December 10, 2024 • 19 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, in 1968 19-year-old Frank Olivo decided to attend a Philadelphia Eagles game dressed as Santa. Instead of being met by good holiday cheer as one might expect, he was booed and pelted with snowballs cementing his legacy in sports lore. Here to tell the story is Frank’s first cousin and best friend, Richard Monastra.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is our American stories, and we continue with our
special Christmas season storytelling and we do this every Christmas
season well because it's fun to do and we know
we love it, and we hope you do too. Philadelphia
has a reputation across professional sports for having the toughest
and roughest fans. Nobody knows that better than Frank Olivo.
(00:34):
In nineteen sixty eight, the nineteen year old Oliva was
dressed as Santa Claus at an Eagles football game, where
he was booed and pelted with snowballs. It's such a
famous moment that ESPN even made a spoof thirty for
thirty about it. Here to tell the story is Frank's
first cousin and best friend, Richard Monastra. Here's Rich starting
(00:56):
with a little background on both him and snow Ball
Santa Frank Oliva.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
We were born in the post War era, two of
us baby boomers.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
I was born in forty six.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Frank was born in nineteen forty eight in South Philadelphia.
Born to typical Italian immigrant families. Our parents hailed from Naples, Italy.
For the most part, we were born and raised in
South Philadelphia, went to Catholic elementary schools Catholic High School.
(01:29):
I graduated nineteen sixty four. Frank graduated nineteen sixty six
from the same high school, Bishop Newman. I went on
to college. Frank decided that he wanted to be of
barbor so he went to bunch of barbering school. His
father was a veteran of World War Two. He had
landed at Omaha Beach in the Deep d day he
(01:50):
was wounded, wound up with a plate in his head.
His mother, Rose, worked their whole life in the tailor shops,
which was pretty typical form South the love of the
guy women. Frank went to by a barber school in
Center City, Philadelphia, in the area now they call Chinatown.
Got his by barber's license. Frank really really liked that.
(02:15):
He liked being a barber. He was very social the
time he was a kid. He was very very social.
He got he got along with, with, you know, with everybody.
He had a talent. Early on, we started to start
to seat in him of being a bit of a
showman too. He would do impersonations of actors, movie stars, whatever.
(02:39):
Family really loved that. Kids in the neighborhood really loved
when he would imitate our our our teachers, especially when
we're in high school.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
And he and he sort of liked all that attention.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Uh, he was sort of deprived of that attention as
a as a kid. You know, his family, his own
personal mother and father. I guess you might call him
today what we might say is a dysfunctional family. You know,
Rose and Brunno were always working. Frankie was on the
street a lot at the time. Fortunately, he would come
over to our house and you know, my mother kind
(03:14):
of took him in and he.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Was like our like our brother.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
That part of South Philadelphia sometimes, you know, has a
bad rep. A little bit of the so called mob
guys hung out there. There's a place called.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Poo Cheese and Nicks Roast Beef Shop.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
I think both of those places were kind of fronts
for the organized, the mob guys. But somehow frank got
friendly with those people as well. Every once in a
while they would ask us to carry these little brown
bags to go from point A to point B. Little
did we know we were carrying number plays or horse beats.
(04:03):
And Frank's spoke up about it one time, he said,
what's what's what's in these bags?
Speaker 3 (04:08):
You're asking mister carry.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
So one of the guys at this place called Pooci
showed him and Frankie started to laugh, and so and
the other the you know, the quasi mob guy started
to laugh too, and he said, I like you kids.
You guys are really cool. You got a real hootspa here,
so to speak. And he gave us a free roast
beef sandwich and the half a buck apiece. But as
(04:31):
time time went on, you know, I went on to college,
and we were always fans of the filled up the
sports scene. We used to go up the old Shi
Park to watch the Phillies play. The cops there who
guarded the stadium, we're very friendly. They let you hang
(04:52):
outside the stadium, and once the first inning was over,
they opened up the gates and we all got in
for free. All the kids hanging outside the stadium got
in for free. We sat up in the bleachers and
watched the ball game. Once we were a bit older,
I guess in our teams, our uncles they had eight
season tickets, four in one row and four seats right
(05:15):
behind the first four. And as we grew up, they
would take us to the Eagles games as a sort
of a.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Rite of passage.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
And that ultimately led up to the infamous snowball event.
In December of nineteen sixty eight, the Eagles were scheduled
to play the Minnesota Vikings, which were a fairly new
team at that time. I think they had come into
the league about nineteen sixty one or sixty two. They
(05:43):
weren't very good, but the Eagles were worse. The Eagles
were having a very very bad year. There were something
like two and ten or two and eleven. The schedule
was much shorter than they played. I think the NFL
played a twelve or fourteen game schedule then. Anyway, this game,
all the sports writers had picked up on it and
(06:04):
they were calling it the OJ Bowl, in reference to
OJ Simpson. If the Eagles lost this game, they would
get the number one draft choice in the NFL draft.
And of course everybody was touting O. J. Simpson at
that moment. He was probably the best player in the
country playing for University of Southern California. The Eagles were
(06:29):
in a down, really a down period. Their coach, Joekerhirick,
former coach at Notre Dame, had signed a fifteen year contract.
Can you imagine back in those days, and I think
Joekiharrick was a great example of the Peter principle. You know,
you rise one level above your confidence. He was great
(06:49):
as a college coach, but he was lousy as a
pro coach. People would boo him routinely every.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Game, win or lose.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
On this day, there was an airplane circling over Franklin
Field trailing a banner saying Joe must go. And every
time the plane went over, fans would you know, would
would would would shear?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
The fans were in a sour mood that day. Trust me.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
It had snowed the day before Saturday, nothing much, but
the game started late because they had to clear the field.
The game starts, the game goes on and the Eagles
are winning, and the fans are booing. So you can
imagine because everybody wanted them to lose so that they
could draft Simpson. Anyway, Historically, the Eagles at the last
(07:36):
home game used to have Santa Claus, you know, come
out on a on a sleigh and he would you know,
throw these miniature footballs ended the stands, and one of
which was a was a gold colored one and if
you caught the gold one, you got a season ticket
for the next year's games. Well, that year, December of
(08:00):
sixty eight, for whatever reason, they decided not to throw
out the footballs, so people were booing that. Somewhere in
a second quarter, this man from the Eagles, he's looking
throughout the stands and he spots Frankie with a Santa
Claus suit. Now the obvious question is why is Frankie
(08:22):
wearing a Santa Claus suit through the Eagles game. Well,
our grandmother each Christmas would host a Christmas party for
all the grandchildren and she would give them our gifts.
There it was getting up in years and rather than
going visit each one of our households, even though we
were fairly close, it was a bit of a chore
(08:43):
for her.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
So it was a big.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Party, all the relatives, all the cousins and uncles. Had
to be sixty seventy people in the house. Well, one
of my uncles usually played Santa Claus, Charlie Simkiss had
been doing it, but Charlie had lost.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
A lot of weight he wouldn't fill out the suit.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
So he drafted Frankie Olivo to do the Senate So
he gave him the Santa suit and Frankie decided on
a whim to wear the Santa suit at the Eagles
game because we were going to go right from the
Eagles game back to my grandmother's house for the Christmas party.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
And you're listening to rich Mind Astra, and he's the
first cousin of Frank Olivo and Frank, Well, you're going
to hear more about this remarkable episode in Philadelphia sports
history and American sports history for that matter, when we
come back, more of the story of the Snowball Santa
(09:42):
here on our special Christmas edition of Our American Story.
(10:11):
And we continue here with our special Christmas edition of
our American Stories. You've been listening to Richmond Astra tell
the story of Frank Olivo the Snowball Santa. Let's continue
with the story.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
So we're in the stands, Frank's got the Santa suit
on the place, is in a sour mood.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
The Eagles are winning.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Planes are flying over saying Joe must go. I mean
it was really nasty. Anyway, This guy from the Eagles
staff spots Frankie goes up into the stands and asks
him if he'd be interested in subbing for the man
they had hired to play Santa Claus Apparently the guy
they had hired the Eagles had hired was stranded up
(10:52):
in North Jersey somewhere and couldn't get down there to
Philadelphia because of the snow. Okay, pr guy for the
Eagles tell them what to do, where to be, and
so forth, and they took him into the one of
the you know.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
The bowels of the stadium. There.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Halftime came, the PA announcer gets on the PA and says,
Santa Claus is coming to town. Would everybody welcome Santa Claus?
What a big Philadelphia welcome. Well, uh, that's when the
fun began. Frankie enters the field. He's walking around carrying
(11:31):
a big Sanda bag and he's got some of the
Eagles cheerleaders are dressed up his elves, and they're walking
around the you know, the base of the stadium, and
all the booing started. People started booing Santa Claus. And
then the snowballs came. People are picking up and they're
making snowballs and throwing them at Santa Claus and the elves. Well,
(11:53):
a couple of the elves ran for covers. And here's
Frankie became the target of all of this. Not only
did they start throwing snowballs, but they start throwing anything
they can get their hands on. People are throwing beer cans,
beer bottles, sandwiches, anything they get their hands on. They
were heaving at Santa Claus. They're taking out their vengeance
(12:15):
about the Eagles poor season and winning this game thereby
losing the OJ ball. They were taking their frustrations down
on poor Santa Claus. So Frankie and what was left
of the Elves crew made a circle around the field
and then they went back in. Frankie worked his way
(12:37):
back to the to our seats. Of course, when we
all got back to the Christmas party, we all were telling,
you know, the others who were at the party what
had happened. You know, frank had got hit with snowballs
and beer cans and stale sandwiches and hogis and god
knows waddle, and people were half laughing and you know.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Half shocked by it all.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
It wasn't until that night somebody had had the television
on in one of the other rooms at my grandmother's
house and they noticed that Frankie's on TV. So we
all ran over to the TV set, you know, and
you see him coming out of the tunnel of the stadium.
(13:22):
They're playing some music on the PA system and people
started throwing snowballs and you hear them booing and all that. So,
of course phillipp fans have had this reputation for eons
about being rowdy fans and you know all that stuff.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
We're the only.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
City that had a a judge on site and a
sort of a jail in this in the bowels of
the stadium for people who got too rowdy. So, I mean,
it was really crazy. Philidelpi is a great sports sound,
don't get me wrong, but people can get really crazy sometimes.
(13:59):
So this story made national news and at least one
aspect of international news, The London Times picked up on it.
He told us he did not expect you know that
that booing.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
He said, booing bothered more than anything.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
He said, you know, he couldn't understand people throwing snow
and all that, but he said.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
The booing, he said, who the hell boot Santa Claus.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
And of course that's the line that got tagged at
Philadelphia from that point on, this is the city that
you know, boots Santa Claus.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
And every once in a blue moon you hear.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Some sportscaster on some station local or national. Throw that
line out there. You know, when something happens negatively in
the city of Philadelphia, they'll say, well, you got to
remember this said the city did boot Santa Claus, you know.
Of course, when he went back to work at the barbershop.
He was working in the in a barbershop in the
(14:56):
Suburban station, which is the main train station in the
center city filled Delphia, and people would come in there.
They would spot him there. Of course that his picture
was cut out of the newspapers. It was the people
hanging up in their windows of the barbershop. He got
a lot of customers from local celebrities, business people, television stars.
(15:20):
He had one of his customers with the Archbishop of
Philadelphia at the time was a man by name of
John Kroll.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
He's now deceased, but he.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Was asking Frankie for his autograph. Imagine this, the Cardinal
of Philadelphia asking Frankie for his autograph. So he had
all the all the local you know, politicians would stop
in there.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Mayor Tate, James James Tate was the.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Mayor of Philadelphia, had his picture taken down in Frank's
boy at barbershop. So he became a local celebrity. Frank
never got any pay from the Eagles. They gave him
a pair of cufflings. If you can believe that. Frank
was not much of a cuff shirt kind of guy.
You know.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
In fact, one.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Of my uncles, Tony, he was a bit of a
loudmouth to say the least, wrote to the Eagles and
he called a bunch of cheap s obs. So anyway,
Frank got his own shop, didn't farewell. It was a
bad time by this time, it's the early eighties.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Had to close the shop down.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
He went.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
He went to work at one.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Of the casinos that had just opened up in Atlantic
City as a dealer. He got his license as a
dealer and he ultimately worked his way up to become
a pit boss. He got the roub elbows with some
of the acts that were appearing there. One of his
favorite buddies was done Don Records. Franky had He was
(16:55):
on a first name basis with with with.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
With Don Rickles.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
You know, they exchanged cards at Christmas time. I think
when Frankie's daughter got married or maybe was his son.
I forget which Don Rickles sent of a gift. Throughout
his life, However, Frank was plagued by card issues. Even
as a kid. We would have, you know, sometimes he'd
(17:21):
have to stop playing ball for a bit or whatever
we were doing that became too much of an exertion
for him. Frank died on the thirtieth of April twenty fifteen.
He was let's see, he was about sixty five or
sixty six at the time. I did the formal eulogy
(17:43):
at Frank's funeral, And while I was preparing to do that,
I was getting phone calls. When I tell you, literally
from all over the country. The story didn't die. It
just wouldn't leave him. Even to this day. The fact
that you contacted me evidence is the fact that people
are still talking about it. The day of his funeral,
(18:07):
the priest asked me what music they should have for Frankie,
and half jokingly, I said, play here comes Santa Claus.
The priest looked at me rather a puzzle. I said,
I'm just kidding, Padre, But I thought that would would
(18:27):
have been appropriate because I think he would have loved that.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
So the legend lives on. He's the gift that keeps
on giving.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Here comes Santa Claus, Here comes Santa Claus right down
Santa Claus Lane, and you've been listening to Frankie Olivo's
first cousin, rich Monastra, tell the story of the Snowball Santa,
but all of the story the neighborhood, the context, the
neighborhood stores, and the psychological profile of a Philadelphia Eagle
(18:58):
fan at least a whole. And I was a New
York Giants fan growing up in northern New Jersey. And
I will never forget my first away game at Philadelphia.
And I had the temerity to wear a New York
Giants hat that lasted about a second. The story of
Frankie Olivo, the story of the Snowball Santa here on
(19:19):
our American stories. And he doesn't care if you're rich Charpoor.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
He loves you just the same.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Santa clausmo
This is our American stories, and we continue with our
special Christmas season storytelling and we do this every Christmas
season well because it's fun to do and we know
we love it, and we hope you do too. Philadelphia
has a reputation across professional sports for having the toughest
and roughest fans. Nobody knows that better than Frank Olivo.
(00:34):
In nineteen sixty eight, the nineteen year old Oliva was
dressed as Santa Claus at an Eagles football game, where
he was booed and pelted with snowballs. It's such a
famous moment that ESPN even made a spoof thirty for
thirty about it. Here to tell the story is Frank's
first cousin and best friend, Richard Monastra. Here's Rich starting
(00:56):
with a little background on both him and snow Ball
Santa Frank Oliva.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
We were born in the post War era, two of
us baby boomers.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
I was born in forty six.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Frank was born in nineteen forty eight in South Philadelphia.
Born to typical Italian immigrant families. Our parents hailed from Naples, Italy.
For the most part, we were born and raised in
South Philadelphia, went to Catholic elementary schools Catholic High School.
(01:29):
I graduated nineteen sixty four. Frank graduated nineteen sixty six
from the same high school, Bishop Newman. I went on
to college. Frank decided that he wanted to be of
barbor so he went to bunch of barbering school. His
father was a veteran of World War Two. He had
landed at Omaha Beach in the Deep d day he
(01:50):
was wounded, wound up with a plate in his head.
His mother, Rose, worked their whole life in the tailor shops,
which was pretty typical form South the love of the
guy women. Frank went to by a barber school in
Center City, Philadelphia, in the area now they call Chinatown.
Got his by barber's license. Frank really really liked that.
(02:15):
He liked being a barber. He was very social the
time he was a kid. He was very very social.
He got he got along with, with, you know, with everybody.
He had a talent. Early on, we started to start
to seat in him of being a bit of a
showman too. He would do impersonations of actors, movie stars, whatever.
(02:39):
Family really loved that. Kids in the neighborhood really loved
when he would imitate our our our teachers, especially when
we're in high school.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
And he and he sort of liked all that attention.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Uh, he was sort of deprived of that attention as
a as a kid. You know, his family, his own
personal mother and father. I guess you might call him
today what we might say is a dysfunctional family. You know,
Rose and Brunno were always working. Frankie was on the
street a lot at the time. Fortunately, he would come
over to our house and you know, my mother kind
(03:14):
of took him in and he.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Was like our like our brother.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
That part of South Philadelphia sometimes, you know, has a
bad rep. A little bit of the so called mob
guys hung out there. There's a place called.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Poo Cheese and Nicks Roast Beef Shop.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
I think both of those places were kind of fronts
for the organized, the mob guys. But somehow frank got
friendly with those people as well. Every once in a
while they would ask us to carry these little brown
bags to go from point A to point B. Little
did we know we were carrying number plays or horse beats.
(04:03):
And Frank's spoke up about it one time, he said,
what's what's what's in these bags?
Speaker 3 (04:08):
You're asking mister carry.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
So one of the guys at this place called Pooci
showed him and Frankie started to laugh, and so and
the other the you know, the quasi mob guy started
to laugh too, and he said, I like you kids.
You guys are really cool. You got a real hootspa here,
so to speak. And he gave us a free roast
beef sandwich and the half a buck apiece. But as
(04:31):
time time went on, you know, I went on to college,
and we were always fans of the filled up the
sports scene. We used to go up the old Shi
Park to watch the Phillies play. The cops there who
guarded the stadium, we're very friendly. They let you hang
(04:52):
outside the stadium, and once the first inning was over,
they opened up the gates and we all got in
for free. All the kids hanging outside the stadium got
in for free. We sat up in the bleachers and
watched the ball game. Once we were a bit older,
I guess in our teams, our uncles they had eight
season tickets, four in one row and four seats right
(05:15):
behind the first four. And as we grew up, they
would take us to the Eagles games as a sort
of a.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Rite of passage.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
And that ultimately led up to the infamous snowball event.
In December of nineteen sixty eight, the Eagles were scheduled
to play the Minnesota Vikings, which were a fairly new
team at that time. I think they had come into
the league about nineteen sixty one or sixty two. They
(05:43):
weren't very good, but the Eagles were worse. The Eagles
were having a very very bad year. There were something
like two and ten or two and eleven. The schedule
was much shorter than they played. I think the NFL
played a twelve or fourteen game schedule then. Anyway, this game,
all the sports writers had picked up on it and
(06:04):
they were calling it the OJ Bowl, in reference to
OJ Simpson. If the Eagles lost this game, they would
get the number one draft choice in the NFL draft.
And of course everybody was touting O. J. Simpson at
that moment. He was probably the best player in the
country playing for University of Southern California. The Eagles were
(06:29):
in a down, really a down period. Their coach, Joekerhirick,
former coach at Notre Dame, had signed a fifteen year contract.
Can you imagine back in those days, and I think
Joekiharrick was a great example of the Peter principle. You know,
you rise one level above your confidence. He was great
(06:49):
as a college coach, but he was lousy as a
pro coach. People would boo him routinely every.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Game, win or lose.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
On this day, there was an airplane circling over Franklin
Field trailing a banner saying Joe must go. And every
time the plane went over, fans would you know, would
would would would shear?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
The fans were in a sour mood that day. Trust me.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
It had snowed the day before Saturday, nothing much, but
the game started late because they had to clear the field.
The game starts, the game goes on and the Eagles
are winning, and the fans are booing. So you can
imagine because everybody wanted them to lose so that they
could draft Simpson. Anyway, Historically, the Eagles at the last
(07:36):
home game used to have Santa Claus, you know, come
out on a on a sleigh and he would you know,
throw these miniature footballs ended the stands, and one of
which was a was a gold colored one and if
you caught the gold one, you got a season ticket
for the next year's games. Well, that year, December of
(08:00):
sixty eight, for whatever reason, they decided not to throw
out the footballs, so people were booing that. Somewhere in
a second quarter, this man from the Eagles, he's looking
throughout the stands and he spots Frankie with a Santa
Claus suit. Now the obvious question is why is Frankie
(08:22):
wearing a Santa Claus suit through the Eagles game. Well,
our grandmother each Christmas would host a Christmas party for
all the grandchildren and she would give them our gifts.
There it was getting up in years and rather than
going visit each one of our households, even though we
were fairly close, it was a bit of a chore
(08:43):
for her.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
So it was a big.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Party, all the relatives, all the cousins and uncles. Had
to be sixty seventy people in the house. Well, one
of my uncles usually played Santa Claus, Charlie Simkiss had
been doing it, but Charlie had lost.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
A lot of weight he wouldn't fill out the suit.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
So he drafted Frankie Olivo to do the Senate So
he gave him the Santa suit and Frankie decided on
a whim to wear the Santa suit at the Eagles
game because we were going to go right from the
Eagles game back to my grandmother's house for the Christmas party.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
And you're listening to rich Mind Astra, and he's the
first cousin of Frank Olivo and Frank, Well, you're going
to hear more about this remarkable episode in Philadelphia sports
history and American sports history for that matter, when we
come back, more of the story of the Snowball Santa
(09:42):
here on our special Christmas edition of Our American Story.
(10:11):
And we continue here with our special Christmas edition of
our American Stories. You've been listening to Richmond Astra tell
the story of Frank Olivo the Snowball Santa. Let's continue
with the story.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
So we're in the stands, Frank's got the Santa suit
on the place, is in a sour mood.
Speaker 3 (10:29):
The Eagles are winning.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Planes are flying over saying Joe must go. I mean
it was really nasty. Anyway, This guy from the Eagles
staff spots Frankie goes up into the stands and asks
him if he'd be interested in subbing for the man
they had hired to play Santa Claus Apparently the guy
they had hired the Eagles had hired was stranded up
(10:52):
in North Jersey somewhere and couldn't get down there to
Philadelphia because of the snow. Okay, pr guy for the
Eagles tell them what to do, where to be, and
so forth, and they took him into the one of
the you know.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
The bowels of the stadium. There.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Halftime came, the PA announcer gets on the PA and says,
Santa Claus is coming to town. Would everybody welcome Santa Claus?
What a big Philadelphia welcome. Well, uh, that's when the
fun began. Frankie enters the field. He's walking around carrying
(11:31):
a big Sanda bag and he's got some of the
Eagles cheerleaders are dressed up his elves, and they're walking
around the you know, the base of the stadium, and
all the booing started. People started booing Santa Claus. And
then the snowballs came. People are picking up and they're
making snowballs and throwing them at Santa Claus and the elves. Well,
(11:53):
a couple of the elves ran for covers. And here's
Frankie became the target of all of this. Not only
did they start throwing snowballs, but they start throwing anything
they can get their hands on. People are throwing beer cans,
beer bottles, sandwiches, anything they get their hands on. They
were heaving at Santa Claus. They're taking out their vengeance
(12:15):
about the Eagles poor season and winning this game thereby
losing the OJ ball. They were taking their frustrations down
on poor Santa Claus. So Frankie and what was left
of the Elves crew made a circle around the field
and then they went back in. Frankie worked his way
(12:37):
back to the to our seats. Of course, when we
all got back to the Christmas party, we all were telling,
you know, the others who were at the party what
had happened. You know, frank had got hit with snowballs
and beer cans and stale sandwiches and hogis and god
knows waddle, and people were half laughing and you know.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Half shocked by it all.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
It wasn't until that night somebody had had the television
on in one of the other rooms at my grandmother's
house and they noticed that Frankie's on TV. So we
all ran over to the TV set, you know, and
you see him coming out of the tunnel of the stadium.
(13:22):
They're playing some music on the PA system and people
started throwing snowballs and you hear them booing and all that. So,
of course phillipp fans have had this reputation for eons
about being rowdy fans and you know all that stuff.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
We're the only.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
City that had a a judge on site and a
sort of a jail in this in the bowels of
the stadium for people who got too rowdy. So, I mean,
it was really crazy. Philidelpi is a great sports sound,
don't get me wrong, but people can get really crazy sometimes.
(13:59):
So this story made national news and at least one
aspect of international news, The London Times picked up on it.
He told us he did not expect you know that
that booing.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
He said, booing bothered more than anything.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
He said, you know, he couldn't understand people throwing snow
and all that, but he said.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
The booing, he said, who the hell boot Santa Claus.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
And of course that's the line that got tagged at
Philadelphia from that point on, this is the city that
you know, boots Santa Claus.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
And every once in a blue moon you hear.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Some sportscaster on some station local or national. Throw that
line out there. You know, when something happens negatively in
the city of Philadelphia, they'll say, well, you got to
remember this said the city did boot Santa Claus, you know.
Of course, when he went back to work at the barbershop.
He was working in the in a barbershop in the
(14:56):
Suburban station, which is the main train station in the
center city filled Delphia, and people would come in there.
They would spot him there. Of course that his picture
was cut out of the newspapers. It was the people
hanging up in their windows of the barbershop. He got
a lot of customers from local celebrities, business people, television stars.
(15:20):
He had one of his customers with the Archbishop of
Philadelphia at the time was a man by name of
John Kroll.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
He's now deceased, but he.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Was asking Frankie for his autograph. Imagine this, the Cardinal
of Philadelphia asking Frankie for his autograph. So he had
all the all the local you know, politicians would stop
in there.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
Mayor Tate, James James Tate was the.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
Mayor of Philadelphia, had his picture taken down in Frank's
boy at barbershop. So he became a local celebrity. Frank
never got any pay from the Eagles. They gave him
a pair of cufflings. If you can believe that. Frank
was not much of a cuff shirt kind of guy.
You know.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
In fact, one.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Of my uncles, Tony, he was a bit of a
loudmouth to say the least, wrote to the Eagles and
he called a bunch of cheap s obs. So anyway,
Frank got his own shop, didn't farewell. It was a
bad time by this time, it's the early eighties.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
Had to close the shop down.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
He went.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
He went to work at one.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Of the casinos that had just opened up in Atlantic
City as a dealer. He got his license as a
dealer and he ultimately worked his way up to become
a pit boss. He got the roub elbows with some
of the acts that were appearing there. One of his
favorite buddies was done Don Records. Franky had He was
(16:55):
on a first name basis with with with.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
With Don Rickles.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
You know, they exchanged cards at Christmas time. I think
when Frankie's daughter got married or maybe was his son.
I forget which Don Rickles sent of a gift. Throughout
his life, However, Frank was plagued by card issues. Even
as a kid. We would have, you know, sometimes he'd
(17:21):
have to stop playing ball for a bit or whatever
we were doing that became too much of an exertion
for him. Frank died on the thirtieth of April twenty fifteen.
He was let's see, he was about sixty five or
sixty six at the time. I did the formal eulogy
(17:43):
at Frank's funeral, And while I was preparing to do that,
I was getting phone calls. When I tell you, literally
from all over the country. The story didn't die. It
just wouldn't leave him. Even to this day. The fact
that you contacted me evidence is the fact that people
are still talking about it. The day of his funeral,
(18:07):
the priest asked me what music they should have for Frankie,
and half jokingly, I said, play here comes Santa Claus.
The priest looked at me rather a puzzle. I said,
I'm just kidding, Padre, But I thought that would would
(18:27):
have been appropriate because I think he would have loved that.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
So the legend lives on. He's the gift that keeps
on giving.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Here comes Santa Claus, Here comes Santa Claus right down
Santa Claus Lane, and you've been listening to Frankie Olivo's
first cousin, rich Monastra, tell the story of the Snowball Santa,
but all of the story the neighborhood, the context, the
neighborhood stores, and the psychological profile of a Philadelphia Eagle
(18:58):
fan at least a whole. And I was a New
York Giants fan growing up in northern New Jersey. And
I will never forget my first away game at Philadelphia.
And I had the temerity to wear a New York
Giants hat that lasted about a second. The story of
Frankie Olivo, the story of the Snowball Santa here on
(19:19):
our American stories. And he doesn't care if you're rich Charpoor.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
He loves you just the same.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Santa clausmo
Host
Lee Habeeb
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!