Latest news with #GaryDeStefano
New York Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
What happens when the pope wears your hat?
It is well known by now that Pope Leo XIV is a fan of the Chicago White Sox; he even attended Game 1 of the 2005 World Series, which the White Sox recently commemorated with a mural at their ballpark. His latest public display of fandom? Wednesday, he was spotted at the Vatican sporting a '47 branded White Sox cap, along with his white papal cassock. Advertisement But what actually happens when the Pope wears your hat? Not too many companies can ever say they've ever had someone of his holiness' stature don their cap. So what exactly does that feel like, and what does it do for a brand?? 'He's the ultimate influencer,' said Patrick Cassidy, Vice President of Marketing at '47, adding later, 'What the Pope is wearing is the exact model that a style-conscious fan can get on ' That's pretty cool.' 'It was surreal,' said Gary DeStefano, the Massachusetts newlywed who went viral for handing the pope his fresh new lid. The White Sox cap that the Pope was wearing was a part of their MVP collection. Just a week prior, His Holiness was also seen wearing a Villanova Wildcats hat that was gifted to him by his alma mater. That cap was from '47's Clean Up collection. 'He's becoming this style icon through fandom with '47,' Cassidy said. 'That's a great signifier of where we are as a brand.' In the last few weeks, Cassidy said that celebs such as Kim Kardashian, Timothee Chalamet and Caitlin Clark have been seen wearing apparel from '47, and the company has seen an influx of people on social media wearing their hats and tagging them daily. While '47 — a Massachusetts-based company acquired last year by New Era — didn't give specifics on how their sales numbers have been impacted by the Pope's recent fashion choices, the company seems optimistic about how it will impact their bottom line going forward. 'There's clear signals in every possible way that more and more people are recognizing the '47 brand,' Cassidy said. As for Gary and Kelly DeStefano, the newlywed couple from Massachusetts who gave the Pope the White Sox hat, they saw the aftereffects of what they did before they could even go to sleep that night. On the final day of their 17-day honeymoon in Rome, the two planned to receive the 'sposi novelli', a blessing for newlyweds given by the Pope himself. They initially got the hat from Kelly's cousin with the intention of wearing it in the crowd to get the Pope's attention, clearly aware of his South Side roots. But once the two realized that all of the recently married couples would get a personal greeting from the Pope, they had another idea for what they'd do with the hat. Advertisement Once the Pope came up to them and gave them a blessing, DeStefano took the hat out from his side and asked: 'would you mind putting this on?' Prior to that, DeStefano had mentioned that the two were from Boston and were fans of the Red Sox. So when the Pope saw the White Sox hat, he laughed and said he would wear it, before offering a caveat: 'but, you're going to get in trouble, not me.' By 9 p.m. in Rome on Wednesday, the couple had gone to sleep after what was one of the most memorable moments of their lives together. Two hours later, the two were awoken by the sound of constant buzzing on their phones. The phone rang again on Thursday, as they were about to hustle through customs after their flight back home. By then, the video of the brief interaction — with the Pope telling his joke while modeling his black Sox cap — had gone viral. 'That to me showed the human side in the man,' DeStefano said in a phone interview. 'He is the most humble man, down to earth and funny.' (Top photo of Pope Leo XIV with Gary and Kelly DeStefano courtesy of Gary DeStefano)
CBS News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Massachusetts newlyweds behind Pope Leo's viral photo with White Sox hat
The moment Pope Leo broke Vatican protocol to put on a White Sox hat has gone viral, and the couple who gave it to him are proud Red Sox fans from Haverhill, Massachusetts. "He was so down to earth that you really can't rationalize who you're standing with," Gary DeStefano recalled, of the surreal moment he experienced just more than 24 hours ago. Kelly and Gary DeStefano still feel on a cloud - after this one in a lifetime experience, the grandest of finales to their picture-perfect honeymoon. The Haverhill newlyweds, baseball-loving Boston fans, traded their team for a pretty fantastic photo op - with the most famous White Sox fan of all time: Pope Leo. Newlyweds meet Pope Leo "This is exactly the way he left it," Kelly explained, of the hat adjustment. "And he proudly puts it on, and he jokes with us 'you're going to get in trouble, but I'm not!' Because we're Red Sox fans!" she exclaimed. Pope Leo XIV (C) reacts wearing a Chicago White Sox baseball team cap as he meets newly wedded couples during the weekly general audience in St Peter's Square at the Vatican on June 11, 2025. FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP via Getty Images Kelly and Gary had always hoped their honeymoon might include a glimpse of the pope. When Pope Francis passed away about a month before their wedding they were crushed, they couldn't have dreamed the literal blessing still to come. "Then it was the first American pope and then it was a mission. My cousin Paul Breen came to our wedding and said 'you don't know how hard it was to find these White Sox hats. They don't sell them in Massachusetts!' If we would be in the large crowd he said, 'put them on, maybe the pope would see you.' We were lucky enough to get tickets and seating for the sposi novelli and personally got to meet the pope," Kelly said. Home safe, with hearts full, the husband and wife say their new prized possession is going straight into a case to be passed on to their grandchildren. The highlight of their honeymoon, a memory they'll treasure always, and a beautiful beginning to their blessed marriage. "If one thing brings the country together it's sports. Whether we're Red Sox fans, he's a Chicago fan, by showing him that hat. He laughed. He has a difficult job. If you bring laughter into somebody's life that little bit even in his position, what more could you ask for? We're very grateful," said Gary.
