Philadelphia has a reputation across professional sports for having the roughest fans. It’s not the biggest city in the U.S., but the crowds make it seem otherwise.
What’s the history behind Eagles fans and Santa Claus?
It’s true: Eagles fans booed and threw snowballs at Santa.
Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images
Nobody knows that better than Frank Olivo. In 1968, the 19-year-old Olivo was dressed as Santa Claus at an Eagles’ home game against the Vikings, where he was booed and pelted with snowballs.
The Eagles were bad that season. They went into the game with a 2-11 record, but they were coming off two wins in a row, which hurt their odds at the No. 1 overall pick. So fans went into the stadium annoyed — if they were going to be bad, the least they could do was get the top pick.
In that draft, it would have been O.J. Simpson. Instead, they’d end up picking third and drafting running back Leroy Keyes, who never even made a Pro Bowl.
Fans arrived to the stadium that afternoon with snow in their seats to watch a poor team in unfavorable weather. The Santa the team hired to perform at halftime didn’t arrive to the stadium (either because of the snow, or excessive drinking), so they picked Olivo out of the stands.
Olivo said he felt they were booing “everything” because of the bad weather and the lousy football team. He walked up to somebody who balled up a snowball and threw it at him and said, “You’re not getting anything for Christmas.” The legend was born.
It’s such an infamous moment in Eagles fandom that ESPN even made a spoof 30 for 30 about it.
It doesn’t matter what time of the year it is. Philadelphia fans throwing snowballs at Santa Claus is a topic that can come up during any Eagles broadcast, and maybe even other professional Philly sports games, too.
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