Santa who was booed in Philadelphia dies

The fill-in Santa whose downfield jaunt at a Philadelphia Eagles game in 1968 lives in sports history for the hail of snowballs and shower of boos that rained down on him has died. Frank Olivo was 66.

Mr. Olivo died early Thursday. He had heart disease, diabetes and other ailments.

The story of Mr. Olivo’s misfortune has long been mentioned as a symbol of Philly sports fans’ ferocity, but far from minding his moment in sports history, Mr. Olivo “gloried in it,” said his cousin, Richard Monastra.

“It was his 15 minutes of fame,” he said.

The snowy onslaught began with the designated Santa Claus stuck in New Jersey and unable to make it to the final game of the season between the Vikings and an Eagles team that started the year with 11 straight losses.

Mr. Olivo, who was in the stands wearing a Santa suit and fake white beard, was asked to sub. When he ran downfield past a row of elf-costumed “Eaglettes” and the team’s band playing “Here Comes Santa Claus,” thunderous boos came from the crowd of 54,535 and snowballs began raining down. Motor sports: Jeff Gordon won the 80th pole of his career with a blistering lap around Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, where he’s a six-time race winner. The four-time NASCAR champion will start first Sunday, alongside Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey

Kahne.

Joey Logano picked up his third Xfinity Series win of the season by throwing a big block on the final lap at Talladega, holding off Elliott Sadler and Chris Buescher. College baseball: Aaron Knapp’s RBI single with two outs in the ninth inning lifted Cal (28-15, 14-9 Pac-12) to a 5-4 victory over No. 7 Arizona State (29-14, 14-6) at Evans Diamond. ... Alex Dunlap hit a three-run homer but Stanford (19-25, 5-15 Pac-12) lost 4-3 at Oregon (27-19, 9-11). ... Anthony Shew tossed a four-hitter as USF (23-24, 15-8 WCC) picked up a 5-2 win in the second game of a doubleheader with Pepperdine (23-21, 13-7) at Benedetti Diamond. The Waves won the opener 5-4. Soccer: In Europe, Luis Suarez netted his first hat trick for Barcelona to lead its 8-0 rout at last-place Cordoba. Cristiano Ronaldo also scored three to ensure that Real Madrid, a 3-2 winner at Sevilla, stayed two points behind Spanish league leader Barcelona with three rounds left. Hockey: The U.S. made it two wins in two games by edging Norway 2-1 at the world championship in Prague. Track and field: The United States, anchored by San Francisco’s Shannon Rowbury, ran the women’s distance medley relay in 10 minutes, 36.5 seconds to set the world record at the IAAF World Relays meet in Nassau, Bahamas. The legs are 1,200 meters, 400, 800 and 1,600.