He may be arguably the most famous athlete on the planet, but Saquon Barkley said on Friday night he’s “Say-Say, that little kid from Coplay, Pennsylvania.”
For the second time in five years, Barkley was back on the football field at his alma mater, Whitehall High School.
In 2021, he had his No. 21 jersey retired.
On Friday night, he was inducted into the Whitehall-Coplay School District Athletic Hall of Fame.
Normally, the Hall of Fame ceremony is held at Dick Tracy Court during the basketball season.
But the gym wouldn’t have been big enough to hold the huge crowd that came out to see Barkley’s big moment on the field where he first showcased the skills and work ethic that led him to first becoming a star at Penn State and then the face of the NFL and one of the most popular athletes in Philadelphia history.
The ceremony came at halftime of Whitehall’s game against East Stroudsburg South.
“I know we usually do this in January during basketball season, and I remember being a kid and sitting on the sidelines and listening to the Hall of Famers talk before a basketball game,” Barkley said. “I always wanted to do that, so for me this is super surreal.”
Barkley said his theme in his brief address on the field was something he learned from Eagles coach Nick Sirianni and from being a student-athlete at Whitehall.
“What I learned is that you can’t be great without the greatness of others, and that was our mantra last year in winning the Super Bowl,” Barkley said. “In the profession I am in, that means the quarterback, the running backs, receivers, the offensive line all have to be on the same page and work together.
WHITEHALL SAYS SA LOT ON SAY-SAY’S RETURN @saquon coming back to Whitehall inspired the current @ZephyrAthletics football team to put on a big offensive display. Zephs won 62-21 to improve to 2-1 and please a large, exuberant crowd. pic.twitter.com/SVVyvaA8DI
— Keith Groller (@KeithGroller) September 6, 2025
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“Now, as I reflect on my journey and how I got to here, there are so many people … friends, teammates, coaches, teachers who I put through a lot … without them I wouldn’t be the man or the person I am today. The thing that sticks with me is the mindset, the work ethic that was instilled in me by coach [Brian] Gilbert. That was the Zephyr Tough mentality, which is something I still carry with me to this day. Whether it’s going through adversity or going to work, what I try to instill in my kids is the mindset is that if you want something, you’ve got to go work for it.”
Barkley talked about the countless hours spent in the weight room and going through conditioning.
Former Whitehall athletic director and Barkley friend Bob Hartman introduced him and said that Whitehall has had several Super Bowl participants, including Les Steckel, who was an assistant coach, Matt Millen and Dan Koppen and said that a few years ago, the two were sitting in Hartman’s office.
“There was a football with the signatures of the others in the office, and Saquon asked me if I wanted him to sign it, and I said, ‘No, you first have to get to the Super Bowl before we want you to sign that ball,” Hartman said. “It was probably the first time anyone ever told Saquon not to sign a ball. Tonight, we’ve brought that ball back for Saquon to sign as a Super Bowl champion.”
Hartman also said Barkley has reached the status of being recognized just by his first name, a distinction reserved for special athletes such as Lebron James, and Pele.
“It’s that level of awesomeness for this guy … you just need to hear his first name,” Hartman said.
The crowd treated him with the excitement and appreciation of someone who is one of the world’s most famous.
For a guy known for running away from defenders, Barkley had a bigger challenge caused by he crowd. He struggled to make his way from the field to a press conference in the Whitehall fieldhouse. Zephyrs fans, many of them wearing No. 26 jerseys, tried to get a glimpse of him or maybe a photo or an autograph.
“It was a little bit crazy out there, but it was a good crazy,” Barkley said. “Someone handed me a baby. I had to worry about my baby protection, instead of ball protection. This Whitehall community will always be special to me. I wouldn’t be the person, or player, I am without this community. They poured a lot into me. Every time I go out there, I am representing Whitehall and Coplay and I want to make everyone proud.”
Barkley was amazed when he was reminded that he left Whitehall 10 years ago as a 2015 graduate.
Certainly a lot has happened to him in the past decade.
In his senior year at Whitehall back in 2014, Barkley rushed for 1,851 yards and 24 touchdowns on his way to being voted the winner of the Mr. Pennsylvania Football Award for Classes 3A and 4A. He finished his high school career with 3,642 yards on 455 carries, good for an average of 8.0 yards per attempt, to go with 50 rushing scores and 63 TDs overall.
Barkley also had 39 receptions for 568 yards and eight receiving scores, and added one interception return for a TD, one punt return TD, and one kickoff return TD.
He followed that up with 3,843 yards and 43 touchdowns in his Penn State career. He finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting as a senior.
He was selected by the New York Giants with the second pick in the 2018 NFL draft. He spent six seasons with the Giants before signing a $37.75 million deal with the Eagles in March of 2024.
He had 2,005 yards rushing and had 2,283 yards from scrimmage in leading the Eagles to their second Super Bowl title. He was voted the Associated Press’ NFL Offensive Player of the Year, and a month after the Super Bowl, he signed a new two-year, $41.2 million contract extension.
Barkley had the honor of being selected for the cover of EA Sports’ Madden NFL 26 video game, with one of the covers showing him doing his backward hurdle against Jacksonville last season, the most famous out of dozens of special plays he made during the 2024 season.
In Thursday night’s season opener against Dallas, Barkley had 60 yards on 18 carries and had a 10-yard touchdown run. He also had four receptions for 24 yards in the Eagles’ 24-20 win.
Source: Berkshire mont
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