Whether you love him or whether he gives you nightmares, everyone knows who Gritty is. The Philadelphia Flyers mascot recently celebrated his first birthday, and his cult of dedicated fans seems to be growing non-stop.
So why is Gritty being mentioned on a Philadelphia Eagles blog? Well a few days ago some new information came out as part of Gritty's birthday celebration, and Joe Heller (the Flyers VP of Brand Strategy & Creative Content) told the story of how the Eagles Super Bowl win led to the creation of Gritty.
When the Eagles arrived back from Minnesota fresh off of their Super Bowl LII victory, their bus was escorted by the three mascots of the town: Swoop, Franklin and the Phillie Phanatic.
"Of all the things we can't be a part of....we have nobody to line with those three mascots."
After being the only team not represented at one of the biggest events in the cities history, the Flyers knew they had to get a mascot. 125 designs later, the arrived at the beautiful creation that we all know now as Gritty.
So if it weren't for Nick Foles playing out of his mind through January and February, or Brandon Graham coming up with the miracle play Eagles fans dreamed about for decades, the world would have never been introduced to what is now one of the most famous mascots on Earth.
