You’d think it’d be impossible for Ryan Hammond to be everybody’s best friend. But, to a person, people who know her well, say the Executive Director of the Eagles Autism Foundation (EAF) is just that.

Maybe that’s a slight exaggeration. But there’s something to Hammond’s ability to make each and every person she meets feel heard, seen and loved. This effortful gift, her friends and fans contend, is the secret sauce that’s turned Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie’s idea for a charity into a $10 million-this-year autism research and community-supporting powerhouse.

“If you ever see her in action at the Eagles Autism Challenge, or any of the sensory-friendly opportunities that EAF puts on, she’s interacting one-on-one with individuals who identify as on the spectrum,” says Kylie Kelce, a Hammond bestie. “You can see it right then and there in action on the smaller scale: She gives them her undivided attention.” Same for the corporate donors and the Birds’ staff, right down to players, and players’ spouses.

“Ryan’s a genius. She sees how people can show their passion and do it in a way that they feel comfortable — not only players, but coaches and people who work for the Eagles, who may or may not have a connection to the autism community.” — Kylie Kelce

Kelce, it’s worth mentioning, has agreed to an interview despite having recently given birth to her fourth daughter with former Eagles Center Jason Kelce, being in the middle of a daycare pickup and, as of six months ago, becoming the country’s most relatable mom with her podcast, Not Gonna Lie.

Kylie Kelce has no moments to spare. But for her friend, she’s making the time. “Anything for Ryan,” she says.

A way into autism

Unlike Lurie, whose younger brother has an autism diagnosis, Hammond doesn’t have a long-time close connection to the disorder. She’s not a clinician or a doctor. She didn’t study autism when she was an undergrad at Neumann University or at St. Joe’s, where she got her MBA. Instead, she came to the Eagles Autism Foundation through … an aging Veterans Stadium.

In 1998, as a sophomore sports management major, she did a summer internship with the Vet’s management office, which was far from the cutting edge of office tech. “I knew Excel and PowerPoint, and that really differentiated me,” she says. “They were pretty old-school back then,” still “typing things up on a typewriter.” Wasn’t long before Hammond was in meetings with Phillies and Eagles higher-ups, and the latter were offering her a paid internship and game-day work. By junior year, she was helping open the NovaCare Complex, the Eagles’ practice facility and administrative HQ. After graduation, she went full-time with the team’s premium services and events department.

Then came kids — “three daughters in 37 months” — and a need to dial back on her more-than-five-day-a-week role. She found work at St. Joe’s — specifically, building out their Kinney Center for Autism Education and Support, which, to this day, stands out among American universities for its dual approach to educating students with autism and students about autism, says Dr. Joseph McCleery, an associate psychology professor and Kinney’s executive director of academic programs.

Without personal or professional experience in the field, Hammond listened to the Center’s funders and met with clinicians, researchers and community members to find areas of need and synergy. Says McCleery, “She listens, and then she leads,” strengthening partnerships with, for example, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Jefferson University, but also with St. Joe’s students.

“Ryan’s work led to producing a large number of teachers who are autism knowledgeable, psychology students who are autism knowledgeable, but also students who were in health sciences and went out and became nurses or became occupational therapists,” says McCleery. She also made the Kinney Center “financially viable,” he says.

Meanwhile, she stayed in touch with her friends at the Birds, including Lurie, who reached out in 2017 with the very unusual-for-the-NFL idea: Build a signature startup team charity for a single team cause: autism.

The Eagles Autism Challenge

“When you look at professional sports, they can be perceived as a family business,” says Hammond. “You have an owner. You might have their spouse or children leading the charitable foundation as their role in the team. There’s often competing priorities, wanting to help lots of organizations in smaller ways.”

Hammond rejoined the team in January 2018, “knowing that there would be no identity crisis as to what was important to the team off the field,” she says.

She started with the Eagles Autism Challenge, a combo community walk-run-ride — alongside Eagles staff, including players. This being 2018, the season of the Birds’ first-ever Super Bowl, the timing was, she says, “lightning in a bottle.” Nick Foles, Alshon Jeffery, Carson Wentz, Zach Ertz, Nelson Agholor, Jason Peters, Jason Kelce — everybody — was there. That day, they raised both $2.5 million for research — and an unquantifiable amount of momentum.

But not just team momentum. Ten years earlier, one in 110 Americans received an autism diagnosis; today, it’s one in 31. Visibility of spectrum disorders was and is growing by the day — both misinformation from select politicians, but also good kinds of awareness, like a newfound appreciation for the minds of Albert Einstein, Temple Grandin and Greta Thurnberg, along with a collective obsession with Netflix’s Love on the Spectrum.

Where the money goes

Their first year, the EAF donated locally. Now, they give nationally and internationally, operating on a strict calendar of letters of intent and scientific review, overseen by their scientific advisor, Dr. Emmanuel DiCicco-Bloom of Rutgers University’s Robert Woods Johnson Medical School. Hammond also convinced 21 prominent scientists and experts to spend one week each December at Lurie’s Palm Beach estate, where they discuss and vote on national and, more recently, international basic and clinical research grants — with a focus on earlier stage proposals.

“There’s a real need for philanthropy in autism research, because there is a gap between where the NIH kicks in with mature projects, and the initial phases for things like gene discovery for neurodevelopmental disorders,” says Dr. Damon Page, of Seattle Children’s Research Institute and University of Washington. “There’s a need for philanthropy to support that initial research to get it to the point where it can be picked up for NIH funding.”

Recent grants have funded studies of: early identification using biosensor recordings of infant cries at Boston Children’s Hospital; eye-tracking-based measurement of learning in autism at Emory and University of Alabama; autism genes in ciliary biology at the University of San Francisco; the role of chromatin remodeling complexes in autism spectrum disorder etiology at The Ottawa Hospital, to name a few.

Both Lurie and Hammond attend these discussions. “Being in that room of brilliant geneticists and psychiatrists … I’m fascinated,” she says.

Last year, the EAF also funded close to 30 community grants for enhancing autism care for children in foster care through CHOP; outfitting sensory-friendly rooms at a public elementary school in Wilmington, DE; a sensory-friendly Philadelphia Orchestra performance of the Carnival of the Animals; along with boxing, tennis and equestrian programs.

But the EAF has also not taken their eye off the … football. In August, 2019, the Eagles debuted a 500 square-foot sensory-friendly room at Lincoln Financial Field — the first space dedicated to neurodiverse fans in any NFL stadium. They gave out activity bags of fidgets, sensory toys and headphones for guests. They even put a pair of headphones on Swoop.

When Covid came, the EAF expanded their online resources for families and opened the city’s first and only sensory-friendly vaccination clinic at the Linc, sending nurses out to cars for patients who couldn’t come inside. In the ensuing years, they’d host All Abilities Clinics, accessible community play days centered around football, STEM or cheerleading. When the Birds went to Brazil for last season’s opener, they did the clinic for Brazilian kids on the spectrum — and organized a standing-room-only meetup for 80 Brazil-based autism researchers.

In the run-up to this year’s Super Bowl in New Orleans, the Birds hosted an All Abilities Clinic for 500 Louisiana children with autism. Hammond and her team recruited 20 players’ significant others as volunteers for the community day. She says, “I had players saying, My wife loved that, or, This was her first time feeling like part of the group.” This is also the point. Include players’ families, and build bridges among them.

“Ryan’s enthusiasm and commitment to her role is truly inspiring,” Lurie said in a statement. “It’s a privilege to witness how she proudly serves the autism community, approaching each initiative with the utmost sensitivity and care. Ryan’s work ethic, compassion, and unwavering positivity are just a few of her many special qualities that make her a valuable member of our organization.”

A recruitment strategy

Over the past seven years, Hammond has grown the Foundation into a 10-person team — all women. She recruited Kiki Saraceni, whom she met as a student at the Kinney Center, and is now the EAF’s director of scientific programs and inclusion initiatives. Saraceni calls her boss “a fantastic mentor” who has helped build her confidence and leadership abilities.

Hammond and her team has hired 30 people with autism to work at the Linc as ushers, ticket takers, greeters and more on game days. They created individualized schedules for each employee; even the job application is sensory-friendly — bulleted, instead of in paragraph form.

Notably, she’s also built a community of players and players’ families who support the cause.

The EAF’s player recruitment is low pressure, but starts early. GM Howie Roseman slots in time during rookie orientation to introduce Hammond to the newest players. (Among the few dozen players riding in tomorrow’s Challenge, you can expect to see some recent draft picks.) Coach Nick Sirianni invites her to team meetings.

Hammond makes sure she gets to know the new guys, saying hello and offering words of encouragement in the team cafeteria. When a player wears EAF on their shoes in a “My Cause My Cleats” game, she leaves him a personal thank-you note and photo. Every time a staffer walks through the administrative half of the complex, they see EAF event photos on the walls.

The first player to raise his hand for the cause was then-Center Jason Kelce, who, to be honest, may have done it to impress a girl. Growing up, he explained in an email to Hammond, Kylie (then) McDevitt had a neighbor and friend with autism. She wanted to help. Kylie Kelce would even go on to become the EAF’s senior event consultant, plug the Foundation on Good Morning America with Hammond, and co-host a boozy annual summertime fundraiser with Jason at the Ocean Drive in Sea Isle City that’s raised more than $1.5 million for the EAF. This was Hammond’s idea.

“She came to Jason and said, ‘How do you feel about guest bartending?’” recalls Kylie. “Jason was like, Say less. I’m there.” The event is now in its fifth year.

“She’s a genius,” Kelce continues. “She sees how people can show their passion and do it in a way that they feel comfortable — not only players, but coaches and people who work for the Eagles, who may or may not have a connection to the autism community.”

Last year, Eagles Center (and Jason Kelce replacement) Cam Jurgens hosted his first fundraiser at Chickie’s and Pete’s, featuring player-bartenders Reed Blankenship, Jordan Mailata and Landon Dickerson and debuting his new line of beef jerky, “Jurgy.” In March, Dickerson and his wife Brooke joined Hammond in New York for the Night of Too Many Stars, an A-list comedy fundraiser for NEXT for AUTISM. Beforehand, Hammond reached out to Brooke to make sure she knew what to wear and to expect. She’s regularly asked Brandon Graham to rep the EAF at events, and, more recently, Thomas Booker.

Big, player-centric celebrations are amazing — and essential to keeping the cause going. But Hammond insists it’s the everyday moments she cherishes most. Like when a local family invites her to their fundraiser in honor of their late son (and she, in turn, invites them to the NFL Draft), or when a player stops her in the complex to show her his Eagles Autism socks.

“That’s really what this is, right?” she says. “We’ve developed this culture, where everybody feels celebrated and invested in outcomes.”

FWIW, that player probably considers Hammond his best friend, and the feeling is probably mutual.

Corrections: The current prevalence of autism diagnoses is one in 31.  

MORE CITIZENS OF THE WEEK