The last time Kyle Pitts was at Lincoln Financial Field, he watched the fireworks just outside the stadium before the game and thought about what it would be like to experience it all as a player.

The former Archbishop Wood star and current Atlanta Falcons tight end got the chance to find out for himself on Monday, seven years after watching the Eagles’ NFC championship win over the Minnesota Vikings. The Falcons’ showdown with the Eagles on Monday night was Pitts’ first in his hometown since leaving for the University of Florida in 2018.

It’s the latest chapter in the Pitts family’s legacy in Philadelphia sports, a legacy originally written by Pitts’ grandfather, Sonny Pitts, who died a little over a year ago of prostate cancer after working for decades as a renowned referee for local high school sports.

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“He was a renegade in the Philadelphia sports community in general,” Kyle Pitts said. “In the early days up until a few years ago. In the basketball community, the PIAA, the Catholic League, he was known. He definitely left his mark.”

Kyle Pitts was close to both of his grandfathers. When he was young, Sonny would often drive him to practice and introduce him to his fellow referees who officiated the public and Catholic league football and basketball games.

Initially, Sonny wanted his grandson to focus on basketball, but Kyle’s father, Kelly, knew his passion lay elsewhere. Although Kyle wasn’t the tallest kid growing up — he “shot up” in high school, growing six inches in four years — Sonny was a basketball referee first and foremost, and he saw a future for Kyle on the court.

As we talked sports during long drives between various training facilities in the area, Kyle’s stature and notoriety as a tight end grew. Their conversations, however, always ended with basketball.

“Just work ethic and always be better than the other guy,” Pitts said of his grandfather’s talk. “He always brought it back to basketball. He always gave me basketball moves.”

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As Pitts established himself as the best tight end in college football and one of the top prospects in the 2021 NFL draft, Sonny finally admitted that his son and grandson made the right decision by playing football.

“Before he passed, we were driving in the car and he said, ‘You know what? You were right,'” Kelly Pitts said. “That’s all he said: ‘You were right.’ He didn’t have to say anything else, I already knew what he was talking about.”

Even as a two-time state football champion at Archbishop Wood and the fourth overall pick in the 2021 draft, Pitts says he still feels his grandfather’s legacy in the area surpasses his own.

He was commonly referred to as “Mr. Sonny” by those who knew him through refereeing and was one of the few officials rarely required to show Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association credentials to participate in games for free.

Eddie Simpson, a close friend of Sonny’s and fellow official, said there would even be tickets waiting for him at the door for highly anticipated games, such as the Catholic League championship games at the Palestra.

“If you go with Sonny, they just let you in,” Simpson said. “It was like walking with royalty. ‘Oh, he’s with you? Come on in!’ There was no Public League game, no Suburban One game, nothing, even if we could have gotten in somehow, they just knew him from all those years before.”

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Kelly Pitts added: “If you go to a basketball game and hear someone say ‘Mr. Sonny,’ they know who you’re talking about. That speaks for itself. I’m talking girls basketball, boys basketball, kids basketball, all that, they knew him all over town through his work.”

Sonny attended a few of Kyle’s games in Gainesville before his illness made it too difficult to do so. But he was instrumental in helping his grandson choose the University of Florida. Simpson said Kyle’s games were “appointment visits” for Sonny, who also called him to discuss officials’ Saturday decisions to help teach him the trade.

“He was so happy and proud of Kyle,” Simpson added. “Of course, it was must-see TV every Saturday when Florida came on. And he just kept getting better and better. And I felt so proud, not just because I knew him, but because I knew the kind of man he was becoming.”

Kelly Pitts added: “Seeing his grandson get all the accolades that he got and be able to play at all the levels was huge for him. That was one of the things he wanted to do before he passed away, was see him play at Florida and play in the pros. And that’s what happened. He got the opportunity to see that.”

Kyle Pitts will have a lot of family members at Monday night’s game, though neither he nor his father knew the exact number. His Southeastern Conference schedule made nearby games nearly impossible in college, and his three years in the NFL included trips to New York and Washington, but his first time at Lincoln Financial Field since he was a teenager has resulted in plenty of phone calls and texts that he’s “passing on” to his parents.

“Just to see him play in Philadelphia, it’s huge,” Kelly Pitts said. “Because he never got a chance to play here. … It’s going to be a lot like when he first played in college, the excitement, the buzz, the lights.”

Don’t forget the fireworks.

The Eagles play the Atlanta Falcons in Week 2. Join Eagles beat reporters Olivia Reiner and EJ Smith as they break down the hottest stories surrounding the team on Play Day Centrallive from Lincoln Financial Field.