With Ed Snider Way, Snider Family Comforted by Philadelphia's Honor

Ed Snider had an array of cars.
 
Most were expensive European sedans. A few were sports cars.
 
BMWs, Mercedes and Porsche.
 
For all the years the Flyers' late founding father turned right onto 11th Street off Pattison Avenue and then sped to his parking spot, he likely never envisioned that section of road would later bear his name: Ed Snider Way.
 
"My dad often said, ‘It's my way or the highway,'" Craig Snider, one of Ed's sons, said Thursday. "Well Dad, you finally got your way, the Ed Snider Way!"
 
On a scorching hot Thursday afternoon at the corner of 11th and Pattison, the City of Philadelphia officially renamed that portion of 11th Street (south to Terminal Way) as "Ed Snider Way."
 
"I think he would have gotten such a kick out of this," Lindy Snider, Ed's first daughter, said. "This is like a road leading home."
 
The small rectangular red sign is now a permanent fixture on the bottom of the green 11th Street sign on both corners at Pattison Avenue.
 
"He didn't like a lot of accolades, but this is probably the most fitting tribute he could possibility think of," Lindy Snider said. "He would have loved it."
 
Many nights, Ed Snider and his first two children - Lindy and Jay - stayed late with their father while he worked in the bowels of the old Spectrum.
 
"This was our hood," Lindy Snider said. "We spent all of our childhood and adulthood here. To see his name in a permanent way was meaningful because we were trying to figure out what was the best way to honor him that was lasting."
 
The idea of honoring Snider's legacy with a street name was that of City Councilman Kenyatta Johnson, who grew up in Point Breeze, a neighborhood in South Philadelphia.
 
"I've been coming down to this part of South Philadelphia since I was a kid," Johnson said. "Whether playing at FDR Park or coming to the Spectrum … I'm privileged to honor the legend and hometown hero Ed Snider."
 
Representatives from the Snider family, the Flyers, Sixers, Phillies, Eagles, Ed Snider Youth Hockey Foundation and Comcast Spectacor attended the event. Even the legendary Sonny Hill was there.
 
"It was a great play on words and we thought Councilman Johnson may have thought that way," Lindy Snider said. "I don't think it was a mistake that is wasn't road or boulevard. It was intentional."
 
Snider founded the Flyers in 1966 and served as club chairman.
 
The Flyers were his lifetime obsession as he transformed the Philadelphia sports landscape with hockey, the Spectrum, his many enterprises under the Spectacor and later the Comcast umbrella, all culminating with his final achievement, the ESYHF.
 
The name change was the city's idea and strongly endorsed by the Snider Family.
 
Flyers president Paul Holmgren lauded the city's efforts in making it a reality.
 
"Councilman Johnson, on behalf of the Philadelphia Flyers and Comcast Spectacor, I want to thank you for your generosity and especially, for your passion to see this through. It means a lot of us here at the Flyers," Holmgren said.
 
"Ed Snider was many things. He was a leader, a boss, a friend, a father, a grandfather. He meant a great deal to all of us, as evidenced by your presence here today.
 
"This sports complex was his vision. It's comforting to know the city recognized his contribution by dedicating a street in his honor."
 
Holmgren said present and future generations of fans will drive down Ed Snider Way and cherish the memories he left behind.
 
In the months ahead, Comcast Spectacor and the Flyers are expected to unveil a statue of Snider, somewhere outside the Wells Fargo Center.

Copyright CSNPhily
Contact Us