The Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor, N.J., has been a research and education stalwart for decades, instructing thousands of visitors annually on the importance of salt marshes and the marine world.
Starting this week, though, the nonprofit’s staff will pack up and move to a temporary headquarters, so its main trail can be raised to stave off sea-level rise.
The existing headquarters will ultimately be razed, with a new, elevated building rising in its place. The current wooden headquarters was built in 1972 and was originally intended for short-term seasonal use.
Sea level“is rising fast enough that it’s outpacing the ability of the marshes to keep up,” said Lenore Tedesco, executive director of the Wetlands Institute. “They’re starting to drown.”
“You can see that even right at the institute, where there are more open-water pockets and mud flats, instead of the grasses,” she added.
Much of the institute’s 34-acre campus sits on low marsh and has become increasingly at risk due to flooding.
In 2000, the Salt Marsh Trail flooded twice a year. Now, it is flooding up to 70 times a year, Tedesco said.
For now, staff will move from the Stone Harbor Boulevard location to the New Jersey Coastal Conservation Center on North Delsea Drive in Cape May Court House.
All programs have been paused as of Tuesday, but the Wetlands Institute will reopen Nov. 7 at the temporary location.
The Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor plans to raze its existing building and replace it with a larger, more resilient, expansive structure big enough to house growing levels of research, conservation, and education. This is a rendering of the back of the structure.The Wetlands Institute
Salt Marsh Trail
Most of the 31,000 annual visitors to the Wetlands Institute walk the quarter-mile Salt Marsh Trail looking at the bountiful birds and wildlife.
About half of it and the surrounding ecosystem will be considered unstable low marsh by 2030 if nothing is done. The surrounding marsh sits at about two feet of elevation, while the Salt Marsh Trail, built on an old 1950s road, ranges from three to four feet.
Tedesco said dredge material from Avalon will be spread on the trail to raise it and surrounding land to create a new high marsh. It will have more vegetation to help buttress the area from storm-driven waves and provide habitat for diamondback terrapins and at-risk coastal birds.
Tedesco expects trail work to start in October. It will be paid for through a $3 million grant from New Jersey’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Natural Climate Solutions program.
The work will not affect the existing elevated metal boardwalk, which will remain as is.
The institute undertook a similar project last year with state and federal officials to save the adjacent Scotch Bonnet Island, which was drowning.
About five acres of Scotch Bonnet Island was raised with dredge material to keep it above rising seas.
The island is situated in Scotch Bonnet Channel, a waterway that cuts through the bay to connect the barrier island to the mainland. The channel has widened by 70 feet since 1970.
Scientists say sea-level rise in New Jersey is running at twice the global average. They estimate the sea could rise 2 to 5 feet along the coast by 2100.
New Jersey has 200,000 acres of tidal wetlands, valuable habitat used by shore birds and other wildlife. The Wetlands Institute abuts those tidal wetlands.
Tedesco said the lessons learned on Scotch Bonnet Island are being used to reimagine the institute’s campus.
Construction on the Salt Marsh Trail is expected to continue through spring before sensitive wildlife returns.
File: A snowy egret flies over the salt marsh at the Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor where dredged material was used to raise the height of the marsh at Scotch Bonnet Island.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
A new building
Tedesco said architects and engineers are working with the institute’s board of trustees on a proposed new building.
Those plans call for both the building and grounds to be elevated, while maintaining the “coastal character” of the current institute.
She said federal, state, and local permits are needed given the sensitive area.
The Wetlands Institute is getting construction bids for the new building but does not have a final estimated cost or timeline. Tedesco said the institute is still raising money.
The new headquarters would be built using sustainable methods, such as mass timber construction that uses engineered wood panels, columns, or beams.
The facility would have more indoor and outdoor classroom space for educational programs, a new lecture hall, modern labs with twice the space, outdoor decks, an aquarium enlarged by 50%, and new exhibits.
Tedesco said the institute worked with experts to explore keeping the existing building, which was designed by Malcolm Wells, a mid-20th-century designer famed for his “gentle architecture.”
The structure was used as a biological research station by Lehigh University from 1972 to 1986. It has been expanded multiple times over decades.
Tedesco said it became clear that it is not feasible to continue using the building because it is so outdated and cannot be raised. She said the institute has expanded into “world-class” research and the facilities are at capacity.
“We’re in a 55-year-old wooden building in the marsh that was built to residential standards for seasonal use,” Tedesco said. “But you have to give kudos to the building. Nobody expected that a wooden building in a marsh in 1972 would still be functional today.”
Twenty-five years ago on Sept. 7, David Hale Sylvester hung out with his friend Kevin Bowser in their South Philly neighborhood. They didn’t share a parting hug.
Four days later, on Sept. 11, Sylvester would wrestle with that moment as he anxiously waited to hear from Bowser, who worked in the World Trade Center complex.
Bowser perished in the terror attacks on the twin towers that day along with thousands of others.
For Sylvester, that missed opportunity to embrace his beloved friend one last time pushed him to create a movement of hope and hugs.
This week, on Friday, as Americans once again gather to remember the victims of 9/11, Sylvester will hold space at the Philadelphia Film Society Center with a Hug Hub, a photo installation featuring strangers embracing each other through tragedy and loss. He will also be there waiting, arms wide open, for anyone who needs a hug.
“It’s a space where people can come as strangers and leave with a hug,” Sylvester said.
How a missed embrace became a man’s mission
As Sylvester mourned his friend, he said he realized he was not alone in his journey of grief.
“Every American felt vulnerable during that time and wanted to connect in some way,” Sylvester said. “I have never seen a time like that where everybody in the country, no matter the race, no matter if you are a Democrat or Republican, we all just needed to be connected.”
Carrying that loss and that last missing hug, Sylvester in 2002 mounted his pain on a bicycle and rode through 50 states, hugging strangers in small towns and big cities.
As the years went by, and despite the pandemic, Sylvester continued his mission, eventually riding his bike through 42 countries, hugging over a million people, he said.
Through it all, he remembered Bowser — who, despite being 10 years his senior — always made time to teach and mentor him.
“Kevin helped me with driving lessons, helped me with school, with sports, with everything,” Sylvester said. “Everybody needs a big brother or a big somebody in their life, and he was my big.”
The last time the pair hung out, Bowser told Sylvester he was “beyond him” and that he was extremely proud of him and the man he had become, Sylvester said. Hearing his friend’s words, Sylvester said that he was overcome with emotions, which prevented him from hugging Bowser one last time.
“I should have hugged Kevin, but I didn’t, so when I did not have the opportunity to do it anymore, that sort of guided me,” Sylvester said.
‘I choose to hug’
Sylvester has dedicated his life to offering hugs to strangers and loved ones in the hopes that people feel less alone, he said. That feeling further deepened when another friend, Scott, died by suicide in 2022, on the anniversary of Sept. 11.
“People need to see hope; they need to see goodness in action,” Sylvester said. “Maybe that will stop people from being so violent, maybe that will stop somebody from taking their own life.”
Through his journeys, Sylvester has collected more than 3,000 pictures; 2,000 of those will be featured on Friday at the Philadelphia Film Society Center along with portraits of Bowser and Scott.
He said he has no idea how many people will attend the free event, between 8:30 a.m. and noon. He just wants to make sure that those in attendance feel they have company as they commemorate a day that marked a before and after in his life and the life of a nation.
“We all experience loss, but it’s what you do with that feeling that counts. How do you say thank you to somebody who is not there anymore? Maybe there is another way, but I choose to hug,” he said.
Tom Schafer was a hulking man when he played one preseason game with the Eagles in the summer of 1984. The undrafted free agent center stood at 6-foot-2 and 270 pounds, with a booming voice and an unabashed confidence to match.
By the fall of 2009, his broad frame had hollowed out. His voice had been reduced to a rasp. Schafer could walk, but only gingerly, and for short distances.
Yet here he was, sitting in a West Chester University parking lot, handing out fundraising pamphlets and preaching to tailgaters about his long-lost teammate.
It was not the way most people battling cancer would have chosen to spend their time. But Schafer was not most people.
When Schafer was told the disease he’d battled two decades prior had returned in 2008, he had already made a commitment and was determined to see it through, no matter how many rounds of treatment he would have to endure.
“He still had that fire about the statue,” said former West Chester center Joe Walsh. “He was talking then about everything we see now.”
Walsh motioned to the northwest corner of Farrell Stadium. There, at the base of a hill, stood a bronze likeness of a quarterback, his left foot firmly planted, his right arm cocked, ready to uncork a spiral.
Former teammates John Mininno (left) and Tom Schafer (right) visit the statue of Michael Horrocks which was unveiled Sept. 11, 2010. Michael S. Wirtz / Staff Photographer
The man was Michael Horrocks, Class of 1985. He and Schafer overlapped on the football team for twoseasons, but Schafer took a liking to the sophomore’s goofy personality.
And when he found out that that same sophomore had been a copilot of Flight 175, the plane that hit the South Tower on Sept. 11, 2001, he was distraught.
Years passed, and Schafer began to coach high school football throughout the region. Some of his players joined West Chester’s program. None knew of Michael Horrocks. Not of his tragic place in history, or of his greatest moment on the field, when he led the Golden Rams to a 35-27 upset win over Delaware in 1983.
They didn’t know of his service in the Marines, or his devotion to his kids, and his wife, and his friends. They didn’t know his name at all. And Schafer desperately wanted them to.
So he and his teammates came up with a plan to ensure Horrocks’ presence would be felt for years to come. From 2008 to 2010, the West Chester alums raised $150,000 for a scholarship endowment and a statue to commemorate the late quarterback.
They faced all sorts of challenges, some of them logistical. West Chester had never built a statue on campus before, and had no clear guidelines on the process to have one erected.
Former West Chester University football player John Mininno is photographed near a statue honoring his former teammate, quarterback Michael Horrocks.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
In an initial conference call with Horrocks’ teammates, school officials tried to persuade them to build something smaller, like a plaque or a bench. They warned the former players of the money they would need, and the bureaucratic hurdles they would face.
But Schafer was undeterred.
“Tom went in there and said, ‘F— you, we’re not doing a plaque. We’re doing a statue,’” said Class of 1988 linebacker John Mininno. “And he was not to be denied.”
The result was not just a statue, but a tradition. Since it was unveiled in 2010, West Chester’s players have tapped Horrocks’ left foot before every practice and game.
They have done this so often that you can see scuffs of gold peeking out from beneath the bronze. Horrocks is not here in the physical sense, but this version of him — fearlessly driving down the field, leading his men — is now preserved.
And his teammates intend for it to stay that way.
“We want this to be a legacy,” Mininno said. “We want this to be here for much longer than we’re going to be around.”
Michael Horrocks emerged as a starting quarterback and a trusted leader at West Chester.provided by Mark Gosik
‘A pilot the entire time’
Horrocks was born and raised about 70 miles west of West Chester, in Hershey, Pa. He attended Hershey High School, where he played varsity football under head coach Robert “Gump” May.
May was tougher than most coaches. His team did three-a-days throughout the summer: an unusually heavy workload, which had the intended effect of whittling unreceptive players from the roster.
The coach would start camp with 75 kids. Two weeks later, he would be left with 30.
One kid, in particular, was always in that lattergroup.
“Mike stayed,” May said.
Horrocks was fighting for playing time with Scott Campbell, a quarterback who would go on to have a six-year career in the NFL. Locals were skeptical that the backup would perform in the opportunities he did get, but he quickly proved them wrong.
Over his one season as a starter at Hershey, and in limited appearances before that, Horrocks led his team to a litany of come-from-behind wins, including one against rival Palmyra High School, which took a 21-point lead in the first quarter.
“After Scott Campbell graduated, everybody thought, ‘Well, they lost their big gun,’” May recalled. “Well, Mike jumped in and he was just as big a gun.”
Michael HorrocksSpecial Collections, West Chester University
Gump reached out to a friend, Rick Daniels, a part-time assistant who later became West Chester’s head coach, and sent him some film of Horrocks. In the spring of 1981, the quarterback drove to campus for a visit.
Daniels was already impressed by what he saw on film. Horrocks didn’t just have a strong arm; he was also quick on his feet, and he had an air of unflappability about him. He joined West Chester’s team that fall as a backup quarterback.
Once again, Horrocks found himself in the unenviable position of filling in for an NFL-caliber player in Ron Gaynor, who later bounced around training camps with the Seahawks, Eagles, and Bills.
Nevertheless, the aspiring starter worked with the intensity of a seasoned veteran. Horrocks and tight end Al DePippo would regularly put in extra hours, throwing after practice and then heading to the weight room. If it was locked, they would use the neck machine beneath the stands.
Horrocks coupled his drive with a lighthearted composure that allowed him to thrive in intense situations. The first time he interacted with Schafer was in 1982,when Horrocks was a sophomore.
Gaynor had gotten hurt; Horrocks was asked to fill in.
“He crouched down in the middle of the huddle, looked up at us, and said, ‘Ah, the big boys,’” Schafer recalled to The Inquirer in 2010. “I said, ‘Shut up and call the play.’”
It was a precursor of huddles to come. Some players got stiff when they first entered regular season games. Horrocks was the opposite. He would walk onto the field with a toothy grin and a laugh, confident in the hours of prep behind him.
Michael Horrocks led West Chester to a rare win over rival Delaware in 1983. Special Collections, West Chester University
This continued even after he was named the starting quarterback in 1983. Horrocks was known to play pranks, like tying teammates’ shoelaces together, or putting slices of cheese in a friend’s textbook.
West Chester had some of its greatest moments under Horrocks and his playful persona. In his first game as a starter, Sept. 10, 1983, the Golden Rams faced the University of Delaware on the road.
It was a harrowing matchup. West Chester played in Division II, while Delaware played at what was then known as the Division I-AA level. The Blue Hens had won their last 15 games against the Golden Rams, a streak that dated back to 1957.
But West Chester was unafraid. After a scoreless first quarter, the Golden Rams jumped to a 21-3 lead in the second. They upped it to 35-3 in the third and held on for the win.
Horrocks finished the day 10-of-18 for 129 passing yards and two touchdowns.
West Chester’s campus erupted into a giant party, as if the team had won the national championship. But the quarterback at the center of it all was already focused on his next game.
When he returned home that night, he recapped different plays and passes to his housemates on Magnolia Street.
“He would talk about even some of the plays that he missed,” said his friend Chris Conner. “He never got too big. Even though he had just beaten Delaware, he was still the same guy.”
From left, West Chester University football alumni Tom Weaver, Mike Esposito, Bob Campbell, Mike Hudson and Dean DiPasquale pose for a photo with a statue honoring their former teammate Michael Horrocks last month. Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
In 1984, West Chester hired a new head coach, Danny Hale, who brought in a new I-formation attack that incorporated elements of the West Coast offense. This system was different from what the team was accustomed to running (a split-back veer offense), and Hale, who was hired late, had limited time to teach it.
He and quarterbacks coach Bill Hart met with Horrocks every day in the football office on campus. They would draw up plays on the chalkboard and quiz their pupil about different coverages and fronts he would face.
Hale’s system allowed Horrocks the ability to audible if the situation called for it, and the head coach wanted him to be well-prepared. But Hale and Hart soon learned that that wouldn’t be a concern.
The Golden Rams went 7-3 in 1984, and 5-1 in their conference, falling just shy of winning the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference’s Eastern Division title.
When DePippo looks back, he realizes that the same qualities that served Horrocks in the air were those that made him a good quarterback: a natural leader, a hard worker, a man who could balance an easygoing nature with intense focus.
“It comes back to what kind of pilot do you want?” DePippo said. “Do you want somebody that’s going to panic when the s— hits the fan, or do you want a guy that’s going to be confident?
“And Mike was that confident guy; a pilot the entire time. We just didn’t know it.”
Pilot Michael Horrocks (left) was introduced to flying in the 1980s. (Photo provided by Mark Gosik)INQ WILLIAMS
From football to flight
The first time Horrocks flew a plane was in 1983. He was in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for spring break with two friends, Mark Gosik, a former guard for West Chester, and Rob Jeffries, a tight end at Lehigh.
They were visiting a family friend of Horrocks’, Bill Blauer, who worked for a commercial airline. One afternoon, Blauer invited them aboard his four-seat aircraft.
Gosik and Jeffries sat in the back, with headgear on, as Horrocks rode up front. About halfway through the two-hour ride, Blauer turned to Horrocks and told him to grab the controls.
Horrocks obliged and cruised the plane down, close enough to see the beachgoers below. As he flew over the ocean, with waves rippling beneath him, he realized he had found his calling.
The former quarterback felt that his best route to commercial flight would be through the Marines. Horrocks knew he would get the best training there, and he liked the idea of a new challenge. So, after graduating West Chester in 1985, he enrolledin Officer Candidates School.
He got his wings at a naval air station in Corpus Christi, Texas, and was stationed in the early 1990s at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina, where he joined a marine aerial refueler transport squadron.
Horrocks flew KC-130 turboprop aircraft, which were used to refuel helicopters and jets, but also to transfer cargo, passengers, ammunition — anything that needed to be moved. It was a daunting transition, one that many young pilots struggled with.
Miriam Horrocks (center, left) cradles her son Mick, 6, as her father-in-law William Horrocks (center, right) sits with her daughter Christa Horrocks, 9, as a US Marine Corps Honor Guard folds up the American flag following a memorial mass and service for her husband Michael Horrocks on Sept. 17, 2001.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
In training, they would be flying a single-engine plane, which stretched maybe 18 to 20 feet long. Now, as lieutenants, they were manning a plane five times as big, with three more engines, moving whatever needed to be moved at 30,000 feet in the air.
It was anything but a routine job. Horrocks’ operations officer, now-retired Lt. Col. Bill Franchi, said that when his squadron deployed to Bahrain during the Gulf War, they did so knowing that there was a good chance they would be targeted heavily.
But Horrocks was a natural, and quickly proved he could be relied upon. He went on a number of deployments, to the Middle East throughout the Gulf War, to Europe, to Central America, and became Franchi’s “go-to guy.”
Once, during a three-week detachment to Norway, a panel in the squadron’s KC-130 caught fire. As Franchi tried to put the fire out, he asked Horrocks to redirect the plane back to the local airport.
This was not a scenario that the young pilot had practiced in a simulator. Horrocks would be landing downwind, without flaps on his wings, which helped the plane maintain lift while slowing it down.
With a full-face oxygen mask on, and vapor from a fire extinguisher filling the cockpit, Horrocks guided the aircraft onto the runway, preventing what surely would have been a disaster.
“I told him, ‘I credit you with having saved about six people,’” Franchi said. “Because I didn’t have to do a thing. He had it. And that was sort of typical of Mike. You know?”
Horrocks spent his last few years in the military instructing Marine, Navy, and Coast Guard pilots in Florida. In 1997, his active duty came to an end. He enrolled in new-hire pilot training at United Airlines that summer.
United and Continental Airlines pilots and crew, all friends of Michael Horrocks, stand by his statue at Farrell Stadium in 2010. (Ed Hille / Staff Photographer)
He soon was flying commercial airplanes full-time and living in Glen Mills with his wife, Miriam, and their two young children, Christa and Mick.
Now that Horrocks was local again, he was able to reconnect with old teammates like Bob Rafferty, a former West Chester halfback and quarterback.
They would often see each other in Media, running errands at the Granite Run Mall. In December 2000, while shopping for Christmas gifts, they crossed paths one last time.
Horrocks was walking out of the mall, and Rafferty was walking in. They chatted about family. Horrocks mentioned that he had recently started working transatlantic flights for United.
The two men said goodbye and went their respective ways. Nine months later, Horrocks boarded a Boeing 767 at Logan International Airport in Boston.
Rafferty watched as it hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center. Few, if any, of his teammates knew that Horrocks was piloting commercial aircraft. The idea of him being on that plane didn’t even occur to them.
But Rafferty had a feeling.
“He was the first person I thought of,” he said.
West Chester University quarterback Colin O’Sullivan taps a statue honoring former quarterback Michael Horrocks before practice last month. Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
‘Think of Mike’
Without social media, news of Horrocks’ death at age 38 spread slowly.Some West Chester football alumni found out when they saw Miriam Horrocks on the front page of The Inquirer, at her husband’s funeral in Upper Providence Township.
Others heard through teammates. DePippo was working on Wall Street and lost about 40 or 50 colleagues in the attack. He couldn’t process that Horrocks was gone, too.
In late September, Gosik and two friends, Tim and Patrick Dever, took a train to New York. They spent the day at ground zero, walking through rubble, picking up pieces of people’s lives off the ground: photos, notebooks, newspapers.
Gosik still remembers how dust and soot filled the air. So did the sound of car alarms, blaring for their owners. A few days earlier, a neighbor had made Gosik a lapel pin to commemorate Horrocks, with his No. 14 written on a felt football.
Gosik wore it on his jacket as he traversed the site where his teammate perished.
“We just felt like we needed to be there,” Gosik said. “We just wanted to go.”
Years went by, and the West Chester alums began to wonder why no tribute to their quarterback existed on campus. They were worried that Horrocks would be forgotten, and realized that their fears were well-founded.
West Chester University football players tap a statue honoring former quarterback Michael Horrocks before practice last month. Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
“I don’t recall any of us even being aware of it beforehand,” said Tim Keyser, a wide receiver who graduated in 2013. “That wasn’t something I knew when I was a true freshman on campus or anything.”
The former players began to meet with the school about the prospect of a statue in 2008. Bill Zwaan Sr., who was head coach of the football program at the time, sat and listened as an official from the foundation tried to convey how complicated, and costly, it would be to build such a structure.
Horrocks’ teammates ended the meeting emphatically: by standing up and reiterating, for the umpteenth time, that they were going to move forward with the statue. After they left, the foundation official turned to Zwaan.
“And he said, ‘Do you think they really understood what we were talking about?’” Zwaan recalled. “And I said, ‘They do. And they’re going to do a statue. And you guys have got to be prepared for that.’”
It was a slow, arduous process. The former players not only would have to raise $50,000 for the statue itself, but also would donate $100,000toward a scholarship endowment, which DePippo and another teammate, Bruce Blake, started in 2004.
At this point, most of them had full-time jobs and families of their own, and carving out time was not easy. But they made it happen.
DePippo oversaw the money. Mininno began a letter-writing campaign to raise funds. Walsh served as a liaison between the alumni and the current coaching staff.
Schafer worked as a partner of a local concrete cutting company. He and another West Chester alumnus, Paul Vanscovich, donated their construction crews and equipment for free.
Other teammates chipped in through a team banquet and a Super Bowl pool. A few local businesses, and the pilots union, contributed as well.
The statue of Mike Horrocks at West Chester.MICHAEL S. WIRTZ / Staff Photographer
“I’d kick in $1,000, John would kick in $1,000, Jim O’Donnell would kick in $1,000,” DePippo said. “And then we would get on a text chain, and berate each other in team fashion. Like, ‘You’ve got to do this.’
“We raised money basically only through grassroots. I was specific about that. I didn’t want any corporate sponsorship.You know, ‘CBS Sports presents the Mike Horrocks statue.’ I didn’t want that.”
In the months before construction of the statue was finished, former players would visit West Chester to share stories of their late teammate with the current roster.
Walsh, DePippo, and Blake visited them the day before the dedication. Wearing purple and yellow practice jerseys, the team took a knee as Walsh began to speak.
He explained that one day, Horrocks’ teammates wouldn’t be able to share his story, and that it would be up to the next generation of players to do so.
Then he asked them to close their eyes, and think of a loved one: a sibling, a friend, a parent.
“And when you go down that hill tomorrow, and you touch [the statue of] Mike, think of Mike,” Walsh said. “Say his name. And think of someone else who is special in your life. And thank God that you have them with you today.”
Nine years after their father’s death, Christa Horrocks comforts her brother, Mick, at the unveiling of the statue of Michael Horrocks at West Chester University in 2010.
The statue was unveiled at 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2010, a perfect autumn day in Chester County. The school arranged a ceremony beforehand, with bagpipes, a marching band, and a flyover.
Miriam Horrocks and the children, now teenagers, were in attendance; Christa gave a speech about her father.
Sitting next to the podium, with crutches by his side, was Schafer. He was unable to speak to a large crowd, but sat throughout the entire ceremony with a smile on his face, shaking hands with football men young and old.
He died of cancer just over a month later, at his home in Phoenixville.
Last August, during a team reunion in West Chester, a thought occurred to Walsh. He pointed to the bricks surrounding Horrocks’ memorial, which contained inscriptions honoring the late quarterback.
He suggested adding a small stone, maybe toward the back, with the number 52 on it; a nod to a teammate who put another above himself, even when his body was failing.
“Tom just believed in his heart that it needed to be a statue,” Walsh said. “And he was right. He was right.”
In the wake of the 76ers’ monumental offseason, one concern that players have already started addressing in various statements is, “How much are players going to sacrifice?”
Having as much talent as the Sixers have on their roster naturally leads to questions about roles and shot distribution, since there’s only one ball to go around.
Landing Jaylen Brown and LeBron James in the same offseason will of course invite skeptics who doubt the fit and wonder whether everyone’s games can mesh. But this is a champagne problem in the NBA. Most teams would be lucky to have this as one of its main issues heading into training camp.
New Sixer Jaylen Brown acknowledged that his team will need to sacrifice. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
“Obviously it’s a lot of guys with talent,” Brown said last month. “It’s egos, but to win, you got to be able to sacrifice, be able to have trust and communication.”
Along those lines, here’s a look at how the Sixers might address that through the lens of a statistic that measures how often a player consumes his team’s possessions, usage rate, which measures how often a team’s possessions ends with either a shot, free throws or a turnover from a particular player when he is on the floor.
A glance at the starting five
First, here were the individual usage rates last season (according to NBA.com) for each player in the projected starting five, and where they ranked in the league.
Tyrese Maxey: 28.6% (27th)
VJ Edgecombe: 19.6% (181st)
Jaylen Brown: 35.1% (third)
LeBron James: 26.2% (47th)
Joel Embiid: 33.6% (sixth)
Potential paths forward
Quick addition will show all those percentages equal 143.1 when they need to equal closer to 100 (since not everyone will always be playing together at the same time). In some lineup combinations, and in games in which Embiid and/or James don’t play, that’ll be the time for Maxey, Edgecombe and Brown to have higher usage stretches than they would have when everyone is healthy. But when all five are healthy and on the floor, likely everyone is going to have to sacrifice to make the usage pie work.
James has already indicated with his play that this is where he is headed in his career, and perhaps why general manager Mike Gansey has been hyping up James’ ability to be a connector.
James’ usage actually hit a career low last season, as he ceded more scoring opportunities in the Los Angeles Lakers offense to Austin Reaves and Luka Doncic. This worked for the Lakers, who were playing well before Reaves and Doncic got hurt later in the season. James averaged 7.2 assists, so having him lean more into a connector and creator role in the Sixers’ offense is a prime way for the offense to generate shots naturally when the starting five is on the floor.
This could allow Maxey to play more frequently off the ball, where he can be efficient from three-point range.
Looking at Brown’s numbers
Another obvious place to look for decreased usage is Brown, who saw a spike in that statistic with Jayson Tatum out for the majority of last season for the Boston Celtics. Brown went from 28.2% the prior season to his 35.1% mark last year (he attempted four more shots, averaged 2.4 free throws and one more turnover per game).
Brown returning to a usage level similar to what he had playing alongside Tatum makes sense, considering he won’t have to shoulder the burden of heavy shot creation playing alongside Maxey, Embiid and James. How he adjusts his game to the roster around him is one of the more interesting questions of the early part of the Sixers season and could go a long way to determining just what this team looks like.
A load off Embiid’s shoulders, and legs
The potential path to Embiid’s role on the team may lie in his 2024 Olympics experience playing with James. There, Embiid took on a reduced role on Team USA’s path to the gold medal.
Joel Embiid served as a role player on the Team USA win in the 2024 Olympics. AFP via Getty Images
The offense doesn’t have to run through him when he’s on the floor, especially if the Sixers are going to utilize one of the strengths of this roster — getting out in transition. This could serve a dual purpose in freeing up shots for the rest of the lineup while allowing Embiid to avoid accumulating as much wear and tear game to game.
Getting out in transition
The Sixers have four of the top 15 scorers in transition from a season ago. One way to get everyone his fill of shots is to play fast and have more possessions. If the Sixers commit to playing that way some of the usage issues will take care of themselves. Inevitably, there will still be things to figure out in the halfcourt, especially when it comes to who is taking what shots late in close games.
That will take time to sort through. But the Sixers, in their comments so far this summer, have indicated they know the challenge ahead, and so far, they seem willing to tackle it head on instead of avoiding it.
Just under a month into training camp, Lane Johnson outlined the best-case scenario for the Eagles offense in 2026.
It was a lofty aspiration — but not unrealistic, given the success of the offense just two years ago. It centered on its star running back, Saquon Barkley, who accumulated over 2,000 rushing yards in the 2024 regular season and broke Terrell Davis’ single-season rushing record (combined regular season and postseason) by Super Bowl LIX.
“I think all in all, the more productive we are in the run game and stuff feeds all of that, that we’ll see the Saquon of two years ago,” Johnson said on Aug. 19.
That ideal won’t fall on Barkley alone. To recapture his productivity of two years ago, the Eagles are going back about 30, tapping an offshoot of an offensive scheme that rose to popularity around the time the running back was born.
Sean Mannion, the Eagles’ first-time, 34-year-old offensive coordinator, spent most of his playing and coaching careers learning from pupils of the Shanahan/McVay tree. These days in the NFL, “Shanahan” refers to Kyle, the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, but he is preceded by his father Mike, the two-time Super Bowl-winning head coach with the Denver Broncos who helped Davis reach that record in 1998.
Kyle Shanahan (left) and father Mike (pictured in 2010 while with Washington) pointed the way to the current run-game concepts in vogue around the NFL. Alex Brandon
When Mike became Broncos head coach in 1995, he named Alex Gibbs offensive line coach. Gibbs, who died in 2021, was a proponent of the wide-zone blocking scheme in the run game that would go on to serve as the foundation for the modern West Coast offense.
His influence lives on in offshoots of the scheme around the league. Mannion called his first exposure to the system in 2017 under Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay “a very exciting point in my football life.” Now, Mannion has the opportunity to make it his own, all while helping breathe new life into an Eagles rushing attack that stagnated in 2025.
“I’ve seen it from afar, but now, actually studying it and working it and trying to put myself in the system, I feel like it’s going to open up some things that I may not have been able to show as much in my career,” Barkley said.
The man seeking to help Barkley elevate his game is a quarterback by trade. But Mannion’s expertise isn’t limited to the passing game. According to offensive line coach Chris Kuper, who played for Shanahan in Denver, the Eagles offensive coordinator “loves the run game,” too.
“The run game is a big part of what we’re going to do,” Kuper said, “And [Mannion’s] got passion for it. And that makes me feel good as an O-line coach, because I think we’re going to be really good at running the ball.”
Todd Gurley thrived with wide-zone concepts while with the Rams. Tony Avelar
In the (wide) zone
When Barkley learned that the Eagles offensive scheme in 2026 would have Shanahan/McVay roots, he fired up Todd Gurley’s film.
Gurley spent five of his six seasons in the NFL with the Rams, including two standout seasons in 2017 and 2018. He led the NFL in rushing touchdowns in both seasons, earning a pair of All-Pro honors and an NFL Offensive Player of the Year nod in 2017.
Dean Davidson, the author of the Wide Zone Warriors Substack, watched those years in real time. A native of St. Louis whose memories of the Rams commence with the collapse of the “Greatest Show on Turf” era, Davidson was enthralled with the quick work McVay did to turn the team around. At the time, Davidson had just joined the staff of a struggling high school football team and was looking for inspiration.
“I was trying to figure out how [McVay] took that team from the dumps that they were in my entire life that I could remember to that point to Super Bowl favorites in what seemed like overnight,” said Davidson, who is now the offensive line coach at Obion County Central High School in Troy, Tenn.
At the core of the scheme that fascinated Davidson was the wide-zone run. Its intent is in its name. The blocking unit aims to stretch the defense on the front side of the run, while simultaneously cutting off defenders on the back side.
As Gibbs explained at his 2015 offensive line clinic in Cincinnati, the running back’s aiming point is the backside of the tight end — and if there is no tight end to the weak side of the formation, it would be to the imaginary backside of the tight end. After three steps, the running back would know whether he should hit the edge on the front side or make a single cut up the middle of the field. By the fifth step, he would make his cut.
One of the challenges of defending the wide zone run is the distance that defenders have to cover in order to maintain their gap integrity, Davidson explained.
“Everybody’s moving so far in one direction that the gap that you’re responsible for as a defensive lineman or a linebacker, maybe even a safety, it might still be between the same two offensive linemen, but those two offensive linemen on a given snap could be like 10 yards laterally somewhere else,” Davidson said. “So forcing them to maintain their gap integrity while moving so far laterally, it’s a very difficult challenge.”
It’s a challenge the Eagles offensive line enjoyed creating throughout training camp. Cam Jurgens said the scheme “lets you be a little bit more of an athlete” given how quickly the front side blocking unit must fire off the ball laterally toward the sideline.
The goal, according to Kuper, is for the defense to defend every blade of grass on the field. That task, ideally, would tire out the defense as the game wears on, Lane Johnson said. After Johnson, Jurgens, and Landon Dickerson had a full offseason to recover from the ailments that plagued them last year, they are up to the assignment.
“We’re getting to really run, stretch the field, cover some yardage,” Johnson said. “So in that way, it tires out defenses. Makes them cover each gap.”
Lane Johnson (65) and his fellow offensive line cohorts are getting behind the wide-zone scheme Sean Mannion has introduced in Philly.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
The wide zone could be at the foundation of the Eagles’ rushing attack, but in all likelihood, it won’t be the only style of run in their playbook. When Gibbs was designing the Broncos’ run game 30 years ago, he only believed in coaching zone runs — primarily wide zone and some tight zone, in which the running back’s landmark is typically behind the center.
David Gibbs, his son and the secondary coach at Arizona State, explained that his father didn’t believe teams could excel at executing both zone schemes (blocking a certain area of the field) and gap schemes (blocking a specific defender or gap). But the game has evolved, the younger Gibbs said.
“You have to be able to do both, because the defensive linemen are so good,” he said. “They’re so big, athletic, strong, and the reality of it is defensive linemen are just more athletic than offensive linemen, in my opinion. And so you can’t give them the same schemes all the time.”
Brett Kollmann, an NFL Media analyst, called the Rams’ 15-6 loss to Vic Fangio’s Chicago Bears in 2018 “one of the defining games of the last decade” that prompted an evolution of McVay’s scheme. At the time, the Rams’ rushing attack was wide-zone heavy. Fangio’s solution was to stack bodies on the line of scrimmage in a 6-1 “tilt front,” putting a body in every gap and forcing the running back to cut back into a defender.
Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots would follow the same blueprint to stop the Rams in the Super Bowl that season. To counteract the defense’s penetration at the line of scrimmage, McVay would eventually introduce more “counter” runs, a gap scheme that calls for two pulling blockers to create a pair of gaps on the play side.
The incorporation of different types of runs gives defenses more to process, according to right guard Tyler Steen, which in turn forces them to slow down.
“One minute you’re going wide zone and D-tackles and D-ends are running,” Steen said. “The next minute, you’re going ‘duo’ and you’re going downhill. So I think that gives defenders a lot to think about. And so it kind of makes it easier on the O-linemen, because [the defense doesn’t] know what to play.”
Saquon Barkley often found running room hard to come by for an Eagles offense that grew predictable in 2025. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Keeping defenses ‘on their toes’
After the Eagles’ 34-17 loss to the New York Giants in Week 6, Johnson tried to surmise the state of the Eagles offense.
As he spoke at his stall, he used some form of the word “predictable” three times.
“I don’t know if we’re predictable, but it seems a lot harder than what it needs to be,” Johnson said. “Maybe moving forward have a little bit more variety, hitting the perimeter some and doing a little bit more of that.”
Johnson emphasized that he wasn’t trying to point fingers, and at the end of the day, the Eagles needed to execute better. Still, his analysis was a harbinger of things to come for the shotgun-heavy offense that seldom disguised its intentions.
The Eagles are set to take a different direction under Mannion. Like other offshoots of the Shanahan/McVay tree, Mannion emphasizes the importance of the marriage between the run and the pass — more specifically, the play-action pass.
When runs look like passes, and vice versa, offenses are less predictable, Johnson said.
“I think setting up with the play action is just going to be a whole lot tougher to distinguish what we’re doing,” Johnson said during mandatory minicamp. “Whole lot harder to catch on [to] tells with stuff that we’re doing. So I think this stuff, we can disguise it more.”
The key to pulling that off is keeping the presentation the same. If the Eagles are running wide zone, for example, and building the play-action pass off of it, the blocking unit is executing the same assignment. Johnson stressed the importance of keeping a “low hat” to sell the run, and if the linebackers bite down, the quarterback can target the vacant middle of the field.
Eagles offensive coordinator Sean Mannion (right) is introducing variety to an offense seeking to keep defenses off-guard. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Marry that with motions, and the defense is confronted with another layer of complexity to decipher. Even the quarterback’s alignment under center can further disguise the intent of the offense on any given play, Jurgens explained.
“I feel like that’s just another way to keep defenses on their toes,” Jurgens said during mandatory minicamp. “You get a little less predictable. And so I feel like it kind of gives us a little better angles as well. Defenses can’t cheat things, ‘cause they don’t know where we’re going to go. You can set up a lot of your plays a lot better.”
Kollmann is aware of Jalen Hurts’ historical lack of targeting the middle of the field. Dating back to his rookie season before he became the full-time starter, Hurts has targeted the short middle of the field (a maximum of nine yards from the line of scrimmage) on 8.3% of his pass attempts, according to an Inquirer analysis. The league average is 14.5%. From 10 to 19 yards beyond the line of scrimmage over the middle, Hurts’ attempt rate drops to 4.6% (closer to the 7.4% league average).
But Kollmann said that conflating “hasn’t” with “can’t” isn’t necessarily fair. He said he believes that the Eagles lack of a wide-zone, play-action game in the past is to blame for not helping free up that area.
“When they are so shotgun heavy, and therefore when their play action game is really just kind of faking inside zone, that’s the kind of run fake that doesn’t really draw linebackers in, because they can see the ball the entire time,” Kollmann said.
The fake from under center requires a quarterback to turn his back to the defense, shielding the ball from the view of the linebackers. They can’t see it, so they step up, theoretically giving the offense more room to operate over the middle.
It’s easier said than done for any quarterback, as they must temporarily take their eyes off of the pass rushers seeking to take them down. But according to Josh Grizzard, the Eagles passing game coordinator, Hurts has been a “natural” with turning his back to the defense and selling the fake.
“When you have the runs and they look like the keepers and they look like the play passes, then the goal would be for those guys to see the same thing,” Grizzard said. “And then if you can get that second level of the defense to step up, then you have an ability to now push the ball down the field and be able to marry the run and the pass as well as create explosive passes.”
How many runs are designed for Jalen Hurts in the new offense remains an open question. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
The backside threat
Speaking of keepers, will the quarterback designed run game return to the Eagles offense in 2026?
By December of last year, Hurts was averaging 1.1 designed runs per game in 2025, according to Pro Football Focus. He averaged 3.6 designed runs per game in his first four seasons as the starter.
The modern West Coast offense hasn’t necessarily needed a mobile quarterback to thrive, as evidenced by the success of Jared Goff and Matthew Stafford with the Rams. But the 2026 Eagles offense isn’t going to be a carbon copy of other schemes around the league from the same tree, and Mannion is well-aware of Hurts’ rushing ability.
“Jalen has a unique skill set in that way,” Mannion said. “So that’ll certainly be a part of what we do, but we’re looking again at all areas as an offense to really attack defenses on a weekly basis. He is uniquely skilled in that way. That will be a part of it, but it won’t be the only part of it.”
Zone reads aren’t totally foreign to this coaching tree. In 2012, while Mike Shanahan was Washington’s head coach and Kyle was his offensive coordinator, the team drafted Robert Griffin III with the second overall pick.
The rookie quarterback would go on to rush for 815 yards and seven touchdowns, all while throwing for 3,200 yards. His production on the ground wouldn’t persist far beyond 2012, though. Washington took a more conservative approach with Griffin III as a rusher, especially as he dealt with injuries that began during a rookie season that was ended by a serious knee injury.
Robert Griffin III (10) was a rushing threat in the Washington offense before injuries curtailed his effectiveness.
Still, Davidson said a backside threat is important in the run game, whether it’s a quarterback run or a bootleg. In the case of the bootleg, which the Eagles incorporated throughout training camp and the preseason, the quarterback exploits the unblocked defensive end who flows with the running back, rolling out unabated in the opposite direction and completing a pass on the move.
“If you’re just under center or even the pistol, and you don’t have anything that keeps the defense on the backside, then it’s a lot easier for them to chase [the ball] down [in wide zone],” Davidson said. “But if they know that they have to defend boot on the other side of the field or defend a quarterback run on the other side of the field, it can really slow the defense down.”
Time will reveal the contents of Mannion’s playbook. While it may contain odes to his influences, it could also include all of the plays he would’ve liked to run throughout his nine-year career as an NFL backup quarterback and two seasons as an assistant with the Green Bay Packers.
Whatever the offense becomes will be unique to the Eagles, Kuper said.
“Those webs of guys kind of break out, and they kind of make it their own, and that’s what our goal is,” Kuper said. “This is going to evolve into Sean Mannion’s offense. This is going to be a derivative, maybe.
“There’s going to be flavors of what you’ve seen throughout the league, and some of his mentors, but this will be our offense.”
This fall’s restaurant openings reflect an industry hedging its bets: established operators expanding into the suburbs and repurposing familiar spaces, and newcomers pursuing narrowly drawn concepts built around omakase, caviar, Korean barbecue, cocktails, and live-fire cooking.
I count about five dozen restaurants in the region’s pipeline, with Italian concepts (no surprise), all-day service, and experience-driven dining recurring throughout the list. In addition to 60 restaurants opening between now and late December, two other restaurants are expanding: Lovat Square in Chestnut Hill is adding dinners and Palm Vintage across from City Hall is adding nighttime sushi service.
By comparison, last year’s fall roundup covered 53 restaurants. All of those opened except for three that are now a full year behind schedule: Adda in Fishtown is shooting for October, Ayat near Rittenhouse Square is aiming for November, and Brunch Bulls in Point Breeze is targeted for December. (Although this year has seen its share of closings, especially among longstanding restaurants, each of last fall’s restaurants is still open.)
Brand new and notable
Aogami (4343 Main St.): Underground sushi is coming to Manayunk as chef Tom LoMonte joins chef Moon Krapukthong to offer a 16-course omakase in a 20-seat BYOB setting beneath Krapukthong’s Yanako and neighboring Chabaa Thai Bistro, starting Sept. 25. LoMonte — a veteran of Zama, Izakaya by Yanaga, Pod, and Yanaga Kappo Izakaya — will lead the omakases at 6 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; reserved sushi-bar seatings will run Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays alongside hand rolls and à la carte service. LoMonte describes the atmosphere as energetic and less formal than typical omakase counters. Upstairs, Yanako will continue serving rolls, sushi platters, udon, tempura, and yakitori.
The Buttery (1099 Germantown Ave.): Malvern-based bakery and cafe the Buttery is preparing a Philadelphia location at Piazza Alta in Northern Liberties, near Scusi and Terra Grill. It recently opened a Bryn Mawr location and expanded its original Malvern operation into dinner service with Neapolitan pizza and shareable plates. An opening date has not yet been shared.
Nick & Nora’s Oyster Dive (560 Stokes Rd., Medford): Michael and Jeniphur Pasquarello (La Chinesca, Piccolina) are bringing a raw bar and American kitchen to a corner space with a large deck at Ironstone Village. The broader menu will include steak frites, burgers, fish, vegetables, and small plates, says Michael Pasquarello, who hopes to open in 60 to 90 days.
Chef Chaz Brown (left) is partnered with his brother Clifford Brown (center) and John Skeele in Rumblefish, 1700 N. Third St.Mike Prince
Rumblefish(1700 N. Third St.): Chef Chaz Brown is targeting November for this 900-square-foot, fast-casual Caribbean fish-fry restaurant at Third Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue. Brown — a Trinidadian American chef whose resumé includes Nobu, Le Bec-Fin, Fatty Crab, and television’s Top Chef — will focus on invasive species such as lionfish, snakehead, green crab, and Chesapeake Bay blue catfish when available. (The catfish turned heads at the recent Oxtail Exchange at Forman Arts Initiative.) Brown uses gluten-free corn flour with Trinidadian spice blends and serves the fish on po’boy-style rolls baked by Angelo’s Bakery in Conshohocken. The mostly takeout operation will have counter seating, a 25-seat covered patio, slaws, fries, sea-moss drinks, and Solo Kola Champagne.
Pennsylvania suburbs
Alessandro’s Enoteca (915 W. Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr): Alex Fiorello’s third restaurant will bring a bar-focused Italian concept to the former Enoteca Tredici space in Bryn Mawr Village in mid-to-late October. Fiorello and culinary director Matt Arcomone, whose resumé includes Osteria, Vetri, and Palladino’s, are planning house-made pastas, wood-fired pizzas, live-fire cooking, and dry-aged meats. It’s intended to have a stronger evening and bar scene than Fiorello’s Wayne restaurants.
Bruzi (281 Montgomery Ave., Bala Cynwyd): Two couples with Calabrian roots plan to open this Southern Italian restaurant in the former Aldar Bistro in late fall. Expect house-made pastas and Calabrian dishes such as fusilli with slow-cooked meat sauce, baked lamb, and grilled tuna, plus cocktails and an opening list of about 100 Italian wines.
Capperini (137 S. Easton Rd., Glenside): Eastern Montco will get an upscale Italian-Mediterranean destination with a liquor license from Ilya Vorobey and partners including members of the team behind Capri in Queen Village. Vorobey is aiming for October or November.
Casa de Fehu, 482 Jacksonville Rd., Hatboro.Michael Klein / Staff
Casa de Fehu (482 Jacksonville Rd., Hatboro): Hatboro couple Anthony Shalamov and Anastasia De Roy are developing this polished restaurant with European-inspired cooking and an upscale atmosphere, possibly with a tie-in to a local brewery that would allow alcoholic drinks. Shalamov is targeting an October soft opening.
Cecilia (266 E. Fourth St., Bridgeport): The team behind Blue Bell Inn and the Copper Crow is just about ready to open this contemporary American bar-restaurant in the extensively renovated former Taphouse 23. The roomy property includes a large patio and a wood-burning oven. The menu emphasizes familiar American dishes, positioning this as an all-purpose neighborhood destination.
Donatelli’s (1 Washington Ave., Newtown): Restaurateur Habib Troudi, who owns Panache and Ristorante Castelloin Blue Bell, is behind a top-to-bottom overhaul of the former Rocco’s at the Brick in downtown Newtown. He said he is hoping to open the Italian steakhouse in October.
Rendering of the Garden by Pieri Winery, 127 E. Elm St., in Conshohocken.Courtesy of Christina Pieri
The Garden by Pieri Winery (127 E. Elm St., Conshohocken): Winery owner Christina Pieri and restaurateur Brian Pieri (StoneRose, Bar Lucca, Cerdo) are targeting a mid-October opening of their year-round indoor-outdoor restaurant beside the Schuylkill River Trail, an offshoot of Christina’s Coopersburg winery. A wood-fired kitchen will serve seasonal American food, including brick-oven pizzas, focaccia sandwiches, salads, steaks, and fish, at lunch and dinner Tuesday through Sunday. The property will include a covered patio, fire tables, a turf area, and pickleball and bocce courts.
The Hungry Hub (11 S. Orange St., Media): Media native Cassidy Moretti and her mother, Glenda, are taking over the former Rivalry Cafe with a family-run breakfast and lunch operation. The Hungry Hub also plans later hours and a late-night menu, broadening its role beyond that of a conventional daytime cafe. An Oct. 1 opening has been announced.
The Iron Oven (58 S. York Rd., Hatboro): Alex Nalbandian’s Southampton bar-restaurant — known for an expansive American menu, cocktails, craft beer, brunch, and dishes ranging from wings and burgers to flatbreads and entrees — is adding a second location in eastern Montco: the former Ross & Co. He’s aiming at November.
Lazy Dog(160 N. Gulph Rd., King of Prussia): The California-based bar, known for Rocky Mountain lodge imagery and a broad American menu, is targeting late 2026 at the King of Prussia Mall.
Luna (129 E. Butler Ave., Ambler): FineLine Hospitality, which recently opened Academy Grill in Fort Washington, is behind a stylish revamp of Dettera in downtown Ambler. Chef Marie Lavizzo-Mourey will base her menu on the 20-plus countries bordering the Mediterranean. The project is on track for fall.
Martini & Roz(523 W. Lancaster Ave., Wayne): Fearless Restaurants is turning Wayne’s former Bertucci’s into an ambitious, 300-seat Southern Italian restaurant named for founder Marty Grims’ parents, Martin and Roslyn. Menu will include crudo, oysters, steaks and chops, wood-fired pizzas, house-made pastas, and charcuterie. It will feature two open kitchens, a cheese cave, a tasting counter, and extensive outdoor seating.
Maru (2922 Conestoga Rd., Glenmoore): David Backhus and the team behind the former Oori restaurants are in the early days of a fast-casual Korean-inspired restaurant at their former Collective Coffee & Bakery. Think Korean fried chicken sandwiches, wings, and tenders, supplemented by mochi doughnuts and specialty Collective coffee.
Nudy’s Cafe (122 Park Ave., Willow Grove): Prolific suburban breakfast-and-lunch operator Ray Nudy hopes for late September for his latest diner, across from Marshalls in Willow Grove.
Old Friend (166 E. Lancaster Ave., Wayne): Childhood friends Larry Kagan and Chas McFeely are behind this contemporary American grill, with former Fork executive chef Sam Henzy leading the kitchen. The 86-seat restaurant will center on live-fire cooking in a Josper oven, with dry-aged fish, poultry, and larger proteins intended for sharing. Its compact wine list will be closely tied to the food. A late-fall opening is planned in the Apartments at Wayne Station.
Opus (201 Birch St., Kennett Square): Square Roots Collective will open this 125-seat New American restaurant Sept. 11 in the former temporary home of Hank’s Place, next to the Artelo hotel. Executive chef Matthew Anderson, formerly of Longwood Gardens and Winterthur, plans seasonal dishes, such as Kennett Square mushroom bisque, butternut squash agnolotti, herb gnocchi, and dayboat scallops. The two-story space includes a cocktail lounge, terraces, and work by local artists. Profits will support community projects and nonprofits.
Salt (840 W. Lancaster Ave., Devon): Rich Kim of North Wales’ acclaimed Salt predicts late December for his redevelopment of Devon’s former La Jonquille and Shiraz property into a second Korean barbecue concept, followed in 2027 by Yugo, a carousel sushi restaurant, upstairs.
The Still on State (18 W. State St., Doylestown): Only days open at the Doylestown Inn, this Irish pub-inspired bar/restaurant fills the former Hattery Stove & Still space; it’s paired with an on-site microdistillery called the Tilted Brim.
Taco Heart (120 Coulter Ave., Ardmore): Nano Wheedan is bringing his South Philadelphia breakfast-taco shop to the Ardmore Farmers Market, its first expansion beyond its East Passyunk-area home. Expect Austin-style flour tortillas and breakfast tacos built around eggs, potatoes, beans, bacon, brisket, and house salsas. Opening is set for Oct. 5.
Top Dog Cocktails (110 E. State St., Kennett Square, and 2012 Frankford Ave., Fishtown): Ken Smuckler’s cocktail company plans two vinyl listening rooms this fall inspired by Japanese jazz kissas. Kennett Square’s 750-square-foot space partners with local music venue Kennett Flash, while Fishtown’s 350-square-foot flagship — arguably the neighborhood’s smallest bar — will feature a 15-seat bar, two-turntable DJ station, and retail.
Tusk (50 N. Main St., Doylestown): Mike and Joy Grafenstine, owners of Roberts Block in Glenside and Bonnet Lane Family Restaurant in Abington, are taking over the former Water’s Edge wine bar, combining the martini-and-wine-bar airs of Roberts Block with approachable upscale American comfort food. Target is October.
Vintner’s Table (24 Cricket Ave., Ardmore): Andrea and Marco Folino, behind Kutztown’s Folino Estate Winery, are opening a third location of their Italian-inspired wine bar, salumeria, and lifestyle boutique in downtown Ardmore in October.
New Jersey suburbs
Akira 70 Omakase (249 Marlton Pike, Cherry Hill): Ming “Frank” Zheng is expanding his Japanese holdings — he owns Akira Sushi in Voorhees and Moorestown — with an omakase experience in a former fur salon.
Banjara Indian Bistro (687-689 Berlin-Cross Keys Rd., Sicklerville): Vaneet Chopra, whose family operates Cross Culture in Haddonfield and previously ran Banjara in Chestnut Hill, is bringing the Banjara name to Sicklerville; its dine-in starts Thursday.
Freckled Jawn Brewing(1003 N. Evergreen Ave., Woodbury): Woodbury residents John Wagner and Colleen Gibson are taking over the former Eight & Sand Beer Co., which closed in June after 10 years. Targeting the first week of October, the brewery will introduce new branding and a fresh lineup of approachable beers, emphasizing natural and locally sourced ingredients when possible.
Irishtown Steaks (155 S. Burlington St., Gloucester City): Donkey’s Placealumnus Dave Murphy is targeting Halloween for his steak shop, joining recent Gloucester City entries Lillo’s and Pudge’s Pub. Murphy will use rolls from Boaggio’s, which has a bakery in town.
Penny’s Bagels (212 Kings Highway East, Haddonfield): Chris Fetfatzes and the Happy Monday Hospitality Group (Wine Dive, Grace & Proper) are developing this long-delayed bagel shop in downtown Haddonfield, now with an October target.
Pizzeria Cusumano (872 Haddon Ave., Collingswood): Announced back in September 2021, this passion project from South Jersey’s Sal Cusumano is finally about to start offering his Roman-inspired squares and neo-New York rounds, but “I don’t want to box myself into a certain style.” Cusumano, a third-generation pizzaiolo, is planning a small shop with limited seating. This week, he said it will open in October for sure.
Philadelphia
Adda (1700 Frankford Ave.): New York’s Unapologetic Foods — behind Dhamaka, Semma, and the original Adda — is bringing its energetic Indian cooking to Fishtown, across from the 19125 post office. Expect regional dishes in an informal setting, continuing the restaurant group’s practice of pushing beyond familiar Indian American standards. Originally expected in fall 2025, the Philadelphia location is now targeting an October opening.
Ayat (2021 Sansom St.): Abdul Elenani’s New York-based Palestinian restaurant — first announced in spring 2024 — is looking at a November opening in the former Roxy Theater near Rittenhouse Square. Ayat is known for generous portions of mansaf, maklouba, mezze, grilled meats, and other homestyle Palestinian dishes.
The bar at Bar Caviar, 256 S. 16th St.Kenneth Schutz
Bar Caviar (256 S. 16th St.): Opening in early October in the Dwight D Hotel in Rittenhouse, this bar will pair caviar and seafood with 50 varieties of Champagne and a full wine program in a setting that’s more neighborhood than hushed luxury lounge. Executive chef Greg Vassos’ contemporary American menu, informed by classical French technique and Japanese precision, will feature raw-bar selections, caviar-focused dishes, and seasonal small plates. The restaurant also will operate Parallel, a caviar program emphasizing careful sourcing and extended maturation. In 2027, Vassos plans to follow with Fall Line, a Mid-Atlantic-focused tasting-menu restaurant.
Brunch Bulls (1638 W. Passyunk Ave.): Brothers Derrick “Dee” Long and Jarrick “Jakk” Long are behind this all-day brunch/dinner/dessert restaurant in Point Breeze. They say they’ll be open by December.
Call Your Mother (262 S. 19th St., 1500 Frankford Ave., 12th and Sansom Streets): The lively, Washington-based “Jew-ish” bagel chain is making a three-location push into Philadelphia, starting this week with its Fishtown debut. Menu includes bagel sandwiches, schmears, latkes, coffee, and deli-inspired specials.
Carolyn’s Modern Vietnamese (2015 Walnut St.): This week, chef Carolyn Nguyen opens her deeply personal successor to Revolution Taco, which she co-owned in the space for a decade. Her menu brings together her family’s Vietnamese cooking, the seafood boils and Southern food of her Louisiana childhood, French culinary technique, and the freewheeling flavor combinations that defined her earlier ventures. The 33-seat restaurant serves dinner, and alcohol, in a spare, contemporary dining room.
Corte (1175 Ludlow St.):Corio partners Ryan Mulholland, chef David Feola, and James Smith are taking over the former Mulherin’s Pizzeria at East Market, between Iron Hill Brewery and Mi Vida. Feola will lead a menu built around house-made pastas plus proteins, vegetables, and small plates cooked in the large Mugnaini wood-burning oven. Mulholland will oversee daily operations and oversee an Old World-leaning wine list and cocktails inspired partly by forgotten recipes from century-old books. The dark-wood, earth-toned restaurant is targeting a fall opening.
DiDi (3748 Lancaster Ave.): DanDan owners Kevin and Catherina “Cat” Huang say they are “within a month or two” of opening their fast-casual pan-Asian concept at the Triad apartment building in Powelton Village. DiDi will join Kabobeesh, Karak Cha House, Shibam Coffee, Two Locals Brewing, and other businesses in the growing complex at 38th and Lancaster.
Divers Club (733 S. Fourth St.): Queen Village is in line to get a neighborhood wine bar from Susan Freeman, Chris Fetfatzes, and Heather Annechiarico (Grace & Proper, Wine Dive) in a former hair salon that sits on the same stretch as Famous 4th Street, Southwark, Ambra, and Fitz on 4th. Fetfatzes describes the mood as “dark, scrappy, and European — somewhere between a Paris backstreet wine bar and a graffitied Berlin hangout.”
Eggcetera Haus (625 S. Sixth St.): Husband-and-wife team Rey Tamaka and Vina Kencana soon will turn the former Redcrest Kitchen into an all-day bar-restaurant. Tamaka, previously the chef at an Old City brunch restaurant, plans breakfast, lunch, and dinner, moving from specialty coffee and morning dishes into pastas, steaks, cocktails, and comfort food at night. The couple expects daily service, giving the Queen Village-Bella Vista border another full-day neighborhood option.
Field Day (923 N. Second St.): James Beard Award-winning bartender and author Danny Childs and his wife, Katie, have a fall opening targeted for their casual regional cocktail bar in Northern Liberties, next to Cescaphe Ballroom. Childs’ drinks will use locally farmed, foraged, and fermented ingredients. Executive chef Melissa McGrath, known for her work at the idled Sweet Amalia Market & Kitchen, will offer Pennsylvania Dutch-inspired snacks, sandwiches, and tomato pies. Highballs, house-made sodas, boozy gelati, and walk-in seating will help keep the mood informal.
Habibi Supper Club (1515 E. Passyunk Ave.): Miled Finianos is giving his itinerant Lebanese dinner series a permanent home on East Passyunk — possibly by the end of year — serving late breakfast and lunch before he offers ticketed, multicourse suppers.
HYO (1222 Walnut St.): Nightlife veteran Justin Jordan plans an October opening for this Korean tabletop barbecue restaurant behind Hearsay, his indoor-outdoor sidewalk bar and listening lounge. Guests will enter HYO through a phone booth inside Hearsay. The restaurant is part of Jordan’s multilevel entertainment complex, which also includes Celine and the forthcoming Chancellor Room event space and karaoke lounge.
Jean (161 W. Girard Ave.): Emmett chef Evan Snyder and partner Julian van der Tak are going upstairs with a 15-seat tasting menu restaurant opening this fall. Snyder and chef de cuisine Antonio Pizzo will prepare a 12-course menu centered on a 7-foot wood-burning hearth, drawing on Algeria, Tunisia, coastal Morocco, and the southern Mediterranean for culinary influences. A tagine will roast throughout dinner before being served family-style.
Kato (1832 Frankford Ave.): Mei Meichef-owner Jay Ho is taking over the former Izakaya Fishtown space for a restaurant inspired by his Taiwanese father and the food Ho grew up eating. Influences from Korean, Thai, and Vietnamese cooking will broaden the menu. Ho, who hopes to open in late fall, plans to retain the front bar while replacing the rear sushi counter with additional seating that can double as a private dining area.
Lovat Square(184 E. Evergreen Ave.): Former Four Seasons sommelier Damien Graef and journalist Robyn Semien opened this Chestnut Hill wine shop and tasting room in February, offering small-production bottles, wines by the glass, and light fare. The couple, who also own Brooklyn’s Bibber & Bell wine shop, will debut a full dinner menu by the end of September.
Macaluso’s (3101 S. 13th St.): Realtor Joel Gruenke and restaurateur Mark D’Andrea, long-ago roommates at Valley Forge Military Academy, are looking at an early October opening of this white-tablecloth Italian restaurant at 13th Street and Packer Avenue, near the sports complex. D’Andrea’s family owns RoadHouse in Staten Island, N.Y. Gruenke says the moderately priced menu will stick to traditional Italian cooking and offer a full bar. Parking will be available across the street.
Mylar Bar (1636-38 S. Ninth St.): Hospitality veterans Liv Arterbridge and Gina Piccari are turning the former Dino’s Party Center into a festive neighborhood bar inspired by the building’s history. They promise something nostalgic, playful, and deliberately unserious. Drinks will include martinis, punches, classics, and draft beer. Chef Colin White, formerly of Sally and Emmett, will oversee shareable “party snacks,” larger plates, and desserts available late.
Nippy’s on South (1312 South St.): Nurse and first-time restaurateur Nikia Peterson has purchased the former Ms. Tootsie’s building for an ambitious restaurant and bar. Peterson plans a polished setting with seafood towers, steaks, Asian and Caribbean influences, a substantial happy hour, and weekend brunch. The project will revive a prominent South Street property that had remained closed since restaurateur KeVen Parker’s death in 2021.
O’Morrey’s (1720 Sansom St.): Chefs Biff Gottehrer and Kenjiro Omori are developing a cocktail bar on the former site of Genji, the Japanese restaurant created by Omori’s father. The name is a cheeky rendering of the Omori family name. Plans call for a comfortable neighborhood bar in the spirit of the Ripplewood, where both chefs work, with cocktails and a serious food component. Their second joint project, Tako Taco, is months away at the former Bing Bing Dim Sum in South Philadelphia.
Palm Vintage (1414 S. Penn Square): Houston Yang and Mike Beja, who opened this day-to-night cafe and cocktail bar across from City Hall in the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton, are close to expanding into a nighttime scene with cocktails, sushi, oysters, caviar, and light food in a lush, tropical-inspired room meant to offer an escape from Center City.
Panco (2300 S. Croskey St.): Chef Ryo Igarashi, whose background includes Tokio Global and Maru Global (noted for its takoyaki balls), is behind a corner shop in West Passyunk whose menu will focus on Japanese cutlets. He says it’s opening soon.
Philly Curio (2240 Frankford Ave.): Tattoo Arts Convention founder Troy Timpel is creating an intimate Kensington restaurant-bar around his private collection of curiosities (think tribal masks, skeletal displays, taxidermy, and glass-topped tables containing preserved animals). Inspired partly by Savannah’s Alligator Soul, Timpel has discussed a Cajun-Creole menu with small plates and unconventional proteins such as rattlesnake. Drinks are expected to include cocktails, wine, bottled beer, and limited drafts. Target is November.
Philly Po’Boy (102 W. Berks St.): Brothers Chris and Greg Lynch are bringing a taste of New Orleans to the storefront beneath the Berks station of the Market-Frankford Line. Chris spent years cooking in New Orleans, while Greg’s Philadelphia background includes Starr Restaurants and LMNO. Plans call for classic powdered-sugar-dusted beignets, gumbo, and a mix of classic and specialty po’boys like fried shrimp, oysters and roast beef “debris,” plus fries, Creole potato salad, and café au lait from coffee roasted by Applied Arts in New Orleans.
Santé Social(1546 E. Passyunk Ave.): Sommelier Daniel Solway is giving his roving dinner series a permanent home across from the Singing Fountain. The approximately 30-seat space will function less like a conventional restaurant than a flexible hospitality venue, hosting wine dinners, tastings, classes, collaborations, private events, and some walk-in service. Cocktails are being developed with Danny Childs of Slow Drinks and Field Day, while changing chefs and collaborators may shape the food programming.
Somedays Bakery (1601 Walnut St.): Hand-laminated croissants are the foundation of this Queens-rooted bakery, which deals in sandwiches, salads, soft serve, and coffee. It’s targeting the end of the month.
Thalassa (918 N. 28th St.): Matt Maltepes is looking at late October or early November for his Greek-inspired cafe in Fairmount that will serve baklava, croissants, and house-made ice cream in flavors that change weekly. Savory offerings will include small plates such as feta grilled cheese with honey, avocado toast, and bagels with cream cheese. The drinks menu will feature European-style coffee preparations, including frappes and Freddo espresso.
Looking ahead
Two major projects are now on the docket for January, as the owners don’t want to compete with the holiday-season madness:the Pelican Club, Stephen Starr’s flashy Greek-themed restaurant taking shape in the former Devon Seafood Grill on Rittenhouse Square, and the yet-to-be-named “punk French” restaurantthat chefs Justin Bogle and Arthur Cavaliere are creating at the former Winnie’s Manayunk.
The long-closed Mermaid Bar in Mount Airy will retain its name under the new ownership of pizzaiolo Dan Gutter and business partner Alex Carbonell of Circles & Squares and Pizza Plus. The project, announced earlier this year, is aiming at a summer 2027 rollout.
Diving deep into the data to look at three trends that will help determine the Eagles’ fate in 2026 (with an assist from pro-football-reference.com and nflfastR).
23rd
That’s the average ranking from last season of the 14 pass defenses the Eagles will face in 2026. It is the softest schedule in the league by a wide, wide margin. The Eagles couldn’t have handpicked a better setup for Jalen Hurts and first-year offensive coordinator Sean Mannion. Right out of the gate, they’ll face a Commanders defense that finished tied for 30th in yards per pass attempt allowed, then a Titans defense that finished dead last. In fact, nine of their 14 opponents finished lower than 20th in yards per attempt.
A big factor in the Eagles’ good fortune is a division that includes two of the three worst pass defenses from a year ago in Dallas and Washington, plus a Giants team that finished in the bottom half of the league. The Cowboys also finished in the bottom 10 in sack rate while ranking 27th in their rate of passing plays of 20 or more yards, two categories in which the Eagles schedule also ranks among the most favorable.
The nondivision slate will likely play a little tougher than it looks on paper. The Rams (tied for 11th in YPA) rebuilt their secondary while adding Myles Garrett and Aaron Donald to the pass rush. The Colts could be better in their first full season of cornerbacks Charvarius Ward and midseason trade acquisition Sauce Gardner. That said, no team in the NFL has a more favorable schedule top to bottom. The Eagles’ opponents had an average rank of 22.9 in passing yards per game and 20.2 in yards per attempt allowed last season. Both are the highest in the NFL.
The sequencing is as beneficial as the actual opponents. The two toughest defenses on their schedule don’t come until Weeks 15 and 16, with just five days separating the Seahawks on Dec. 19 and the Texans on Christmas Eve. Both games are at home.
The early-season schedule is soft enough to counteract whatever learning curve that will exist for Hurts and the rest of the offense in Mannion’s scheme. The expectations should be high.
3.98
That was the average yards per carry of Eagles running backs when they had multiple tight ends on the field last season in neutral game script situations. That ranked in the bottom half of the league and well behind the teams that made it to their conference championships.
A sampling …
Running-back yards per carry in multi-tight-end sets (first and second down outside the 10-yard line)
Bills: 5.25 (4th in NFL)
Rams: 5.23 (5th)
Seahawks: 4.56 (9th)
Bears: 4.52 (10th)
Broncos: 4.44 (11th)
Patriots: 4.30 (17th)
Eagles: 3.98 (20th)
Johnny Mundt (center) was brought in to help the Eagles’ blocking in multiple tight end sets.Tyger Williams / Staff Photographer
Johnny Mundt didn’t get a ton of coverage in training camp. Blocking tight ends rarely do. But the Eagles signed the 31-year-old veteran for a reason. With Cameron Latu lost to waivers and Grant Calcaterra on injured reserve, the Eagles will enter the season without two of their top three tight ends from last year. Add to that the steep learning curve awaiting rookie second-round draft pick Eli Stowers and tight end is one of the bigger question marks on this 2026 roster.
The question is especially relevant given the leaguewide paradigm shift. Teams like the Rams and Seahawks have spent considerable resources accumulating talent at the tight end position in recent seasons. Seattle drafted AJ Barner and Elijah Arroyo in the fourth and second rounds in back-to-back seasons, while the Rams just added second-round pick Max Klare to a stable of tight ends that already included 2025 second-rounder Terrance Ferguson, high-priced free agent Colby Parkinson, 2023 fifth-rounder Davis Allen and veteran Tyler Higbee.
It remains to be seen how central a role multi-tight-end sets will have in Mannion’s offense. Last year, his Packers team finished in the top half of the league in both RB yards per carry and pass yards per attempt.
That’s how many quarterbacks rushed for 600-plus yards last season. The last time the NFL had a regular season where no quarterbacks reached 600 yards was 2017. At least two had done it in each of the previous five seasons.
Hurts’ rushing production has garnered plenty of attention, and deservedly so. The Eagles were a dramatically different offense in 2022 when he averaged 50.7 rushing yards per game compared to the one they’ve been over the last three seasons, when Hurts has averaged just 34.5 yards. It’s certainly reasonable to think that he can and should be well north of the 26.5 yards he averaged last season. But it isn’t all on him.
The natural trajectory of a dual-threat quarterback is to see a year-to-year decline in rushing production. It has happened to virtually every quarterback who has done the things Hurts did early in his career. The league adjusts quickly. It’s no coincidence that virtually every scrambling quarterback saw a significant decline in his rushing production last season.
New Eagles OC Sean Mannion could utilize Jalen Hurts’ running ability more in 2026.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer
Jayden Daniels missed 10 games, but in the seven games he played, he averaged just 39.7 yards, down from 52.4 the year before. Lamar Jackson’s 26.8 yards per game was barely half of the 52.6 he averaged over the two years prior. Bo Nix’s per-game rushing yardage fell by more than 20% (25.3 yards to 20.9). Drake Maye’s was down 18.5%. Josh Allen has averaged 32 yards per game over the last three seasons after averaging 46.2 yards per game in 2021 and 2022.
“I think [Hurts has] really operated through all facets of the offense comfortably,” Mannion said earlier this summer. “But the piece of him as an athlete in the running game is something unique. Those are elements we can lean into a little bit as well.”
Mannion should be thinking that way. But quarterbacks who have running ability will almost always see that running ability limited by defensive coordinators’ awareness of said running ability. The league has seen enough of it in recent years that it is getting better at stopping it.
According to assistant general manager Brent Flahr, Brek Liske, the Flyers’ first of two second-round picks in the 2026 NHL draft, has some “swagger.”
Maybe that swagger rubbed off on Luke Vlooswyk because, as the defenseman spoke to The Inquirer in late June at development camp, he made a bit of a guarantee.
“I think we’ll be the best D pair in the league next year,” the Flyers’ 2025 fifth-rounder confidently told The Inquirer at development camp.
Acquired by Everett of the Western Hockey League from Red Deer last January, Vlooswyk, 19, linked up with Liske until the first round of the WHL playoffs when Liske was bumped up to the top pair. Liske, 18, impressed there while slotted alongside projected 2027 No. 1 pick Landon Dupont as the Silvertips made a run to the Memorial Cup final.
With Dupont now teammates with Flyers center prospect Jack Nesbitt at the University of Michigan, Vlooswyk and Liske, who both will participate in Flyers rookie camp this week, are expected to be Everett’s top defensive duo.
“Really well,” Everett coach Steve Hamilton said when asked how they played together after Vlooswyk was traded to the Washington State-based team.
“We’re very fast [in] the way we play, in the way we pressure, the way we transition, defend,” he added. “We expect our guys to close quickly, and just try to apply the pressure to get the puck back right away, and both of those guys just have an aggressive mindset, and they move pucks well. … We want to transition right away, and anytime we get a change of possession, we want our defensemen to be involved, and both of those guys appreciate that style of play.”
Brek Liske (left) and Luke Vlooswyk (right) celebrate after winning the Western Hockey League championship last season.Courtesy Luke Vlooswyk
The pairing is prototypical. At 6-foot-5, Vlooswyk is the big, stay-at-home, shutdown defenseman with a long reach. The smaller Liske, at 6-1, likes to have the puck on his stick and has a little more offensive pop in his game — he had seven goals and 24 points in 52 games last season.
But the pairing is also unorthodox. It is not a righty-lefty combination, which is what Flyers coach Rick Tocchet typically likes.
Liske and Vlooswyk are akin to Travis Sanheim and Cam York, two lefties who played together under ex-coach John Tortorella, except Liske and Vlooswyk are both righties. Liske is the one playing the off-side, increasing his versatility à la Sanheim.
“Yeah, it is a big difference, right?” he said at development camp. “A lot of stuff on the backhand. The biggest thing was I just had to learn how to place the puck better, if that makes sense, have it at my hip more. You’re ready to open up instead of being able to just snap it. It’s a little harder, but probably took a couple of games of adjustment and [I] figured it out.”
“I think his defensive identity is helpful,” noted Hamilton about Liske during a phone interview in late June. “He’s very subtle. He’s physical in his own way, but very effective, great stick. And I think ultimately, going forward as an NHL player, that’s probably more going to be his strength. … But, I think he’s got a really good understanding that he can bring things in all areas.
“So, honestly, self-assessment is a skill in itself these days, and he’s got a very good handle on who he is. In terms of growth, as a young player … he’s going to need to continue to work on his skating, and the NHL is the best of the best. I feel like he really moves well at our level, and I know with time and training, and continuing to get stronger, that his skating will be NHL caliber.”
Hamilton sees Liske as a middle-pair blueliner in the NHL, and the kid from Manitoba has a lot of motivation to reach that level — especially with the Flyers. His father, Lonnie, is a massive fan of the Orange and Black, and when the 18-year-old spoke to the media via Zoom after hearing his name called, he was already donning a Flyers jersey.
Flyers second-round pick Brek Liske grew up a Flyers fan due to his dad’s love for the Broad Street Bullies.Jackie Spiegel
“First time I ever met his dad, Lonnie, he said to me, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t believe my son is D partners with a future Philadelphia Flyer. Like, this is unbelievable,’” Vlooswyk recalled. “And for him to be drafted here now, I can’t even imagine what emotions are running through that family. It’s pretty cool.”
Historically, the process of gaining a presidential pardon started with a formal application to the U.S. Department of Justice, which was then reviewed and presented to the president for consideration. And those who sought pardons typically had to wait until a president’s final year in office to receive one.
Apparently, that process has been thrown out the window by the current administration, which started rolling out pardons the first day it took office and hasn’t stopped since.
The Justice Department — back when it was an agency that actually administered justice — thoroughly investigated Dougherty, presented its case in court, and won a conviction against him. Even after being found guilty by a jury of his peers — and admitting his guilt during sentencing — Dougherty tried just about everything he could to avoid going to jail and repaying his debt to society.
Well, Dougherty found a sympathetic ear in the Trump administration and got the president to commute his sentence. For months now, Congress has been investigating whether “pay-to-play” has had a role in any of Trump’s pardon decisions, and I hope someone looks closely at this case, too.
In any event, the presidential pardon process needs to be reformed, because there is no doubt it is being misused and abused.
Susan Thompson, Media
. . .
Donald Trump commuted John “Johnny Doc” Dougherty’s sentence because he’s apparently the type of leader the president can truly respect: Dougherty was found guilty of bribing an elected official and embezzling a large sum of money from the labor union he led, Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).
Rather than a “magnificent gesture of compassion,” as Dougherty’s lawyers called it, Trump’s action was a slap in the face to the union Dougherty defrauded and which he will now not have to repay. Dougherty’s background as a political power broker likely entered into the commutation decision at least as much as the medical condition Dougherty says his wife has. Other federal inmates likely have ill family members, too, but they have to remain behind bars because they can’t afford a lawyer or don’t have political connections.
When commuting the sentence, Trump could have left intact the $1.6 million Dougherty was ordered to pay as restitution. But he chose not to, likely as a form of respect from Mar-a-Lago Don to a Philly don.
Trump treats commutations and pardons like party favors for the rich and powerful, the only Americans with whom he feels a kinship other than the seditionists who did his bidding on Jan. 6, 2021.
Stewart Speck, Ardmore
Choose peace
As I watch the news each day, I find myself asking a painful question: When did human life become so easily sacrificed in the name of power, politics, territory, or revenge?
From Gaza and Ukraine to Sudan, Yemen, and other places suffering from conflict, innocent people continue to pay the highest price for decisions made by those far removed from the battlefield. Families lose parents. Children lose their homes and schools. Communities are destroyed, and millions are forced to flee in search of safety.
As an Ahmadi Muslim living in Philadelphia, I believe deeply that the sanctity of human life must come before political allegiance. My faith teaches me to reject hatred and to pray and work for peace. But peace cannot simply mean the absence of headlines about war. It must mean children can sleep safely, families can remain together, people can practice their faith without fear, and every human being is treated with dignity.
We must also be careful not to become selective in our compassion. A Palestinian child matters. A Ukrainian child matters. A Sudanese child matters. An Israeli child matters. A Yemeni child matters. Every innocent life matters. We do not have to agree on politics to agree that innocent people should not be killed. We do not have to share the same religion to recognize another person’s humanity.
Philadelphia has a proud history of religious freedom and diversity. From here, we should raise our voices — not for one people against another, but for justice, mercy, and peace for all people. Our politicians, our religious leaders, and our communities should demand diplomacy before destruction, humanitarian assistance before indifference, and accountability when civilians are harmed. The international community must not allow suffering to become something we simply scroll past on our phones.
We cannot bring back those who have already died. But we can refuse to accept more bloodshed as inevitable. As Americans and as human beings, we should demand better.
Madeel Abdullah, Garnet Valley
Collective immunity
As you point out in your article delineating the differences between the mandates for the COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic and the guidelines for the measles vaccine being discussed now, the situations are very different.
As a pediatrician for 40 years, and as someone old enough to remember the miserable 10 days I spent being sick with the measles, let me add that if some people are unable or unwilling to look past the anti-scientific jargon being pushed on the internet and by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and others, then — for the sake of all the infants who are too young to be vaccinated and all of the children who can’t be vaccinated because of medical conditions — mandates need to be put in place to protect us all through a vaccine that has a 50-plus year safety record.
Public health means just that — protecting you, me, our loved ones, and all people.
Barbara Gold,Philadelphia
Cultural crisis
Philadelphia is forgetting itself, and the signs are plain. In 2018, the Philadelphia History Museum closed; now, the Academy of Natural Sciences is closing its museum. Our city is losing its great public spaces where history, culture, and science can be experienced. Soon, both collections will be in a location that is inconvenient to access.
Are we to become a city that claims tradition and yet has no soul? Who is to blame? Ourselves. We decided to sit in, stay home, and opt for something flashier than dinosaur bones, butterfly gardens, and petrified insects.
We need to prioritize our collective traditions and culture, our museums and artistic heritage, and the way we do professional sports, before it is too late. If we continue on this trajectory, we will lose our character and identity and become an amorphous blob adjacent to I-95, passing from New York City to Washington, D.C.
How about, instead of desperately rallying to save a museum by appealing to billionaires and corporate bailouts, we rise and support them? Donate to them. Join them. Wake up, Philadelphia.
Christopher Czyzewski, Philadelphia
Museum memories
My first job in Philadelphia to help pay for art school was working at the Academy of Natural Sciences. It turned out to be one of the great privileges of my life. As the lowest worker on the totem pole, I laid out its magazine, Frontiers. In the process, I had the privilege of meeting the scientists who were traipsing the world, studying the water, the land, the vegetation, and the animals that make planet Earth such a beautiful, complex place. They brought back artifacts and plant material that the museum’s energetic staff used to teach visiting Philly school kids who don’t get to see much green and hardly ever get to touch a dinosaur bone. In addition, their colleagues in the museum and in the astonishing, treasure-packed library worked hard to let the rest of us know how precious and miraculous our life on Earth is.
With the Academy’s abrupt closing, Philadelphians and our children will be less educated about and inspired by our natural world. It breaks my heart.
P.S. If they’re trying to unload things, I’ll gladly take the stuffed emu that used to stand tall next to my drawing board at the Academy.
Signe Wilkinson, cartoonist, Philadelphia
The writer,a winner of the Pulitzer Prize, spent 35 years as an editorial cartoonist at The Inquirer and the Daily News.
Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.
DEAR ABBY: I’m in love with an older woman. I’m 41, and she is about 35 years older. I have known her since I was a kid. She’s the reason I always dated older women. I want to tell her how I feel, but I’m scared she’ll be shocked, and I wouldn’t want anyone else to find out my feelings, like her kids. I grew up with them.
We always enjoy our conversations, and I often throw her little hints. When I do, she smiles and likes that I flirt with her, but I’ve never told her my real feelings. What should I do?
— HIDING MY FEELINGS
DEAR HIDING: You have nothing to lose by telling her your real feelings. If you do, at the very least she will feel complimented. If there is a possibility that your feelings are reciprocated — well, you are both adults now. If her kids don’t object (once they get over the shock), you could have a happy life together. I say this with confidence because years ago a distant cousin of mine married a contemporary of one of her sons.
** ** **
DEAR ABBY: What is the proper etiquette when dining out and a hair is found in your meal? I informed the server, and she apologized and gave me credit for a free drink. Others say they wouldn’t have eaten the meal and would have requested a new entree. What would you have done?
— HAIRY SITUATION
DEAR SITUATION: A free drink is not adequate compensation for this unpleasant mistake. When you are presented with food that is inedible for any reason, the manager should be summoned immediately to comp the dish (or more), as well as to offer a sincere apology. When they offer to remake the food, you are within your rights to ask for a different entree. This should allay any suspicion that the kitchen staff might simply pluck out the hair and return the contaminated dish to you.
** ** **
DEAR ABBY: I have a friend in her 80s who always needs to be the center of attention. When someone is talking, not only does she interrupt the speaker, but she also distracts the ones trying to listen by dragging out pictures of her grandchildren.
She often makes inappropriate sexual comments. She even brought up the subject of sex with my husband! People don’t want to be around her. However, she will give the shirt off her back and go out of her way to help anyone. How can I tell her that her conversational style is off-putting without hurting her feelings?
— SUFFERING IN SILENCE
DEAR SUFFERING: This woman has several bad habits, so don’t expect her to correct them all at once. Privately and gently tell her you are not comfortable with her racy comments, nor is your husband. If she begins to show more restraint, be sure to express your sincere appreciation so she feels good about the effort she has made.
If her bad behavior is a sudden change, it may be a sign of a medical issue. Tell her you have noticed that she hasn’t seemed like herself recently and ask if she is keeping up with her medical exams. If you are acquainted with her family, urge them to have her evaluated by her doctor.
