Between them, the four members of the Bagley family have four Temple degrees, over 100 Temple shirts, 32 years of tailgating home football games, one Temple tattoo and one dog named Stella in honor of Temple’s mascot.

The Chester County-based Bagley family has been devoted to Temple ever since parents T.J. and Debbie received BBAs from Temple in 1988 and 1990, respectively, but their devotion was raised to a new level when their older son Tucker received his BA in journalism in 2017 and younger son Luke received his BBA from the Fox School of Business this spring.

And they are not planning on toning down their Templemania anytime soon. As members of the Greater Philadelphia Alumni Association, T.J. and Debbie are actively involved in alumni affairs and describe the Temple alumni network as an “extended family.” And as yearly season ticket holders for the Owls’ football games since 2014, they plan on continuing to maintain the fun atmosphere they’ve created in the tailgate lot. Described by Tucker as “a lot of fun, but not crazy,” their tailgates have featured a family friend’s marriage proposal and warm greetings from former Owls football player Paul Palmer, EDU ’87.

“We’re pretty much in the same spot every week, and you know where to find us,” said T.J.

The Bagley family’s Temple story began when T.J., a financial analyst, and Debbie, a payroll administrator, met while working at the same accounting firm. The job led to Debbie’s enrollment at Montgomery Community College, which eventually led to a transfer to Temple Ambler. T.J., meanwhile, was attending Temple Ambler while working full time at the accounting firm after getting his associate’s degree from State University in New York at Canton. The two started dating while working at the accounting firm, got married in 1992, had their two boys soon after, and the rest is history.

When it came time for Tucker to enroll in college in 2013, he says he chose Temple not because of his parents’ influence but because he enjoyed going to Temple’s basketball games and wanted to go to school in the city. Now, as an evening producer for sports radio station WIP, he credits his internship at Philadelphia Magazine and close relationships with Temple faculty with giving him the tools for success in his sports media career.

Luke, who enrolled at Temple in 2019, knew he wanted to go Temple since he was in seventh grade, after watching Tucker thrive on Temple’s campus. He saw how his older brother could spend time going to Temple basketball games and Sixers games and knew that Temple could give him the fun, accessible experience he was looking for while allowing him to easily visit his parents in Chester County. As a newly minted alumnus after graduating this spring, he’s looking for a job in the financial services industry and plans to participate in the Temple alumni network like his parents.

Looking back on why Tucker and Luke applied to Temple, T.J. recalls that Temple was the only school each applied to. “Both our children only applied to Temple. They could have gone anywhere they wanted to, but they chose Temple.”