From Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like to see covered in WHYY News? Tell us!
The year was 1968, and it was a disastrous season for the Philadelphia Eagles. Exactly 55 years ago Friday, the team lost the final game of the season in disappointing fashion with a 2-12 loss. But the reason this contest will go down in history is because of its unusual halftime festivities.
Glenn McNow, co-author of The Great Philadelphia Fan Book and longtime Philadelphia sportswriter, said that when the Eagles played the Minnesota Vikings on December 15, 1968, the team He says he boasted a dismal record of 2 wins and 11 losses. But even that record wasn’t enough to guarantee that the Buffalo Bills wouldn’t be able to acquire star running back O.J. Simpson, the No. 1 pick in the college draft, as they won just one game that season. Ta.
McNaugh said Eagles fans are dissatisfied and are calling for the head coach to be fired. Compounding the situation was the cold and inclement weather caused by a major winter storm.
“People arrive at the stadium that day and find that their seats are covered in snow, so they brush the snow off their faces to watch a really bad team play,” he said. said.
A Christmas festivities were planned for halftime, complete with Santa Claus, accompanied by all the cheerleaders dressed as elves, throwing candy canes into the crowd. McNow said he didn’t have much hope for the official Santa appearance that morning.
“The so-called Santa looked out the window and saw all the snow and bad weather and said, Okay, no more, I’m not going. Santa never showed up because he was in bed. .”
On that fateful day, the team’s public relations manager looked up at the crowd and saw someone dressed as Santa.
Frank Olivo, a Philadelphia resident, came to the game in costume hoping to be seen on television.
Mr. McNaugh said that when Mr. Olivo, a thin young man, asked him to play Santa, he enthusiastically agreed.
“He was wearing a second-hand Santa costume, which was quite ragged and had holes in it, and half of the Santa beard he was wearing was falling off his face,” he said.
As the Christmas show began, Santa began waving to the fans, who were in an even more somber mood because the Eagles quarterback had just thrown a pick-six interception just before halftime.
Hall of Fame sports columnist Ray Didinger was watching the game from row EE behind the end zone.
Didinger recalled when Santa started walking around the stadium. “The fans weren’t in the mood. It was a terrible end to the season, they wanted the head coach fired, and they weren’t in the mood to welcome some shabby Santa Claus throwing cheap stuff.” Candy Canes took to the stands. ”
At that point, McNaugh said Santa’s sleigh got stuck in a snowdrift and someone in the crowd threw a snowball at St. Nick, the stand-in.
“Everyone laughed, the second threw snowballs, the third, the fourth, hundreds, thousands, all in a barrage, and poor Santa Frank Olivo tried to avoid it by hiding behind his sleigh. Yes, and everyone laughs,” Didinger said. “It’s funny, but no one gets hurt.”
Rich Monastra’s cousin Frankie Olivo “was like a brother to him.” He said Olivo dressed up as Santa that day because after the game he was going to his grandmother’s house in Southwest Philadelphia for a family Christmas party for his younger cousins. Because he was going to play Santa.
He said Santa Frankie was happy after the snowballing of assaults finally stopped.
“He didn’t seem happy about everything and went back to his seat. The fans were cheering in his section,” Monastra said.
Didinger insists the barrage was never malicious.
“People were fed up with the team, fed up with the coach, fed up with the whole situation and just wanted to vent,” he said.
He pointed out that the stadium had a capacity of 60,000 people and 54,000 people attended. “That’s pretty amazing. Most cities would be lucky to have 10,000 people on a bitterly cold day at the end of a bad season.”
McNow announced on a nationally televised sports recap later that night that Howard Cosell would not show highlights of the game, but instead would show a video clip of Santa buried in a snowball in the City of Brotherly Love. He said he did.
“Suddenly the world looks at this and sees us as these horrible people who threw Santa at us. This is like spitting on Miss America. I mean, that’s something you shouldn’t do. ” McNaugh said.
He said the incident “has become a tired and false cliché for Philadelphia sports fans.”