Eagles fly to Super Bowl championship, Savannah celebrates one of its own
Savannah native Nolan Smith
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SAVANNAH, Georgia (WJCL) — The Philadelphia Eagles put a wrap on the NFL season by denying the Kansas City Chiefs a three-peat with a 40-22 victory in Super Bowl LIX.
And, the Eagles raising the Lombardi Trophy has brought smiles to many in Savannah, happy for Savannah native and Eagles linebacker Nolan Smith, Jr.
Long before he was making his mark in the NFL, Nolan Smith, Jr. was excelling on the gridiron in Savannah with the Calvary Cavaliers for his first two years of high school. He eventually went on to star at the University of Georgia, where he won back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022. Now, he’s able to celebrate a Super Bowl championship with his family.
“Man, feeling amazing after winning our first Super Bowl,” Smith said. “Man, all glory to God. Thank God. City of Philly, it’s for y’all, baby. Let’s go.”
One place where you will see a lot of happiness over the Eagles and Smith’s success is the Frank Callen Boys and Girls Club, a place where he spent a lot of time as a kid.
His godmother is the club’s senior unit director, Karen Hamilton-Thompson.
“We’re proud of him,” Hamilton-Thompson said. “The whole city is super proud of him. The kids at the Boys and Girls Club, I mean, it’s just so exciting for all of us to witness one of Boys and Girls Club’s own Nolan Smith Jr. winning his first Super Bowl.”
Even though Smith has experienced a lot of success on the football field during his young career, he hasn’t forgotten his roots as he continues to give back to Frank Callen Boys and Girls Club with various charitable events.
“He and his foundation, his mother, they were just at the club for Christmas giving out bikes, Thanksgiving they gave out turkeys,” said Mark Lindsay, CEO of Frank Callen Boys and Girls Club. “They did bikes last year. Nolan helped us with our sports camp this summer.”
“Nolan said very early on in his football career that he always wanted to make sure that he came back to Frank Callen Boys and Girls Club because when he was a member here, there weren’t a lot of, I guess, NFL players that used to come back,” Hamilton-Thompson said. “And he did exactly that.”
Smith wasn’t the only player to win the Super Bowl with southeast Georgia ties. Eagles cornerback Darius Slay, Jr. is a graduate of Brunswick High School.
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