Billy Penn Statue Placed Atop New Comcast Tower To Help Eagles Avoid 'Curse'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Construction crews working on the new Comcast tower topped it off ahead of schedule so they wouldn't risk reviving "The Curse of Billy Penn."
There was never a doubt that a statue of Billy Penn would be put atop the new Comcast tower, says Comcast spokeman John Demming.
"He's on top of the Comcast Center right now, and the plan was always to place him on top of the Comcast Technology Center," said Demming.
Plan "A" was to hold a topping-off ceremony for the new Comcast Technology Center in late December but construction workers did not want to wait for, because the new Comcast tower is now taller than the current one. And with the 10-and-one Eagles on a streak, workers didn't want to tempt fate by allowing a building without Billy Penn on top be the tallest in the city.
So, this week they stepped-up the construction schedule to be able to place a small William Penn statue on the highest beam, 1100 feet up.
Of course, "the Curse of Billy Penn" held that Philadelphia would not have a sports championship after Liberty Place rose higher than William Penn atop City Hall. After Comcast placed a small Billy Penn atop its tower in 2007, the Phillies won the World Series the next year.
