Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe SANTA CLAUS, Ind., Dec. 21 (UPI) -- The Santa Claus Hall of Fame in Indiana said an Illinois man is to be the first living Santa to be inducted. Phil Wenz, 48, who said he has been dressing as Santa since he was 4 and got his first job as St. Nick when he was teenager, said the hall of fame in Santa Claus, Ind., called him Monday and said he would be among the first 14 inductees, The (Arlington Heights, Ill.) Daily Herald reported Tuesday. Advertisement Wenz, who served as the jolly red elf for more than 20 years at Santa's Village in East Dundee, is the only one of the inductees who is still living. The others include the first department store Santa and several men born in the 1800s. "The 13 other gentlemen have already passed on, so it's an honor," Wenz said. "It still hasn't sunk in yet." "I'm 48 years old, and I've been playing Santa for 44 years. That's kind of bizarre," he said.
