Dec 15 2008
Boo Santa? That was 40 years ago
A lot of people like to put down the city of Philadelphia. When they do, this phrase often comes out of their mouths: “Well after all, this is Philadelphia, the people there boo Santa Claus”. First of all, what a tired cliche that is. And it’s not accurate. They booed Santa Claus once, and it was 40 years ago today in fact. They haven’t done it since. By the way, it wasn’t even Santa they booed at the Eagles game on December 15, 1968. It was a skinny 19-year old kid in a Santa outfit who was filling in for the real Santa Claus. The fans thought he was drunk. They booed and threw snowballs at him because they were cold and wet, watching a horrible Eagles team lose and felt insulted by having to sit there at halftime and watch this pathetic “fake” Santa. It is a well-known but misunderstood story about Philadelphia and it has followed them for the last 40 years. The infamous Santa, Frank Olivo, is shown below making another appearance as Santa at a Sixers game in 2003.
