PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Frank Leonetti has a condition that limits his vision and requires him to use a wheelchair, but none of that stops the 56-year-old from Center City from being a standout Philadelphia sports fan.
“There’s been so many ups and downs [for these teams] that you gotta be a special kind of person to be a Philly sports fan,” Frank said. “We take a lot of beating, I guess.”
Frank's not only a special kind of person, he’s resilient and inspirational. He knows his stuff. He is always following his teams and proved that to be true when he had an afternoon Phillies game on while being interviewed for this story.
His wife, Jamie Ray-Leonetti says, “This shows that sports fans come in all shapes, sizes, all different kinds of people.”
Frank has had multiple sclerosis for over 25 years. He was diagnosed in 1997 but was experiencing symptoms before that. Philadelphia sports help him cope with his disability. The KYW listener who nominated Frank for KYW Newsradio’s Philadelphia Sports Fan of the Week feature told us he is one of the bravest people she knows.
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“Sports is a very good hobby,” Frank explained, “especially if you have limited mobility or mentals. Whatever it is, I think it’s good to have that as a hobby because you can get behind a team, or whatever your favorite sport is and just enjoy.”
Frank has been behind Philadelphia teams for almost half a century. His favorite players of all time include Seth Joyner, Julius Erving, Dave Schultz and Mike Schmidt — or “Michael Jack,” as Leonetti so appropriately put it. Today, he’s taken a liking to Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm.
One of his favorite Philadelphia sports stories is as a younger man, working as a meter reader for PGW, and getting to meet the late, iconic Philadelphia boxer Smokin’ Joe Frazier because he had a job to take care of at Frazier’s famed North Philadelphia gym.
Other fond memories include taking photos with legendary Eagles quarterbacks Donovan McNabb and Randall Cunningham at the 2017 NFL Draft.
And in addition to all that, he has shared his fandom with his loving wife Jamie.
“I think I’m a Philadelphia sports fan because of Frank,” she says.
They have an excellent rapport with one another.
“She is the love of my life,” Frank said. “We have a lot of good times together.”
Frank and Jamie have been together for about 20 years and married for 15. They met online through a website for people with disabilities. Jamie was born with cerebral palsy, affecting her walking and balance. She’s an attorney who works at Temple University’s Institute on Disabilities as their associate director of policy. She has spent her career advocating for people with disabilities.
When they got married, Jamie surprised her husband with a gift of getting a behind-the-scenes tour of Citizens Bank Park, something Frank called the time of his life. Today, Jamie — while always learning more about the game of baseball from her husband — sometimes helps Frank follow the games by keeping him up to date on the number of outs in an inning and who is on base.
They’re a team, just like the squads they follow.
“I would give props to our Philadelphia sports teams,” says Jamie, “because we have accessible stadiums, we have the ability for people to get accessible seating, we have the ability for people to take their personal assistants to Philadelphia baseball and football games without having to pay extra for those assistants that we need. It shows the importance of community inclusion because when you go to a sporting event, people with disabilities and people without disabilities are all together, cheering for the same team and we all have sort of a common bond there in the sporting event.”
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And Frank is cheering no matter what.
“Frank is not a fair weather fan,” Jamie said. “He is a fan of the Phillies and the Eagles and the Sixers and the Flyers if they’re doing great, or if they’re doing horrible. It just doesn’t matter. He might get mad at that if they’re doing horrible, but he still loves them.”
“Thank you, Jamie,” Frank responded. “Like they say — win, lose or die, I’m a Philly fan ‘til I die.’”
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