Only in Philadelphia: A look back on the day Eagles fans booed Santa at Franklin Field
The fans also threw snowballs at the substitute Santa Claus
By Matthew Frank
Eagles fans, and for that matter, all Philadelphia sports fans, have a long reputation for being exceptionally hostile, with plenty of individual instances to show for it. The most notorious is arguably the time that they booed Santa Claus, an event which occurred at Penn’s own Franklin Field, where the Eagles played from 1958-1970.
Not only did they boo Santa — they threw snowballs at him, too.
The date was Dec. 15, 1968. The Eagles were 2-11 and were slated to play the Minnesota Vikings after an immense amount of snowfall the day before.
“Frankie comes out, the PA announcer goes through this big thing, ‘Here comes Santa Claus. Let’s give Santa Claus a rousing welcome, Philadelphia welcome,’” Monastra said. “Well, all hell broke loose. People started not only booing, they started throwing. Now remember, the place is covered in snow because it had snowed the day before, and there was snow all over the stands. Most of the stands are still covered in snow, we’re freezing our noogies off, it was cold as hell.
“People started throwing snowballs. First it was snow. Then comes beer cans, then bottles. People were throwing their hoagie sandwiches at him, for God’s sake. They were throwing anything they could get their hands on.”
Rest of the story:
https://www.thedp.com/article/2020/12/penn-football-franklin-field-eagles-santa