Each week during the 2024 season, we’re going through the Eagles media guide to find an interesting nugget.
The Eagles’ PR interns do a great job filling out these little oddities in the media guide and they serve as a good way to meet the players behind the helmets.
This week we chatted with rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean, whose little known fact is, “His hometown has zero stoplights — only stop signs and yield signs.” DeJean is from Odebolt, Iowa.
Me: I wanted to ask you a little bit about growing up in a small town. What was it like?
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DeJean: It was fun. Kind of created your own fun, did whatever. Me and my friends at home, we pretty much just ran around the town, especially in the summertime. Wintertime was fun because we had a Ranger, so we’d hook up a big plastic sled to the back of it and drive around the cornfields in the snow.
Me: That’s pretty cool.
DeJean: Yeah, it was a lot of fun.
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Me: What was it like the first time you left town and got to Iowa City? Was it a shock?
DeJean: Not a whole lot. Because I played a lot of AAU basketball and stuff so I’ve been to a lot of big cities. But it was a little different. You didn’t have to drive 30 minutes to a grocery store or to get fast food. You could get something quick. It was a pretty smooth transition from a small town to a little bit bigger city.
Me: Is that one of the big challenges of small town life, the fast food or the Walmart or whatever isn’t there?
DeJean: Yeah, when you got to the grocery store, you gotta stock up for a couple weeks at least. You don’t want to be driving 45 minutes to the grocery store every single week. That was a challenge. But I enjoyed it. I enjoyed growing up in a small town.
Me: Is it a close-knit town?
DeJean: Yeah, definitely. Everybody knows everybody. I get a lot of support from people back home, which is cool.
Me: I read the Wikipedia page for the town and you’re listed twice on there.
DeJean: I am? Really?
Me: Yeah, under history it says, “Hometown of Iowa Hawkeyes star cornerback Cooper DeJean” and then under notable people it’s just you.
DeJean: *laughing*
Me: It says, “Cooper DeJean, NFL player for the Philadelphia Eagles.”
DeJean: That’s hilarious. I didn’t even know that.
Me: I also looked this up. It’s the “popcorn center of the world?”
DeJean: So it says that on Google. I don’t think it’s our town. There’s a town probably 20, 30 minutes away, Sac City, it’s got the world’s largest popcorn ball.
Me: Interesting. What I read was that your town used to be the town that would send out the popcorn to these big companies. I don’t think it’s been that way for a long time. I read it on the brochure on the town’s website, so I think it’s legit.
DeJean: I’m not sure.
Me: Do you know how many people live in the town? Because I have the number, at least from the website.
DeJean: Is it just under 1,000?
Me: It’s over now, apparently — 1,013.
DeJean: OK. That’s not too many people. Last time I checked it was under 1,000.
Me: It says the last census it was under a thousand. Maybe they’re just counting from there. What do you miss most about it?
DeJean: I think the people. The people that are in the town. Like I said, it’s a pretty close town, everybody knows everybody. Everybody supports each other, everybody works hard. Because if you’re from a small town, not much is given to you. You have to earn everything.
Me: Thank you, man. I appreciate it.
DeJean: Yeah.
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