As the Philadelphia Eagles captured sweet victory on Sunday in Super Bowl LIX over the Kansas City Chiefs, there sadly weren't many links to the old-gold-and-blue on the sidelines at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. But Philadelphia's Assistant Sports Performance Coach Autumn Lockwood, who originally hails from Morgantown, W.Va and holds deep connections to West Virginia University, represented her home state well as she became the first-ever black woman to win a Super Bowl ring.
Lockwood has been on staff with the Eagles since 2022, holding multiple titles inside the organization's strength and conditioning department. Current New England Patriots and former Eagles' linebacker Christian Elliss sang Lockwood's praises in an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer in recent years -- he highlighted Lockwood's 'kindness' and 'joy' in her role with the program, and described the immeasurable role she plays in the team's mental health during the long NFL season in her role dishing out iPads with weekly questionnaires regarding each athlete's mental and physical health in the moment.
“There’s been a few times this season where I clicked five, I’m not feeling so good,” Elliss told The Inquirer. “I’m kind of stressed, and they’re able to talk to you and just help you and help talk you through it. I think that’s the biggest thing. Because a lot of times, you feel like you can’t talk to anybody about it because you have to perform. But she’s just been great. She helps us with that.”
Lockwood was born in Pennsylvania but her ties to WVU and Morgantown run deep -- she spent high school years in region as her father David Lockwood, who was a four-year letterman for the Mountaineers in the 1980's, spent three separate stints on the staff of both Don Nehlen and Bill Stewart at WVU.
The elder Lockwood coached on Nehlen's staff as a Graduate Assistant in 1989, sharing time on the staff with future WVU Head Coach Rich Rodriguez that season, and also coached on Rodriguez's staff at Arizona from 2012-2015. His most prominent role came as Cornerbacks Coach under Stewart's leadership from 2008-2011, however, bringing his family back to the area just in time for his daughter to attend University High School in Morgantown.
The younger Lockwood, meanwhile, ventured into an athletic career of her own as a standout soccer player. At University, she became a multi-time All-State selection and was named Co-Defender of the Year for the state of West Virginia in 2012 -- the Hawks also captured a pair of Class AAA State Championships in girls' soccer during her time with the program.
She followed her father to Arizona in 2012, playing soccer for the Wildcats for multiple seasons. After obtaining her undergraduate degree in Tucson and then grabbing a master's degree at East Tennessee State, Lockwood earned multiple different jobs at the Division 1 level in numerous strength and conditioning roles.
She earned an NFL opportunity with the Atlanta Falcons after completing the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship in 2019. She interned in Atlanta while still working in collegiate sports, but when the opportunity with the Eagles arose while she was working with the University of Houston, Cougars' Strength and Performance Coach Kevin McCadam told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he pressured her to take the next step in her career.
“When this opportunity came up to go to Philly, it was kind of a no-brainer to encourage her to go,” McCadam told The Inquirer. “We hated to see her leave and [were] wanting to continue to help and watch her grow with our athletes. But it’s kind of hard to pass up when your dream opportunity comes your way.”
The move paid off, as now Lockwood has etched her name in history, forever to be acknowledged as a trailblazer amongst black women both inside her field and across the globe. It goes to show that Country Roads do indeed take you "to the place where you belong" -- even if it's not always inside these hollers and hills.