Philadelphia Eagles • 1963
Frank Fuller’s final documented NFL stop came in Philadelphia. The surviving record traces a trade from St. Louis, a No. 72 Eagles roster entry, five games, and a broken leg that ended his 1963 season.
1963 Identity
The Philadelphia record is shorter than Frank’s Rams or Cardinals chapters, but several independent sources agree on the core identity of his final NFL season.
Final NFL Season
The Eagles chapter can be reconstructed from transaction coverage, historical roster records, and two contemporary injury reports.
The Appleton Post-Crescent reported that Philadelphia sent guard John Wiltenborn to St. Louis for defensive tackle Frank Fuller. The publication date is a documented newspaper checkpoint, not automatically the exact legal completion date of the transaction.
Source — Appleton Post-Crescent, June 28, 1963, “NFL Teams Not Trading Heavily in ’63.”
The Eagles all-time roster records Fuller as a tackle from Kentucky, wearing No. 72, with five games in 1963. A separate historical jersey-number list independently places Frank among Eagles who wore 72.
Sources — Philadelphia Eagles All-Time Roster; Eagles historical jersey-number record.
An Appleton Post-Crescent injury report stated that Frank was out for the year with a broken leg. The item establishes season-ending status, but not which leg was injured or the exact game in which the injury occurred.
Source — Appleton Post-Crescent, October 16, 1963, page D2.
The Lincoln Star again identified Frank as a defensive tackle with a broken leg and listed him as out for the season. This confirms the injury status without adding unsupported anatomy or recovery details.
Source — The Lincoln Star, October 31, 1963, page 29.
The University of Kentucky professional-career summary ends Frank’s NFL sequence with Philadelphia in 1963. The archive therefore treats the Eagles as his final documented NFL chapter while avoiding an unsupported claim about the precise date or reason for a formal retirement.
Source — University of Kentucky historical “Players in the Pros” career record.
Transaction Evidence
The 1963 trade is one of the clearest surviving Eagles-era facts because the contemporary report identifies both players and Frank’s defensive position.
“Philadelphia traded guard John Wiltenborn to St. Louis for defensive tackle Frank Fuller.”
Appleton Post-Crescent • June 28, 1963
The sentence establishes a Fuller-for-Wiltenborn player exchange. It does not, by itself, prove that June 28 was the exact completion date or rule out other transaction considerations not stated in the clipping.
Roster Identity
The historical roster’s “T” is preserved as printed. Newspaper sources use “defensive tackle.” The exhibit does not silently rewrite one source into the terminology of another.
A separate Eagles jersey-number record also includes Frank under No. 72, strengthening the roster identification without adding a starting role or game statistic.
Career Boundary
Two contemporary October reports agree that Frank’s season ended because of a broken leg. The archive keeps this Eagles injury separate from his earlier Rams and Cardinals fractures unless the chronology can be proved.
The Appleton Post-Crescent described Frank as “out for the year with a broken leg.”
The Lincoln Star independently identified him as a defensive tackle with a broken leg and out for the season.
They do not identify which leg, the exact game or date of injury, the exact bone, surgery, rehabilitation, or whether the injury itself caused Frank to formally retire. Those details remain outside the public claim.
Career Meaning
Philadelphia was not Frank’s longest professional stop. It matters because it closes the verified NFL sequence and shows that, after the Cardinals peak, he was still valued as a veteran defensive lineman before injury cut short the 1963 season.
The trade report and later injury listing both identify Frank as a defensive tackle, continuing the professional role that defined his Rams and Cardinals years.
The complete record now has a dedicated public room for every major football stage: DuBois, Kentucky, Rams, Cardinals, and Eagles.
Featured Evidence Trail
Documents Philadelphia’s acquisition of defensive tackle Frank Fuller from St. Louis in exchange for guard John Wiltenborn.
Records Fuller as T, Kentucky, No. 72, five games, 1963.
Independent support that Frank wore No. 72 for Philadelphia.
Reports Frank out for the year with a broken leg.
Confirms defensive-tackle identity, broken leg, and out-for-season status.
Places Philadelphia in 1963 as the final club in Frank’s documented NFL sequence.
Evidence Control
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