× Man’s dying wish: 8 Eagles players as pallbearers so they can ‘let him down one last time’

PORT REPUBLIC, N.J. – As one of his final wishes, a New Jersey man asked for eight Philadelphia Eagles football players to work as pallbearers at his funeral in a last jab at his favorite NFL team.

Jeffrey Clayton Riegel made the unusual request “so the Eagles can let him down one last time,” according to his obituary.

Riegel, of Port Republic, New Jersey, was 56 when he died on Aug. 18 and “left this Earth to finish a long overdue game of golf.”

He was described as a wonderful husband, uncle, brother and son. “He was the last truly, completely good man,” the obituary reads, “No one that met him failed to love him.”

Riegel had a gift for nicknames, and if you were close to him, you got one. In his last days, Riegel even gave himself one, telling his oncologist, “just call me Lucky.”

Riegel left behind his wife, Donna Lee, his parents and six siblings.

A funeral service at is scheduled for August 24 at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Port Republic, New Jersey. More information is available on the Wimberg Funeral Home website.