Over three decades ago, Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie bought the franchise for approximately $195 million, of which $190 million was borrowed. At the time, the Wall Street Journal tagged it the “dumbest investment of the year.” As difficult as that was to accept, Lurie said he “thought they were right.” Turns out they weren’t.

Under Lurie, the Eagles have enjoyed the most playoff and Super Bowl appearances and wins in franchise history. To honor his contributions, the team, almost two weeks away from the regular season opener, announced that Chairman and CEO Lurie will be officially inducted into the Eagles Hall of Fame.

“Congratulations to Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie, this year’s inductee into the Eagles Hall of Fame! He will be honored at halftime of our game on Monday, October 26,” the team shared on Instagram.

Lurie will join the legendary players and coaches on the wall when the Dallas Cowboys visit Lincoln Financial Field in October. His leadership turned around the mess Philadelphia was in during the final years of former owner Norman Braman.

“When I took over the team, they had nobody doing player personnel and two scouts who were sort of covering the country but in a rather haphazard way. It was a mess. It was an organizational weakness,” Lurie said back then.

“When you have a lack of manpower and a lack of people around you who are obsessed with winning Super Bowls, you’re going to spend less on scouting and information gathering. You’ve got to be the best information-gathering team. You’ve got to have a very strong scouting department. You’ve got to have incredible detailed analysis in terms of the players’ background, personality profile, family background. It was an obvious weakness, part of the baggage I inherited.”

The current owner made sure he changed every bit of it. The franchise had one of the worst scouting departments in the league and had reached the playoffs just eight times in the Super Bowl era, making the big stage only once and losing it.

Since he took over in 1994, the team has been part of 19 postseason runs with four Super Bowl appearances, winning two of them.

“Being selected to the Eagles Hall of Fame is one of the greatest honors of my life,” said Lurie about his induction. “It is truly rewarding to know that I will now join a distinguished group of legends who have all made significant contributions to this organization.

“From the very moment I became owner, I have been deeply committed to delivering a champion – both on and off the field – that our fans and city can be proud of. This franchise has given so much to me and my family over the past 32 years, and for that, I will be forever grateful. I would like to thank the selection committee for their support and am humbled that they felt I was deserving of this recognition.”

However, for Lurie, Philadelphia was never the dream. He wanted to buy the New England Patriots in the first place. The 74-year-old, who grew up in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, had been a Patriots fan since childhood.

He made a run to buy the Patriots in 1993 but was outbid by current owner Robert Kraft. Then the lifelong, die-hard football fan convinced his family to buy the Eagles instead.

Lurie and his mother, Nancy Lurie Marks, borrowed around $190 million from the Bank of Boston to purchase the franchise for $195 million. It was the highest price an NFL team had been bought for at that time.

Now, with all the contributions Lurie has made, the owner will be honored for it this year, making it clear that buying a franchise at its worst for the heftiest amount is not always a bad idea.