smith's death in 1986, the flyers installed a statue of her outside their arena. the team initially covered it, then unceremoniously removed it. >> they took a statue? >> we didn't know. >> susieo kate smith, didn't know they removed it in philadelphia. she said her aunt wasn't racist and the flyers could have considered the enormity of her life. >> what katherine gave to that team freely. freely. she was so proud that she was their mascot. >> reporter: in their statement, the flyers said, we cannot stand idle while material from another era gets in the way of who we are today. in 1982, smith, a star of the early 20th century, was awarded the medal of freedom by president reagan. her 1939 rendition of "god bless america" during yankees games was also ended, the team saying in a statement, the yankees take social, racial and cultural ins sensitivities very seriously, and while no final conclusions have been made, we are erring on the side of sensitivity. now, here in philadelphia, some fans were upset at how abruptly the statue was reremoved. the song itself was considered sort of a good luck charm for the flyers, but most people seemed to fall on the side of, let's start some