Frank Olivo dies at 66
Hundley a surprise for many
PHILADELPHIA, May 3, (Agencies): The fill-in Santa who was pelted with snowballs and booed at a Philadelphia Eagles game in 1968 has died. Frank Olivo was 66.
Olivo died early Thursday at a suburban hospital after a long battle with heart disease, diabetes and other ailments, said his cousin, Richard Monastra.
The story of Olivo’s misfortune has long been held up as a symbol of Philly sports fans’ ferocity, but Olivo “gloried in it,” Monastra said.
“It was his 15 minutes of fame,” he said. “He kind of liked it, actually.”
The snowy onslaught began with the real Santa Claus stuck in New Jersey and unable to make it to the final game of the NFL season between the Minnesota Vikings and a moribund Eagles team that started the year with 11 straight losses.
Olivo, who was in the stands wearing a Santa suit and fake white beard, was asked to fill in. But when he ran downfield past a row of elf-costumed “Eaglettes” and the team’s 50-person brass band playing “Here Comes Santa Claus,” thunderous boos erupted from the crowd of 54,535 and snowballs began raining down.
The halftime behavior during the team’s final home game, broadcast around the country, helped cement Philadelphia’s reputation for rowdy sports fans.
Monastra, who was at the game that night, said he believes the fans were unhappy with the team, which lost the game to finish 2-12, and coach Joe Kuharich.
“They were ticked off at the team, they were ticked off at the coach,” he said. “This was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.”
In the NFL draft, it is not when you go but where, and new Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Hundley can look to his tutor for further explanation.
Hundley from UCLA was drafted by the Packers in the fifth round, 147th overall, a surprise for many who projected the athletic passer as a second- or third-round pick. Green Bay moved up 19 spots to secure a backup for most valuable player Aaron Rodgers on Saturday, the final day of the 2015 NFL Draft.
Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty waited 103 picks before he was drafted by the New York Jets, where he will compete for time with Geno Smith, Ryan Fitzpatrick and reunite with college tight end Jace Amaro.
Zac Stacy got his wish. A day after requesting a trade from the St Louis Rams, who drafted Georgia running back Todd Gurley 10th overall, Stacy was dealt to the New York Jets on Saturday.
The Jets sent the Rams a seventh-round pick (No. 224 overall). The Rams used the pick on Baylor linebacker Bryce Hager.
Before Grady Jarrett was drafted by his hometown team on Saturday, he had a horrifying day two of the draft — and not just because he did not get picked in the second or third round.
While watching the draft with friends and family at his home in Conyers, Georgia, on Friday, a fire broke out — forcing the approximately four dozen people to flee.
Half the house was damaged by the fire, and Jarrett, a star defensive tackle at Clemson, lost most of his football trophies and other memorabilia. But no one was injured.
On Saturday, the Atlanta Falcons — who play just 20 miles from Conyers — drafted Jarrett in the fifth round. That not only kept Jarrett home in Georgia but brought him to the same team for which his father, former linebacker Jessie Tuggle, starred from 1987 to 2000.
The Falcons’ second-round draft pick, cornerback Jalen Collins from LSU, is subject to the NFL’s substance-abuse program after previously failing multiple drug tests.
Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll put the ball in Russell Wilson’s court as a contract stalemate continues entering the contract year for the fourth-year quarterback.
Wilson can become a free agent at the end of the 2015 season and is expected to bet on himself this season, playing without a long-term deal to take negotiations into February and March 2016.
“It’s ongoing, but going a little slow,” Carroll said Saturday during an interview with ESPN. “We’re waiting to hear from their side.
“We’ve worked very hard to keep this team together and Russell is a huge part of that. He’s going to be with us and we’re excited about moving forward with him.”
Dallas Cowboys defensive lineman Greg Hardy was ripped across social media Friday night after posting a tasteless joke on Twitter referencing the Sept 11 terrorist attacks.
Hardy, who is facing a 10-game suspension by the NFL for his role in a domestic-violence case, later apologized.
Hardy was responding to a fan of his former team in Carolina after the Panthers drafted a 6-foot-5 receiver for the second straight year. The fan made a reference to the receivers as “The Twin Towers”.
Hardy tweeted: “didn’t the twin towers get blowN up lol.”
About five hours after the original tweet, Hardy issued an apology.