How a Philly funeral home capitalized on the Eagles’ Super Bowl run: ‘We’re going to cremate the Chiefs'
“We like to put the word ‘fun’ in funeral," says Tommy Wiley, who paraded a Chiefs casket to sites around the city and led a cremation service of KC gear.
On Sunday night, in the first half of Super Bowl LIX, a hearse pulled up to Xfinity Live! Stewart “Tommy” Wiley, owner of Ricks Funeral Home in Olney, rolled out a casket, and placed it on the sidewalk.
This was not your average casket. It was bright red. On the side, it read, “BURY THE CHIEFS 2025,” with a photo of coach Andy Reid looking distraught, and quarterback Patrick Mahomes in tears.
On the top, it said, “THEY NOT LIKE US,” a reference to Kendrick Lamar’s diss track, next to a photo of Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, looking jubilant while holding the Lombardi Trophy.
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Hurts’ photo was surrounded by images of Mahomes getting sacked, and other Chiefs players in various states of distress.
Wiley opened it up. Inside was a Chiefs sweatshirt and hat.
“The response was overwhelming,” Wiley said. “People loved it. But we really are Eagles supporters, and that’s what we did it for.”
He added: “We like to put the word ‘fun’ in funeral.”
This was not Wiley’s first stop. Earlier in the night, he’d brought the casket to TGI Fridays on City Avenue, and a friend’s Super Bowl party close by. In his mind, there was no need to wait for the game to end. He knew the Eagles were going to win.
Wiley, who has worked at Ricks Funeral Home for 12 years, said the marketing idea was born a few weeks ago, ahead of the Eagles’ NFC championship game against the Commanders. He was thinking of ways to publicly support his team and thought, why not do something different?
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“Just to let them know that we’re burying the Commanders,” Wiley said.
So, he sent the casket to a designer, with specific instructions. He wanted an Eagles-centric theme, with photos of running back Saquon Barkley and Hurts on the top. In the middle of the casket, he wanted an image of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, at a podium, spelling “E-L-G-S-E-S! EAGLES.”
“It was hilarious,” Wiley said of Parker’s blunder. “They had T-shirts and stuff made for that.”
The casket was a hit. Wiley went to the same TGI Fridays on City Avenue, and fans lined up around the corner to take photos with it. Later that night, after the Eagles beat the Commanders, 55-23, to win the NFC championship, Wiley began to brainstorm more ambitious ideas.
At first, he wanted to host a Super Bowl party at Ricks Funeral Home, complete with TVs, food, drinks, and pallbearers.
He would serve as the pastor, and give a sermon to send the Chiefs off after their inevitable loss.
“I was going to say something like, ‘We buried the Commanders, now we burying the Chiefs,’” Wiley said. “‘They not like us. We’re Eagles and Eagles always soar.’”
It didn’t come to that. Wiley was not able to plan everything in time. So, he pivoted, deciding to bring a Chiefs-centric casket to different sites around the city.
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Three days after the Super Bowl — which the Eagles won, 40-22 — Wiley began to execute part two of his plan: a cremation service for the Chiefs cap and sweatshirt. He invited people in the Olney neighborhood to attend.
“It’s just for entertainment — although we do put ‘fun’ in the word ‘funeral’ — but we’re also going to have an educational part about cremations,” Wiley said. “And the process of cremation with the rental casket, and the insert that’s inside the rental casket, that gets cremated with your loved ones. So, it’s an educational thing as well.”
He hopes to bring the casket to the Eagles parade on Friday, and he wouldn’t be the first funeral home employee to do so. After the Eagles won the Super Bowl following the 2017 season, Slater Funeral Home, in the Graduate Hospital neighborhood, put a casket on Broad Street for the celebration.
It plans to do the same thing this year.
“It was all positive,” said Franchella Slater, the funeral home’s supervisor. “There was no negative feedback. People were taking pictures with the casket. It wasn’t meant to be a somber thing. It was something that was lighthearted.”
Slater and Wiley understand that this might not be for everyone. But they don’t intend to be disrespectful. They see it as a chance to bring levity to their communities, while celebrating the Eagles in their own unique way.
“We understand that it’s a compassionate, empathetic time,” Wiley said. “But we like to help people turn their frowns upside down, and sometimes, with all the stress, we just need to have an outlet a little bit. And I thought this was a great opportunity to let that out.”