Ending the Curse of Billy Penn

Why Philly teams are winning again

In the distance at left is a statue of William or Billy Penn. He stands 547 feet high atop Philly’s City Hall near two buildings that rose above his hat … and started the curse of William Penn. Photo by Jim Murphy, author of Real Philly History, Real Fast.

Under a long-standing gentleman’s agreement, no building in Philadelphia could rise higher than the hat of William Penn’s statue atop City Hall.

But in 1987 … after that agreement was violated, Philadelphia’s formerly successful pro sports teams just stopped winning championships.

The result: Philly went from four pro teams fighting for championships in 1980 to zero wins after 1986.

Fanatical Philadelphia fans began attributing this losing streak to “The Curse of William (aka Billy) Penn.”

A believer in the curse

Jody “Jody Mac” McDonald, a longtime Philly radio host, told the Inquirer in October 2008: “I believe in the curse. I think there is something to it. I’m not a superstitious guy by nature, but spitting in the eye of one of the founders of our city is a bad move.”

One VIP fan undid the curse

Finally, David L. Cohen, the executive vice president of Comcast and a real sports buff, decided to reverse the curse.

His solution: In June of 2007, Comcast workers placed a tiny statue of William Penn atop the highest beam at the Comcast Center Building, some 945 feet off the ground. Billy was happy again. And the Phillies won the World Series the following year.

More recently …

In November 2017, the Comcast Technology Center, which tops out at 1121 feet off the ground, became the tallest building in town.

With the pro football Philadelphia Eagles’ team then sporting a 10 and 1 record, Comcast went to its hurry-off offense.

Not wanting to see the Eagles’ potential Super Bowl chances dashed, Comcast immediately placed another statue of Billy Penn on the highest beam of the Comcast Technology Center.

Comcast’s game plan worked

The Eagles went on great run, quarterback Nick Foles outdueled the Patriots’ Tom Brady in Super Bowl LII and Billy Penn was top dog again. The curse stayed broken.

What’s next?

As long as Comcast can keep building taller and taller buildings, and they have smart executives who care about sports, both Philly sports fans … and Billy Penn … can rest easy.

This small statue of Billy Penn is similar to the one placed near the top of the Comcast Building in 2007 and at the Comcast Technology Center in 2017 … when it became the tallest building in town.

Interesting Oddity:

While reading a biography of Ed Bacon, by Gregory L. Heller, I was shocked to learn this fact: May 13, 1985, the date developers broke ground for One Liberty Place — the building that first rose higher than Billy Penn’s hat — was the same day police dropped a bomb on the MOVE headquarters in West Philadelphia, killing 11 people and destroying 60 homes. Maybe the curse of Billy Penn isn’t completely broken after all.