Jason Kelce, retired Eagle, visits Campbell Soup Co. headquarters in Camden

CAMDEN – When Jason Kelce visited Campbell Soup Co.’s headquarters, he was more popular than hot chicken noodle soup on a wintry day.

About 600 employees, many wearing Kelce jerseys and other Philadelphia Eagles attire, gave a standing ovation as the football star entered an auditorium at the Camden firm’s base.

Led by a Campbell executive, they roared E-A-G-L-E-S to create a pep-rally atmosphere.

And after an applause-filled ceremony, about 60 lucky workers lined up for photos with the latest face of Campbell’s Chunky soups.

There was no referee to call holding, so several employees grabbed hugs, too.

The March 20 ceremony celebrated Kelce’s appearance on Chunky’s first-ever Legend Edition — a limited-production soup can that, although filled with chicken noodle, is meant to be a collectible.

Campbell is offering 620 of the green-and-white cans to the public through an online contest.

That opportunity’s already drawn more than 350,000 entries, with the contest continuing through March 28, said a company spokesperson.

Chunky soup had a partnership over the last football season with Kelce, his wife Donna, and his brother, Travis, a Kansas City Chief.

The Legend Edition can added “a new and special way of honoring (Kelce’s) career and his impact on the greater Philadelphia community,” the company said in announcing the collectible.

Kelce pumped a fist at the crowd’s raucous reception, then declared a life-long allegiance with his audience.

“My family grew up eating Chunky soup,” he said. “It was a go-to.”

Kelce shared a stage with a decorative Legend Edition can that was larger than the burly lineman.

Dozens of balloons, most of them green and white, festooned the stage and framed the main entrance to Campbell Place.

Many audience members entered by passing two iconic photos of Kelce — one that showed him kissing the Super Bowl trophy and another from his memorable victory parade speech in a Mummers costume

Kelce, who even got cheers for living in Delaware County, also answered questions from audience members.

For instance, if Kelce wrote a book about his life, what would the title be?

“I wouldn’t put my name on it because I feel that would be too narcissistic,” said Kelce, whose T-shirt promoted the image of his face on the Legend Edition can.

Instead, Kelce predicted he’d borrow a phrase from a former coach that was popularized by the Eagles during their run to victory in the 2018 Super Bowl.

“I'd probably say, 'Hungry Dogs Run Faster,'” he said to an enthusiastic whoop from one audience member and sustained applause from the others.

And how does No. 62 envision his life at age 62?

“Well, hopefully my knees will still work,” he said to laughter.

Then he mentioned his oldest daughter would be 30 at that time.

“I don’t want to put pressure on her,” said Kelce, but “hopefully I’ll be in grand-dad mode.”

More cheers.

Kelce took a serious tone when he received a ceremonial check for $62,000 from Mick Beekhuizen, the president of Campbell’s Meals & Beverage unit.

The contribution will support Kelce’s (Be) Philly charity, which works to help city schoolchildren.

“We really want to try and embrace that Philadelphia spirit and drive and passion,” said Kelce, saying his charity supports youngsters “that might not have the resources or infrastructure (to) achieve their dreams.”

Campbell also made a donation to its employees, distributing Legend Edition cans to the audience.

At one point, Kelce made a fleeting reference to his recent retirement, joking “Nobody’s asking me to come back and play yet.”

That prompted a man in the audience to immediately shout: “Come back and play!”

And Beekhuizen raised a similar point during an on-stage conversation.

"Man," he told Kelce, "you should come over more often."

Jim Walsh is a senior reporter for the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. Email: Jwalsh@cpsj.com.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Retired Eagle celebrated as the face of Legend Edition collectible