Extreme Makeover: Pop Warner Style

Vince Papale, subject of the 2006 film "Invincible", was one of many people of note present Saturday during the dedication of Gambrel Field in Philadelphia. Also present were the Eagles' quarterback AJ Feeley and former Defensive End Hugh Douglas, along with the SWOOP and Eagles cheerleaders.

The celebration was filmed as part of the finale of the Fox Sports Network show "Home Field Advantage", which focuses on those American youth sports facilities that have fallen into states of extreme disrepair , and doing an "Extreme Makeover" style renovation in order to make them a top of the line facility for kids in need. The pilot episode of the show shows the past Billy Gambrel Recreation Center, which has been the home of Philadelphia's #1 youth football team, Pop Warner's Frankford Chargers, since 1967.

At 46 years old, this center has been the victim of two very common ailments-lack of funding and urban blight. The field was littered with all types of unsavory items, not the least of which were rocks and glass, and there were deep marks in the turf were disallowed vehicles had driven over it. But after the donations of over 1.5 million dollars worth of services, materials and volunteer time from over a dozen organizations came in, not only was the place cleaned up but they received new bleachers, Astroturf, fencing, goal posts and more. The Pop Warner Little Scholars now have a state of the art facility .

Support to this endeavor was given by not only the City of Philadelphia, but also the City Council, Fox Sports, Comcast Spectator and of course, the Philadelphia Eagles. One of the city's councilmen, Daniel Savage, was at the forefront of negotiations with various government agencies and managed to get $200, 000 from his own district's capital funding allocated to make sure the project was a success. Lead artist of Philadelphia's Mural Arts Program, Peter Pagast, along with the youth of the neighborhood, painted a mural which was done in honor of the team's 75^th anniversary.