PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — This 16-year-old from Plymouth Meeting isn’t just a loyal, knowledgeable supporter of Philadelphia sports, he embodies the resiliency of the fanbase with his story.
Kevin Flannery became hooked on the Phillies when Bryce Harper signed with the club in 2019. He also noticed his peers were often talking about sports and wanted to join in on the fun.
“I need to actually start to learn about these sports teams and not be sitting here not understanding what pain goes on or what people feel joy about every night or every week,” he said.
And with that mindset, he got to researching, brushing up on knowledge from before he was even a fan.
He grew fond of the passion that comes with being a Philadelphia sports fan, and eventually started developing an interest in talking about the Phillies regularly with his podcast “What Are We Doing?” Phillies postgame show, where Kevin shares his thoughts on the game that just happened or the big sports news of the day.
The 'gift to gab'
Kevin was born with a cluster of life-threatening birth defects and had to undergo many surgeries to repair his organs. He suffered damage to his vocal cord during one of those surgeries and wasn’t able to make noise as a result. For example, he would cry, but you could not hear him.
This gave his mother, Wendy, perspective.
“You’re like, okay, there's no sound but, like, he's alive. Or he might need a tracheotomy, but he's alive. And you know, he might need oxygen, but he's alive,” she said.
Following his third surgery at just three months, Kevin started making noise.
Years later, he can’t stop talking. And not only that, it’s what he wants to do for a living.
“The gift to gab he has,” Kevin's father Marty said about his son with a laugh.
During the pandemic, Wendy gave Kevin a vintage 1990s Walkman Radio so he could have a break from the computer that he used for remote learning. Kevin then became interested in sports radio and grew familiar with 94WIP’s hosts and callers, enhancing his already growing fandom as well as helping him zero in on a future career.
“I wanna become a radio host, a sports talk radio host, or something in radio where I'm talking and voicing my opinion,” he said.
He’s already getting a head start.
Take a listen to Kevin Flannery’s story below: