Vincent Francis Papale, also known as “Rocky”, was born on the 9th of February 1946 in Chester Pennsylvania USA. He is a former American Football player, who was active in the game from 1968-78, the last three years with the Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL.
So just how rich is Vince Papale? Sources estimate that Vince’s net worth is over $1.5 million as of early 2016, his wealth earned partly from football and also from teaching and as an education marketing manager.
Vince Papale Net Worth $1.5 Million
The 6’2(2.01m) former football player came from an athletic family where his mother was a professional baseball player back then, while his father was a pig farmer. During his high school years Papale excelled in multiple sports, but including football for only a year in which he won the All-Delaware County Honorable Mentions, he also played basketball and during his senior year he started competing in track where he was a standout pole vaulter, triple jumper and long jumper. His best pole vault was 14ft 6in which made him into the top 10 PA vaulters.
Papale never played football in his college days since there was no university football team at that time. Papale was a varsity scholar at St. Joseph’s University, where he continued in track and field and where he won the United States Track and Field Federation (USTFF) College development in the pole vault, and several Track and Field competitions in the long and triple jumps. In 1968 he graduated with a MS degree in Marketing/Management Science.
Vince then became a teacher at Interboro High School, while he was also a coach at the junior varsity football team. His football career started at Aston Green Knights of the Seaboard Football League, then he entered the Philadelphia Bell team in the World Football League, where he spent two seasons and played as a wide receiver where he caught 9 passes for 121 yards, averaging 13.4 yards per catch, although in 1975 he only caught one pass but it was 49 yards for a touchdown, that was one reason why he was a special teams standout for both season.
In 1976 he met the Philadelphia Eagles’ head coach Dick Vermeil, who invited him to a training camp, and after successfully trying-out for the team, at the age of 30 he became the oldest rookie in the history of the NFL, especially as he had no experience playing football in college. In his career with the Eagles, Papale played as a wide receiver and special teams from 1976-1978. He played for 41 regular games out of the 44 season games, and he was voted as Special Teams captain by his teammates and became man of the year, both in 1978. He ended his football career permanently when he suffered from a shoulder injury in 1979.
After spending those three years with the Eagles, Papale became a radio and T.V broadcaster for eight years, then he went into commercial mortgage banking which brought him work for a student financial age company as a Marketing Executive and Special Projects Director. He is currently working as the regional director of marketing and senior account executive of higher-education marketing at Sallie Mae, and is also a secretary of NFL Alumni Association, Philadelphia chapter.
In his personal life, Vince Papale was married to Sharon but they divorced in 1971. He was then married to Sandfy Bianchini(1977-83) and since 1993 has been married to Janet with whom he has two children.
Papale was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2001 and he has recovered from the disease, after which he became a motivational speaker ,and he appears in a hospital commercial to encourage everyone to have a regular check-up. In 2002 Disney released a movie entitled “Invincible” based on Vince’s story and in which he is portrayed by Mark Wahlberg.
Now, Papale is residing at Cherry Hill, New Jersey with his wife Janet and two children Gabriella and Vinny.
