Santa snowball incident shrouded in myth

By Gary Mihoces, USA TODAY

PHILADELPHIA  No surprise Philadelphia fans were rough on the Eagles at 0-2. After all, they once threw snowballs at ....

Hold it. In a new book titled The Great Philadelphia Fan Book, co-authors Glen Macnow and Anthony L. Gargano contend Philly fans get a bum rap in frequent mentions about that 1968 day when they hurled snowballs at Santa Claus. Not that they didn't do it.

"No event has been used to tar-and-feather Philadelphia fans as much. And no event has been as exaggerated, misconstrued and inaccurately recalled," they write.

Macnow, a talk show host along with Gargano on WIP radio in Philadelphia, says it's all about the circumstances.

"Everybody just thinks that people pelted Santa with snow balls for no reason other than we're mean people," he says.

A crowd of 54,535 showed in a snowstorm that Dec. 15 day at Franklin Field to watch the last-place Eagles finished off a 2-12 season with a loss to Minnesota.

The book says that team owner Jerry Wolman had "dismantled a strong, proud franchise" and hired Joe Kuharich as coach and general manager. Kuharich, who inspired the "Joe Must Go" slogan, traded Hall of Fame quarterback Sonny Jurgensen to Washington for Norm Snead.

At halftime, there was supposed to be a Christmas pageant. Then there was too much snow and muck for a float to parade around the field. Instead, according to the book, a 19-year-old fan wearing a Santa suit and fake beard in the stands was recruited to jog onto the field between two columns of cheerleaders.

The authors don't deny boos were heard and that snowballs were tossed. Are they saying Santa had it coming?

"Santa had it coming for a different reason actually," says Macnow. "Santa was a surrogate that day for Joe Kuharich and Jerry Wolman and Norm Snead. The poor kid just happened to be representing the frustrations."

The authors tracked down the Santa, Frank Olivo, who now lives in Ocean City, N.J. In the book, Olivo says he has no hard feelings. "I'm a Philadelphia fan, I knew what was what. I thought it was funny," he is quoted as saying.

But Olivo recalls that when he was asked if he might want to play Santa again the next season, he balked. "No way. If it doesn't snow, they'll probably throw beer bottles."