Super Bowl surprise

Chesterfield Greene worker gets call to sub for Eagles tight end.

By: Scott Morgan
   CHESTERFIELD — Stories like this one usually end with the alarm clock going off. There you are, working in construction, sitting in a sales meeting, when the phone rings.
   Boom! — there it is. The guy on the other end of the phone is asking you to take his place in the Super Bowl. No time to think it over. You’re in or you’re not.
   Take a guess what Jeff Thomason’s answer was.
   The preceding fairy tale is the true-life Jan. 28 of Jeff Thomason, assistant project manager-in-training for Toll Brothers construction company working on the Chesterfield Greene development in the township’s western end. The day started with Mr. Thomason going about his business on the job and ended with him running practice routes for the Philadelphia Eagles two days before they hopped a flight to Jacksonville, Fla., to face the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX.
   Still, it’s only fair to point out that Jeff Thomason isn’t your average home-builder. Mr. Thomason actually spent 10 seasons as an NFL tight end with the Eagles and the Green Bay Packers. In Green Bay, he actually scored a Super Bowl ring when the Packers won Super Bowl XXXI. Oh, and for the record, that win came at the expense of the Patriots.
   After 10 years in the pros, Jeff Thomason hung up his cleats in 2002, moved to Marlton and set off to work for Toll Brothers, building houses right here in Chesterfield. He enrolled in assistant project manager training, which he has yet to complete, to learn what his Toll Brothers supervisor Michael Assofsky called "every aspect" of residential community construction.
   Then Chad Lewis called. To clarify the players here, Chad Lewis is the Eagles tight end, former teammate and old friend who broke his foot in the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 23. Michael Assofsky is the guy who happened to be chatting with Jeff Thomason a week later when the Chad Lewis call came in asking Mr. Thomason if he could take his place on Philly’s Super Bowl team.
   So what did Mr. Thomason do?
   "He asked me for the time off," said Mr. Assofsky through an obvious grin. "Time off was not an issue for me. I told him, ‘Get out of here and make us proud.’"
   Around Chesterfield Greene, the past week has been a blur of football fever and media frenzy, said Mr. Assofsky. Scores of reporters with scores of questions have helped lend the construction site a tailgate party feel, he said, while talk around the site keeps going back to the same topic: How will Jeff do in Jacksonville?
   Regardless of allegiances (Mr. Assofsky himself is a native of Fort Lauderdale and, thus, an avid Miami Dolphins fan while another member of his crew is a die-hard fan of the New York Jets), Mr. Assofsky said his crew will collect en masse at The Riviera senior community in East Windsor to watch the game and cheer for the Birds this Sunday.
   As for Mr. Thomason, well, he’s a little busy preparing for the Super Bowl this week, so he could not be reached in Jacksonville for comment. But he did have this to say through the Eagles’ press office:
   "I just want to play the best I can and help this team win. I feel good, a little sore right now, but OK. Mentally, everything has been fine."