PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) – The Philadelphia Sports Fan of the Week is probably one of the sweetest Phillies fans you'll ever meet. Get to know 85-year-old Nancy Doolin, who loves baseball and absolutely adores watching her Phils, no matter where she is.
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"It just makes me so happy," said Doolin, who lived in the Philadelphia region for decades, but moved to Vermont five years ago to be closer to family. Doolin’s daughter, Cindy Moran, explained that Doolin suffers from chronic back pain, and the move was important so Moran and her sisters could help take care of their mom more easily.
Though Doolin lives in Vermont, that doesn't stop her from watching her favorite team. Since Phillies games aren't readily available on television up in New England, she pays extra.
"I get it every year," Doolin said with emphasis. "I don't care what it costs. I have to watch them."
"I like to watch them because it gives me something to do. I'm always here all by myself, alone in my apartment, and it's just so much fun. Especially when they get ahead, and it's tied, and you're wondering who's going to win and it's just so exciting for me!”
Moran elaborated on her mother’s season-long ritual of watching the Phillies from far away. “She sometimes feels isolated and misses Pennsylvania and her old house,” Moran said.
“So the Phillies games help take her back to Philly for a few hours. She isn’t focused on her pain.”
Doolin's fandom began in the 1950s when she was still in school.
In 1950, the Phillies went all the way to the World Series, despite the youth of the team -- thus awarding them the nickname "The Whiz Kids."
Doolin said her teachers would let them listen to the games on the radio for a little bit during the game, and Doolin found that so exciting.
Fast forward to 2022, and Doolin is still a sharp Phils fan – she’s able to list her favorite players on the current roster and talk about one of her fondest players from the 2008 World Championship club – Chase Utley.
"Somebody gave me a blanket with his name on it," Doolin said. "A really nice big blanket. And I told everybody I sleep with Chase Utley."
Moran, who lives in Pennsylvania and nominated her mother for Fan of the Week, couldn't hide her affection throughout KYW Newsradio’s roughly 20-minute zoom chat with Doolin.
Every time Doolin showed her charm, it made Moran smile.
"She tells us all the time – she'll tell us what the scores were and how they played and if they won, and she stays up really late past her bedtime to watch the games and it really does excite her and rejuvenate her," Moran explained.
During our conversation, Doolin and Moran talked about the physical pain Doolin is in – but the perfect medicine to that is, naturally, actually going to the ballpark.
Moran said even though she and her sisters moved their mother to Vermont, they still take her to a game at Citizens Bank Park each summer, and it helps with that pain. Moran spoke to how accommodating the Phillies were in 2021 -- whether it was helping with Doolin's wheelchair or moving them to the shade when the sun was beaming.
"It just takes all my worries away, and all my things I think about, and all my things that hurt me," Doolin said of being at the ballpark.
"It's just a good feeling."
"She told us last summer it was the best day of her life," Moran said.
Doolin loves absorbing the positive energy of other fans, and delights in the Phillie Phanatic’s regularly scheduled tomfoolery. Doolin, of course, has a Phanatic stuffed animal and said she'll never give it away.
"When I die I hope [my daughters] keep it," she said with a laugh.
As far as ballpark food, Doolin loves the classics. Hot dogs and ice cream are always on the menu for her, especially the mutli-scoop staple that comes in miniature Phillies helmet cups.
She also loves cheesesteaks, and has a few words for the people of Vermont on how to make them right.
"Nobody [up here] knows how to make a Philly cheesesteak,” she laughed.
Whether the Phillies win or lose, Doolin has been, and will always be one of their biggest fans. She will support them to the end.
"Go Phillies! Go! … Rooting for ya."
She hopes to make it out the ballpark again this year -- and knowing her determination -- nothing will stop Doolin from cheering on her favorite team this summer.