“I was 12 years old, and I had lost both of my parents,” Jon Dorenbos has said, as NBC Insider quotes him. “At the time I went into temporary foster care for eight or nine months.” ESPN has written of “the death of his mother, who was killed by his father,” and his father went to prison. “I got into magic because when I shuffled cards and I heard the riffle, it’s the only time the world quieted,” Dorenbos said. “Magic saved my life,” he said, as PhillyVoice reported.
No team drafted him: “Dorenbos was signed as a long snapper by the Buffalo Bills as an undrafted free agent following the 2003 NFL Draft,” NBC Insider says. With the Eagles he became, in ESPN’s words, “a long-snapper who spent 11 seasons with the team,” “with two Pro Bowls on his résumé,” as the team’s own website put it in 2016.
“He performed on NBC’s ‘America’s Got Talent’ in 2016 and finished in third place,” ESPN says. “Guest judge Ne-Yo was so impressed with Dorenbos’ magic trick that he gave him the golden buzzer,” WHDH 7News reported. His trick in the final, PhillyVoice wrote, “involved each of the celebrities writing their names on a No. 2 card. Then as Dorenbos spoke to the live audience and those watching on TV about his journey, he turned over the cards of each of the celebrities, concluding with name …, which Simon Cowell placed on the two of hearts.”
“What I did was I turned to magic and it simply taught me to don’t hate, don’t blame and to forgive,” he told the audience, as PhillyVoice reported, and the performance “ended with a standing ovation and raves from the celebrity judges.” “He finished third overall,” PhillyVoice wrote after the results; “the celebrity judges all stood and applauded, which is what Dorenbos received throughout his stay on AGT.”
In September 2017, FOX 29 reported, “Former Philadelphia Eagle Jon Dorenbos will require surgery to treat an aortic aneurysm that was discovered by a New Orleans Saints team doctor this week.” “He was traded to the Saints before the start of last season but retired in September when it was discovered he needed heart surgery, ending his football career,” ESPN wrote the next June, when “The Eagles posted a video Thursday on Twitter of Dorenbos receiving a Super Bowl ring.” Later, he went to see his father. “The purpose of the trip for me was to stand up, say I forgave you for being lost and making mistakes,” he told Fox News in 2019.
Fact check
The facts and where they come from
- At 12 he lost both parents, and a deck of cards, he says, saved him. Jon Dorenbos (NBC Insider): “I was 12 years old, and I had lost both of my parents.” Dorenbos, as PhillyVoice quotes him: “Magic saved my life.” 12
- His name is Jon Dorenbos. ESPN: “Former Eagles player and ‘America’s Got Talent’ finalist Jon Dorenbos.” 6
- His father went to prison for his mother’s death. ESPN: “the death of his mother, who was killed by his father.” Fox News (2019): “… his father, who served … in prison.” 65
- He spent months in foster care. Dorenbos (NBC Insider): “At the time I went into temporary foster care for eight or nine months.” Dorenbos, to Fox News (2019): “We were raised by my aunt after we lived in a foster home for about a year.” 15
- Shuffling cards, he said, was the only time the world went quiet. Dorenbos (NBC Insider): “I got into magic because when I shuffled cards and I heard the riffle, it’s the only time the world quieted.” 1
- No NFL team drafted him, but he became a long snapper anyway. NBC Insider: “Dorenbos was signed as a long snapper by the Buffalo Bills as an undrafted free agent following the 2003 NFL Draft.” 1
- He played 11 seasons for the Eagles, with two Pro Bowls. ESPN: “a long-snapper who spent 11 seasons with the team.” PhiladelphiaEagles.com: “with two Pro Bowls on his résumé.” 67
- Then, in 2016, he took his magic to America’s Got Talent. ESPN: “He performed on NBC’s ‘America’s Got Talent’ in 2016 and finished in third place.” 6
- Guest judge Ne-Yo hit the golden buzzer for him. WHDH 7News: “Guest judge Ne-Yo was so impressed with Dorenbos’ magic trick that he gave him the golden buzzer.” 8
- In the final, he revealed the name Simon Cowell had written on a card. PhillyVoice: “It involved each of the celebrities writing their names on a No. 2 card. Then as Dorenbos spoke to the live audience and those watching on TV about his journey, he turned over the cards of each of the celebrities, concluding with name …, which Simon Cowell placed on the two of hearts.” PhillyVoice (September 15, 2016): “which involved Cowell writing down the name … on the card he picked.” 23
- He told America magic taught him not to hate, not to blame, but to forgive. Dorenbos, as PhillyVoice quotes him: “What I did was I turned to magic and it simply taught me to don’t hate, don’t blame and to forgive.” 2
- The crowd stood, and he finished third. PhillyVoice: “It ended with a standing ovation and raves from the celebrity judges.” PhillyVoice, after the results: “He finished third overall”; “the celebrity judges all stood and applauded, which is what Dorenbos received throughout his stay on AGT.” 24
- The next year, heart surgery ended his football career. ESPN (2018): “He was traded to the Saints before the start of last season but retired in September when it was discovered he needed heart surgery, ending his football career.” FOX 29 (September 8, 2017): “Former Philadelphia Eagle Jon Dorenbos will require surgery to treat an aortic aneurysm that was discovered by a New Orleans Saints team doctor this week.” 69
- Later, he visited his father to say, “I forgave you for being lost and making mistakes.” Dorenbos, to Fox News (2019): “The purpose of the trip for me was to stand up, say I forgave you for being lost and making mistakes.” 5
Sources
- Who is Jon Dorenbos? (January 1, 2024) NBC Insider
- Jon Dorenbos’s final ‘America’s Got Talent’ trick (September 14, 2016) PhillyVoice
- Eagles’ Dorenbos on why Simon Cowell will think of him every day following ‘AGT’ act (September 15, 2016) PhillyVoice
- Eagles’ Dorenbos, who ‘got to live out a dream,’ finishes third on ‘America’s Got Talent’ (2016) PhillyVoice
- Jon Dorenbos on meeting his father (November 8, 2019) Fox News
- Jon Dorenbos, magician and former Eagles player, gets Super Bowl ring (Associated Press, June 21, 2018) ESPN
- Jon Dorenbos: Nation Sees His Special Side (July 7, 2016) PhiladelphiaEagles.com
- NFL player’s magic skills gets him ‘golden buzzer’ on ‘America’s Got Talent’ (July 13, 2016) WHDH 7News
- Former Eagle Jon Dorenbos to have heart surgery (September 8, 2017) FOX 29
Notes
“Lost both parents” is his own phrase: his father was alive, in prison. The Short keeps his words and explains them in the next two lines.
His family: the Short and this page say only what he and major outlets have said in public, in one line; no dates, no names and no other details are given, and no one in his family is shown. The sources differ on how long his father was in prison, and the Short gives no figure, so the number is cut from the quote (“…”).
Foster care: “eight or nine months” (NBC Insider) or “about a year” (Fox News), both in his words; the Short says “months.”
The final trick: each celebrity wrote a name on a two card, and the last one turned over was the name Simon Cowell had written. That name belongs to a child, so it is cut from the quotes (“…”). “Revealed” is the Short’s summary of how he showed it.
His message: the Short puts it in plain words (not to hate, not to blame, but to forgive), because his exact words, “to don’t hate, don’t blame and to forgive,” are hard to say aloud; the quote is given here as PhillyVoice printed it.
The crowd stood: the final performance “ended with a standing ovation” (PhillyVoice), and third place came with the results. The 2016 winner is not named here. No source says the judges cried at his act, so this page doesn’t say so.
The next year: the trade to the New Orleans Saints and the aneurysm found by their team doctor came in 2017 (FOX 29, ESPN). Only what he and the teams made public is used; the Short says only that heart surgery ended his career.
The visit: Fox News reported it in 2019; the Short says “Later” and quotes his words about the purpose of the trip.
Jon Dorenbos is alive. Only his football and magic career, published reporting and his own published words are used; nothing here goes into his private life. Simon Cowell and Ne-Yo are named only for what they did on the show.
Pictures: no free photo shows his childhood, his family, any of his 2016 America’s Got Talent performances, his surgery or the visit; NBC stills, TV frames and agency photos aren’t used. Jon Dorenbos is in his Eagles jersey, No. 46, on July 29, 2008 (Jonathan Cohen); signing autographs at Eagles training camp on August 12, 2011 (Aabe619, cropped); second from right, in a white polo, with Eagles players and Air Force personnel at a golf tournament at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico, on April 19, 2008 (Evelyn Chavez, US Air Force); and in No. 46 at Pro Bowl practice at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, in January 2015 (Staci Miller, US Air Force). The America’s Got Talent judges’ table, with Howie Mandel and Heidi Klum, is a visitor’s photo from an audition taping on March 5, 2020, a photo from 2020, not from his season (Akumalbay12). Ne-Yo is performing on December 4, 2014 (US Department of the Interior, cropped), and Simon Cowell is at Greater Together LA on May 20, 2026 (UK in USA); neither photo is from the show. Lincoln Financial Field, the Eagles’ home, is seen from the air on March 5, 2012 (Ron Reiring). The cards are stand-ins, not his: hands shuffling cards in 2011 (Paul Huxley) and a riffled deck in 2007 (Alex Buirds, cropped). The other people in these photos are not named.
Photo credits
The archive photos in this story
The photographs and illustrations in this story are in the public domain or shared under open licenses; each one is credited below with its license. Tap one to enlarge it, or follow the link to its Wikimedia Commons page for the full record. The narration, captions and graphics in the Short are our own; its music and sound effects are credited below.
Music and sound effects
Music: Schumann, Kinderszenen, Op. 15: No. 1 'Of Foreign Lands and Peoples (Musopen, public domain); Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition: IV. Bydlo (piano) (Musopen, public domain); Dvorak, Symphony No. 9 'From the New World': II. Largo (Musopen, public domain).
Sound effects: Freesound, CC0.
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