thinking about his flea flicker pal when he made the call.

“So the game comes, and I called it in the game at the right time, and I was thinking, ‘I hope Carol’s watching right now.’ There was Carol Wilson pressure! And we hit on it.

“Right after the game, I look at my phone. She sent congratulations. She was so happy we called the play. She gave me the thumbs-up emoji. That was cool. That was cool. I am so happy we got her favorite play in the game—and it worked.”

On Thursday, Pederson said the flea flicker isn’t the reason she got a ring. “Ha, no, she is a longtime Eagle,” the coach told ESPN. The Eagles also gave former video director Mike Dougherty and former ticket salesman Leo Carlin.

It’s easy to think about a football team as a collection of 53 players and a group of coaches, but there are a lot of other people who work hard to help an organization succeed. Congratulations to Carol Wilson on a deserved Super Bowl ring, and kudos to the Eagles for making sure she wasn’t forgotten.