Brookie, Burroughs and a Long Snapper

Another mini-milestone with jersey No. 45 on the docket as the Eagles are a month and a half away from the presumptive 2020 season opener on Sept. 13 against the newly-minted Washington Football Team.

Plenty of familiar names wore No. 45 for the Eagles beginning with Tom Brookshier, who took the number as a rookie before shifting to his more familiar 40 for the rest of his career as one of the franchise’s best defensive backs.

There is also Tim Hauck, the current safeties coach for Doug Pederson, and Vaughn Hebron, the former running back turned Postgame Live analyst with former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell.

The most production while wearing the number for the organization, however, was lanky safety Don Burroughs, who spent five years as a starting safety (1960-1964) and was a member of the 1960 NFL Championship team when he recorded a gaudy nine interceptions.

Current number 45:

Rick Lovato. The 2019 Pro Bowl long snapper for the NFC, Lovato arrived in Philadelphia as an injury replacement for Jon Dorenos in 2016 after Dorenbos suffered a broken wrist. From there he won the duel in training camp the next season and Dorenbos was traded to New Orleans before a physical revealed a career-ending and life-threatening heart ailment for the well-liked Dorenbos, who ultimately recovered after surgery.

Lovato has since gone on to become one of the better long-snappers in the NFL and was rewarded with a four-year contract extension last November.

Top 3 to wear number 45:

3. Vaughn Hebron. Hebron made the Eagles as an undrafted free agent out of Virginia Tech and spent two seasons with the team, playing in all 32 regular-season games and getting six starts.

Hebron carried it 166 times for Philadelphia for 622 yards and five touchdowns while adding another 219 yards on 29 receptions. He finished his playing career with three seasons in Denver, winning two Super Bowl championships.

His return to the area included the post-game analyst work for the then-Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia as well as a short stint as the head coach of the Indoor Professional Football League’s Trenton Lightning.

2. Tim Hauck. A hard-hitting safety, Hauck spent 13 years in the NFL with seven teams. His stint with the Eagles was later in his career (1999-2001) and coincided with the arrival of Andy Reid, who was familiar with Hauck from their time together in Green Bay.

Hauck was brought in to replace Mike Zordich as the starting strong safety opposite Hall of Famer Brian Dawkins but by 2000 was replaced by Damon Moore as the starter and settled for a special teams role over the final two seasons. He’s perhaps best known for his tackle of Michael Irvin which ended the former Dallas Cowboys star’s HOF career.

He spent three seasons with the Eagles, playing in all 48 regular-season games, plus five playoff games. During the 1999 season, Hauck started 15 of 16 games and had 85 tackles with an interception.

After retiring after the 2002 season where he played in Denver, Hauck began his coaching career at his alma mater Montana as the safeties coach. By 2008 he was the safeties coach at a major University, UCLA, and then back in the pros a year later as asst. Secondary coach in Tennessee. Stints in Cleveland and a return to college with UNLV followed before Pederson brought him in as the safeties coach in 2016.

1. Don Burroughs. Burroughs was a 10-year starter in the NFL split evenly with the Los Angeles Rams and the Eagles. At 6-foot-5 he had rare length for a safety and was very productive, finishing his career with 50 interceptions, 29 of those with Philadelphia. He followed up the nine-pick championship season in 1960 with consecutive campaigns of seven interceptions in 1961 and 1962.

Runner-up:

Tom Brookshier. A franchise Hall of Famer the Eagles retired the No. 40 for Brookshier but his rookie season as a 10th-round pick in 1953 came with the number 45 and he made the most of the one campaign with a career-high eight interceptions.

Others: Thomas Bushby, Leo Raskowski, Art Buss, Dick Riffle, Noble Doss, Joe Sutton, Rocky Ryan, Paige Cothren, Ron Medved, Pat Gibbs, Marion Reeves, Von Mansfield, Charles Crawford, Jeff Griffin, Thomas Sanders, Barry Wilburn, Matt Stevens, eremy Thornburg, Joselio Hanson, and Jamar Adams.

John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John every Monday and Friday on SIRIUSXM’s Tony Bruno Show with Harry Mayes, and every Tuesday and Thursday with Eytan Shander on SBNation Radio. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen

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