Latest / WCHS Network Podcasts / Remembering Frank Giardina, with Guests Mark Martin and Dana Ferrell

Transcript

Remembering Frank Giardina, with Guests Mark Martin and Dana Ferrell · WCHS Network Podcasts

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Let's Talk with Carl Lee.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Let's Talk is proudly presented by attorney Frank Walker. Real talk,
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: real experience, real results. FrankWalkerLaw.com. Let the conversation begin on
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Let's Talk.
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: Hello, ladies and gentlemen.
• 0:38
  Speaker 4: This is Carl Lee with Let's Talk.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: And I have in the building with me Hollis Lewis. Hello.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: And Lisa Odie.
• 0:46
  Speaker 5: Hello, hello.
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: My co-host.
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: And we also have another person from the actual, from
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: the station who's been been here forever and great at
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: everything that he does. Mark Martin is going to join
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: us as well. And so, guys, this is probably one
• 1:08
  Speaker 4: of the.
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: I'm going to say this is going to probably go
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: down as one of the most disheartening, hurtful show to
• 1:20
  Speaker 4: actually talk about. And I'll even open it by saying.
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: Frank Gardenia is probably the person who got me behind
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: a mic for the first time ever. And here I
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: am still here. And it's all because of him. And
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: if anybody doesn't know already.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: Frank passed and.
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: And we're going to tribute this show all about him.
• 1:57
  Speaker 4: And hopefully we can all kind of hold it together.
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: Because this is, to me, a really, really, really tough one.
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: Lisa Hollis.
• 2:08
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I just want to throw in there, you know,
• 2:10
  Speaker 6: it's a very sad day for broadcasting in general. I
• 2:15
  Speaker 6: feel like, you know, he was a true pioneer in
• 2:20
  Speaker 6: the whole franchise. field of sports broadcasting. You know, he
• 2:25
  Speaker 6: was the legendary radio voice of the Marshall Thundering Heard
• 2:28
  Speaker 6: for a period of time.
• 2:30
  Speaker 7: He was a premier sports writer. an athletic administrator.
• 2:34
  Speaker 6: He dedicated his life to college sports. You know, he
• 2:37
  Speaker 6: was kind of known as the, you know, for his
• 2:40
  Speaker 6: elephant-like memory when it come to sports and sports trivia.
• 2:44
  Speaker 6: You know, he had deep personal faith. And, you know,
• 2:47
  Speaker 6: he's just going to be truly missed. And that's kind
• 2:49
  Speaker 6: of why we asked Mark Martin, you know, one of
• 2:51
  Speaker 6: our longtime sports directors at WCHS-TV in a recent, he's
• 2:56
  Speaker 6: also a recent West Virginia Broadcaster of the Year and
• 2:58
  Speaker 6: a four-decade journalism veteran to come in and kind of
• 3:02
  Speaker 6: share his memories of Frank with us.
• 3:04
  Speaker 7: So, Mark, are you there?
• 3:05
  Speaker 8: I'm here.
• 3:07
  Speaker 6: So maybe you could tell us a little bit about
• 3:10
  Speaker 6: your memories with Frank.
• 3:14
  Speaker 9: Well, I graduated from college in 1983, Marietta College, and
• 3:18
  Speaker 9: I was at the North-South All-Star football game that summer
• 3:22
  Speaker 9: in July of 83, and Frank was in the broadcast
• 3:26
  Speaker 9: booth in the press box getting ready to do the
• 3:29
  Speaker 9: North-South game on the radio, and I just introduced myself.
• 3:33
  Speaker 9: And I knew of him. I watched him on TV,
• 3:35
  Speaker 9: listened to him do herd games, and so had followed
• 3:39
  Speaker 9: him for a few years. And so it was a
• 3:40
  Speaker 9: big thrill just to meet him, number one. And I
• 3:43
  Speaker 9: remember him vividly saying, you know, hey, if you need
• 3:47
  Speaker 9: any help, let me know. And so, lo and behold,
• 3:51
  Speaker 9: later that year, probably a couple months later, I got
• 3:54
  Speaker 9: hired in radio down in Huntington. So that was my
• 3:57
  Speaker 9: first full-time job. out of college, and the station that
• 4:01
  Speaker 9: I was working for was the old WG & T, WAMX,
• 4:05
  Speaker 9: and they carried the Marshall Network. They were the flagship station,
• 4:09
  Speaker 9: and so the color analyst for Frank for football and
• 4:13
  Speaker 9: basketball was Stan Howe, who now runs in the Kanawha
• 4:16
  Speaker 9: County Library, just a great guy, and so I was
• 4:19
  Speaker 9: working with Stan at the radio stations, and Stan said, hey,
• 4:23
  Speaker 9: you know, why don't you come and keep stats for
• 4:26
  Speaker 9: us in basketball? That was Rick Huckabee's first season as
• 4:29
  Speaker 9: Marshall's basketball coach. So that's what I did. It was
• 4:32
  Speaker 9: a big thrill for a young 22-year-old guy from Ripley,
• 4:36
  Speaker 9: West Virginia, to get that opportunity. And that's how my
• 4:40
  Speaker 9: relationship with Frank started, and that was a great friendship
• 4:44
  Speaker 9: from that time on. And, in fact, Frank got into
• 4:48
  Speaker 9: college administration college He had a variety of places and
• 4:52
  Speaker 9: then came back to West Virginia, and he was at
• 4:54
  Speaker 9: Marshall for one year. And he called me and said, hey,
• 4:58
  Speaker 9: I want you to get back involved with Marshall Sports
• 5:01
  Speaker 9: down here. Start doing sidelines for football. And I did that,
• 5:07
  Speaker 9: and it's led to almost 20 years now being with
• 5:10
  Speaker 9: Marshall in some capacity, radio and television. And so, you know, Frank,
• 5:15
  Speaker 9: a lot of people have meant a lot to me
• 5:17
  Speaker 9: in my career and and when I start trying to
• 5:20
  Speaker 9: say who's at the top, that's hard to do, but
• 5:22
  Speaker 9: Frank Ardige would be crowding his way into that top spot,
• 5:26
  Speaker 9: no doubt about it. Just a wonderful person, and I
• 5:29
  Speaker 9: just learned so much from him, just how to conduct myself,
• 5:33
  Speaker 9: how to handle interviews, how to call a game, you
• 5:37
  Speaker 9: name it, and just have that great appreciation not only
• 5:41
  Speaker 9: for Marshall, but just for the great state of West
• 5:44
  Speaker 9: Virginia in general.
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Hollis, did you cross paths with Frank at all? Unfortunately,
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: I didn't.
• 5:56
  Speaker 10: But I think that it's sort of like, I won't
• 5:58
  Speaker 10: say a fraternity, but I think that once you enter
• 6:01
  Speaker 10: this side of the business, particularly being a player, I think,
• 6:05
  Speaker 10: number one, you realize how difficult it is.
• 6:07
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: It's not easy. It is not easy.
• 6:10
  Speaker 10: You guys make it, you know, the pros, you make
• 6:13
  Speaker 10: it easy as far as doing the, you know, the play-by-play,
• 6:16
  Speaker 10: the color commentating, and even, you know, kind of even
• 6:18
  Speaker 10: doing this to a degree. And it's just, you know,
• 6:22
  Speaker 10: it's one of those things in which it's just kind
• 6:25
  Speaker 10: of funny like how, you know, starting on that side
• 6:28
  Speaker 10: can lead you to so many different things. You know,
• 6:30
  Speaker 10: I was reading his bios. He did, you know, some
• 6:32
  Speaker 10: executive producing. Like you said, he got into you know,
• 6:36
  Speaker 10: higher learning administration and different things of that nature. And
• 6:39
  Speaker 10: also kind of the last point is that it's those
• 6:42
  Speaker 10: voices become synonymous with those teams and those organizations in
• 6:47
  Speaker 10: those years, win or lose, particularly, you know, if you're
• 6:50
  Speaker 10: listening to a radio broadcast and doing a television and
• 6:52
  Speaker 10: different things of that nature.
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: And, and I, and, and again, and I know it's
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: always hard to say like who was, you know, one
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: of the best or all of those kinds of things, but,
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: So I won't even use best. What I will use
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: is I felt like he was so likable that when
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: you heard his voice at a game, it was like, oh,
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: that's the perfect voice for the game. It's going to
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: be okay. The game's going to be okay. I can
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: listen to this. It just seemed like he had all
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: of that, but he was the nicest person ever. And,
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: you know, the crazy thing about it, like I don't
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: and we used to talk all the time and I
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: used to see him, but never did he ever talk
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: about a game that he called or something that he
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: did good. It was just like he was just the
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: most genuine person. that I think I may have known.
• 7:56
  Speaker 4: And then when you start talking about in the sports world.
• 7:59
  Speaker 7: He was so humble.
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: He was.
• 8:01
  Speaker 7: That's the perfect word for Frank.
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: How did he get you into doing a broadcast?
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: He contacted me and asked if I would be willing
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: to get out or to come here, do this.
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: Kind of stuff. And I was like, well, okay. And
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: he walked me into.
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: Being able to do it. You know what I'm saying?
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: Like he, it would be, he didn't, I don't think
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: he would have wanted to have tried to quote, quote,
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: teach me. But what he did was he just brought
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: me into it in a such an easy way to
• 8:42
  Speaker 4: be able to respond to him and create a conversation
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: that was worthy of somebody wanting to listen to. And
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: it wasn't because what I was answering, but it was
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: the way he could bring you into the conversation and
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: make you feel comfortable.
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: Did he, were you guys like on the, like a
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: radio broadcast? We were here. We were, we were here. Yeah. We, we,
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: we started here. Okay. Okay. I like the color commentator
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: for some of the Marshall games.
• 9:05
  Speaker 9: Yeah.
• 9:05
  Speaker 7: We, we, wasn't it the drive you guys were on here?
• 9:09
  Speaker 11: Yes.
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: We, we started that and, and I had no, I
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: was as far away from thinking about doing something like that. And, and, and,
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: And the fact that he was so good, it made
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: it so easy for me.
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying? And that's because, you know,
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: you don't know.
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: Like sometimes when you get you just somebody just gives
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: you the mic and you're getting ready to try to
• 9:33
  Speaker 4: have a conversation. He made it so, so easy to
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: just to talk about it. And then when I when
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: you finish, you feel like, well, that was easy, you know,
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: and it was easy because he made it that way.
• 9:49
  Speaker 6: Yeah, he would always say, I'll never leave you hanging,
• 9:51
  Speaker 6: Lisa O. That was his famous thing he said to me.
• 9:54
  Speaker 6: I'm going to bring Mark back into the conversation. Mark,
• 9:56
  Speaker 6: so you were referencing the Marshall history and you have.
• 10:00
  Speaker 6: with the school, and so did Frank. But in 1977,
• 10:04
  Speaker 6: Frank became the play-by-play voice of the Thundering Herd until 1986.
• 10:08
  Speaker 6: And he had that unique responsibility as a hometown alum
• 10:13
  Speaker 6: broadcasting to a community that had been through so much
• 10:16
  Speaker 6: including the plane crash. Do you think that Frank set
• 10:19
  Speaker 6: the standard for what the voice of the herd truly
• 10:22
  Speaker 6: means because he could handle that adversity at that time?
• 10:27
  Speaker 9: Well, he definitely is up there. There's no question about it.
• 10:31
  Speaker 9: I mean, they've had some big timers just down through
• 10:35
  Speaker 9: the years, dating back to the very beginning. In fact,
• 10:38
  Speaker 9: I was talking to Steve Cotton, the present voice of
• 10:41
  Speaker 9: the herd, who other than You know, Steve's been there
• 10:44
  Speaker 9: the longest, and Frank has been there the second, had
• 10:48
  Speaker 9: the second longest stint. And the first guy ever, later,
• 10:53
  Speaker 9: he was the voice of the herd, and then became
• 10:55
  Speaker 9: the voice of the pirates. They've had some great ones. But, yeah,
• 11:00
  Speaker 9: definitely Frank, you know, he just brought a passion to Marshall.
• 11:04
  Speaker 9: You know, he went there, and certainly that was neat. And,
• 11:07
  Speaker 9: you know, he was very young when he got the
• 11:09
  Speaker 9: chance to, you know, start calling games. And in fact,
• 11:13
  Speaker 9: you know, kind of crazy, but I was doing the
• 11:15
  Speaker 9: math there, Carl. So obviously he did your entire career,
• 11:19
  Speaker 9: you know, as the play-by-play voice of the herd. So,
• 11:22
  Speaker 9: you know, seasons of 79, 80, 81, and 82. And
• 11:26
  Speaker 9: he's calling your games. And so that's pretty cool. And
• 11:31
  Speaker 9: then to leave Marshall, which I know was a very
• 11:34
  Speaker 9: difficult decision for him, And then he goes to East Carolina.
• 11:38
  Speaker 9: And obviously East Carolina, you know, is where the final
• 11:42
  Speaker 9: game for that 1970 team was played. So there's just
• 11:46
  Speaker 9: a lot of, you know, neat aspects of Frank's career. But,
• 11:51
  Speaker 9: I mean, just a guy that worked diligently at it.
• 11:54
  Speaker 9: And I remember when I first met him, you know,
• 11:57
  Speaker 9: he was not only the voice of the herd, but
• 12:00
  Speaker 9: he was also a sportscaster for WSAZ. So I remember
• 12:04
  Speaker 9: he would be there and the game would end, the
• 12:06
  Speaker 9: basketball game would end, and he'd look at Stan Howe
• 12:08
  Speaker 9: and he goes, hey, man, I got a bolt. I
• 12:10
  Speaker 9: got to be on the air and be on TV,
• 12:14
  Speaker 9: you know, for the 11 o'clock news. And I'm thinking
• 12:16
  Speaker 9: to myself at that time, I said, man, I want
• 12:19
  Speaker 9: to be, that's what I want to do. I want
• 12:21
  Speaker 9: to be that guy that's got to rush from one
• 12:24
  Speaker 9: thing to the next. And I found out what that's
• 12:27
  Speaker 9: all about.
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: So you found out.
• 12:30
  Speaker 9: It can be kind of crazy at times, but yeah.
• 12:34
  Speaker 9: He definitely set a standard. There's no question about it
• 12:37
  Speaker 9: in terms of just what he meant to not only
• 12:41
  Speaker 9: Marshall Athletics, but to the university and the city of Huntington.
• 12:46
  Speaker 9: He's just a proud West Virginian. He grew up in
• 12:49
  Speaker 9: the Cole area down in McDowell County and then obviously
• 12:52
  Speaker 9: came later on to Kanawha County and went to DuPont
• 12:55
  Speaker 9: High School. You talk about a guy that had a
• 13:00
  Speaker 9: plethora of knowledge about the state of West Virginia when
• 13:03
  Speaker 9: it came to sports. You know, it wasn't just about Marshall.
• 13:06
  Speaker 9: I mean, that guy knew something about every single thing
• 13:10
  Speaker 9: that has ever happened in this state from a sports standpoint.
• 13:14
  Speaker 10: And I think oftentimes, like, you know, when we talk
• 13:17
  Speaker 10: about sports, I know at least growing up in our areas,
• 13:20
  Speaker 10: like if you grew up in the 80s and 90s
• 13:22
  Speaker 10: and maybe beyond that where you're actually listening to games
• 13:25
  Speaker 10: on the radio or if you only have a limited
• 13:27
  Speaker 10: number of channels, those voices of those sports franchise become
• 13:31
  Speaker 10: vital and they become a part of your childhood, right?
• 13:34
  Speaker 10: Like I know for me, like growing up, listening to
• 13:36
  Speaker 10: John Madden every, you know, on Sundays and different things
• 13:40
  Speaker 10: of that nature. And they just become such a vital
• 13:42
  Speaker 10: part of like sort of that, that sports experience, you know?
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: And can, can, can we say that maybe he was
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: that voice? Here in West Virginia, at the peak of,
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: I'd say the peak of the sports, I really feel like,
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: and maybe it was just because I was able to,
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: when I got back here especially, and I was around
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: him a lot, and it felt like he was the guy.
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: You know, he was the... Maybe the most notable guy
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: or at least was he or let me just ask
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: this question. Was he the most notable guy? Just was
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: it just to.
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: Me or was it the other people that felt like
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: this is the guy you want to hear?
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: This is the guy you want to listen to.
• 14:31
  Speaker 6: I mean, I think that he he was he was
• 14:35
  Speaker 6: the guy. I mean, you know, you think about all
• 14:38
  Speaker 6: the awards that Frank accumulated, you know, over the years
• 14:41
  Speaker 6: throughout his career.
• 14:42
  Speaker 7: You know, he had nearly every major honor in his field.
• 14:46
  Speaker 6: You think about, you know, he was sportscaster of the
• 14:48
  Speaker 6: year in West Virginia at one time. He was inducted
• 14:52
  Speaker 6: into the West Virginia Broadcasting Hall of Fame. He also
• 14:55
  Speaker 6: won the the I think it was the one of
• 14:59
  Speaker 6: the Gene Morehouse Award.
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 15:01
  Speaker 6: And so, you know, you think about that, that that's a.
• 15:05
  Speaker 6: a lot of high honors.
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: The top.
• 15:08
  Speaker 6: The top in the state of West Virginia. So in
• 15:12
  Speaker 6: order for you to earn that many, you know, different
• 15:15
  Speaker 6: awards at a high level, you, you must be doing
• 15:18
  Speaker 6: something right.
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: And I think, I think when, when, as days pass,
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: I think that, um, the recognition should, in the state
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: of West Virginia of how.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: I think should be at its best.
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: I think when you start talking about someone who was
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: involved in sports, somebody who was the epitome of West
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: Virginia sports journalism, I think something has to be done. Like,
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: I don't think this is something that you can just
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: let sit and just pass through.
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: I think....
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: That name, Frank Gardenia, should not be something that will pass.
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: It needs to be somewhere. It needs to be on something.
• 16:13
  Speaker 4: I just feel like it's too important. He was too
• 16:18
  Speaker 4: important to the success of sports in West Virginia not
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: to be recognized permanently here some kind of way.
• 16:30
  Speaker 6: Yeah, and Mark, you actually did, I think, a story
• 16:33
  Speaker 6: just recently on Frank.
• 16:35
  Speaker 7: Has that released yet?
• 16:37
  Speaker 9: Well, we did a small piece just as he had
• 16:40
  Speaker 9: passed away, but a bigger, nicer, more fun, long-form piece
• 16:46
  Speaker 9: will be coming out later this week. In fact, I
• 16:49
  Speaker 9: just tried to interview Steve Cotton today about Frank because
• 16:55
  Speaker 9: Steve got a chance to work with Frank in the
• 16:58
  Speaker 9: one year that Frank had returned to Marshall. You know,
• 17:01
  Speaker 9: it's kind of neat because Frank was at Marshall for
• 17:04
  Speaker 9: all those years as the boys he left. He went
• 17:06
  Speaker 9: to East Carolina, and then he was at Penn State. And,
• 17:10
  Speaker 9: you know, he was there and did a lot of
• 17:12
  Speaker 9: different things phases of the broadcasting department for the university.
• 17:18
  Speaker 9: And obviously, you know, it was there during the, you know,
• 17:21
  Speaker 9: the Joe Paterno heyday or part of that heyday. And
• 17:24
  Speaker 9: then Frank decided to return to West Virginia and Frank,
• 17:29
  Speaker 9: you know, the thing about Frank, we talk about his
• 17:32
  Speaker 9: knowledge of sports and how great he was as a,
• 17:34
  Speaker 9: as a writer, as a television broadcaster, as a radio broadcaster,
• 17:37
  Speaker 9: you know, Frank was just such a great man of
• 17:40
  Speaker 9: faith and he returned to West Virginia and, to be
• 17:44
  Speaker 9: a part of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and then
• 17:46
  Speaker 9: along the way, you know, continue to be a part
• 17:49
  Speaker 9: of the broadcasting and writing of phases of the business
• 17:53
  Speaker 9: as much as he could, and then Mike Hamrick wanted
• 17:56
  Speaker 9: him to come to Marshall, and he spent a year
• 17:59
  Speaker 9: down there, and I had the pleasure that year of
• 18:01
  Speaker 9: doing Marshall games. I was the sideline reporter, so in
• 18:04
  Speaker 9: the booth you had Steve Cotton, you know, a Hall
• 18:06
  Speaker 9: of Fame broadcaster, Frank, a Hall of Fame broadcaster, and
• 18:10
  Speaker 9: they also were using Troy Brown, the great Marshall wide receiver,
• 18:14
  Speaker 9: in the booth that year as well, so it was
• 18:16
  Speaker 9: just great to be a part of that with those guys.
• 18:18
  Speaker 9: You know, Frank went back into you know, broadcasting. And
• 18:22
  Speaker 9: so it was kind of neat to see Frank kind
• 18:25
  Speaker 9: of go full circle and return to the state in
• 18:28
  Speaker 9: which he loved, you know, so very much.
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: Do you think, well, I'm not even going to ask
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: it that way. When we look back at and say
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: the name Frank Gardenia, There's some of us that know
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: him in one specific, I'll say genre, but he was
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: so big and did so many different things here.
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: That it's almost as though everybody.
• 19:07
  Speaker 4: Got a piece of something, but they don't have the
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: big picture of all the things that he did for
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: sports over his time frame.
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: Would that be safe to say?
• 19:20
  Speaker 9: Well, obviously, you know, younger generation, you're going to say, boy,
• 19:23
  Speaker 9: you guys missed out. Yeah, yeah. You know, you missed out.
• 19:28
  Speaker 9: I think that's true with any of us, you know,
• 19:31
  Speaker 9: depending on when we grew up and those kinds of things.
• 19:34
  Speaker 9: But I hope that a lot of young people, even today,
• 19:38
  Speaker 9: know who he is and got a chance to meet
• 19:41
  Speaker 9: him in some shape or form. And, you know, the
• 19:45
  Speaker 9: neat thing, too, you know, Frank had five children.
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 19:49
  Speaker 9: And two of those, you know, very much involved in athletics,
• 19:53
  Speaker 9: his son's a head coach of a college football program
• 19:56
  Speaker 9: down in charleston and then you have his daughter is
• 20:00
  Speaker 9: working at wvu in the athletic department so they didn't
• 20:05
  Speaker 9: stray too far from uh part of their childhood of
• 20:08
  Speaker 9: growing up and being around sports and of course his
• 20:10
  Speaker 9: sister denise uh just a marvelous writer and the author
• 20:15
  Speaker 9: of books and so just a very talented talented family
• 20:19
  Speaker 9: and I know Frank, again, we talked about how humble
• 20:22
  Speaker 9: he was. He was so proud of his sister, so
• 20:26
  Speaker 9: proud of his children, and then just really proud of
• 20:30
  Speaker 9: people that he had the chance to work with, maybe
• 20:33
  Speaker 9: help mold, and then also teach broadcasting, teach how to
• 20:37
  Speaker 9: be a better writer, all those things. And then truly,
• 20:41
  Speaker 9: as we said earlier, you get into the FCA work
• 20:43
  Speaker 9: and just really try to have a, how to be
• 20:45
  Speaker 9: the best possible person you could be in, in a
• 20:49
  Speaker 9: person of faith.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: Oh, that's.
• 20:55
  Speaker 4: Again, I don't know if, if there was any, if
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: there's anything that we've left out, it would be, it
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: would only be something that was even greater than.
• 21:08
  Speaker 9: It's hard to squeeze in a lot about Frank Gardenia.
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: It really, really is.
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: And again, I'll say for the folks who may not
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: have gotten a chance to actually really know who he
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: was and what he was and his impact on people,
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: sports media as a whole in West Virginia, I'm sorry
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: that you missed it. I'm really sorry that you missed
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: it because you really missed somebody really, really great, a
• 21:37
  Speaker 4: really great person.
• 21:39
  Speaker 9: Well, I think it's always, you know, they say, don't
• 21:42
  Speaker 9: ever pass up the chance to meet somebody. And boy,
• 21:46
  Speaker 9: am I glad that I did not pass up the
• 21:49
  Speaker 9: chance to meet Frank Gardenia that day. You know, I'm
• 21:52
  Speaker 9: going to the North South All-Star football game to cover it.
• 21:57
  Speaker 9: I was working for a my hometown newspaper just, again,
• 22:01
  Speaker 9: had just gotten out of college and had been doing
• 22:03
  Speaker 9: that throughout my college years. And I was just ready
• 22:06
  Speaker 9: to see what else was out there and boy, to
• 22:09
  Speaker 9: meet a guy like that and down the road, maintain
• 22:13
  Speaker 9: a friendship from 1983, right up until his passing, you know, boy,
• 22:18
  Speaker 9: that's a, that's special. And, you know, sometimes it's, and
• 22:21
  Speaker 9: it's so much more than just about your career. It's about,
• 22:25
  Speaker 9: I've told people this, and I'm sure all of you
• 22:28
  Speaker 9: will agree that, whether you're a school teacher or a
• 22:30
  Speaker 9: professional football player, whatever you might be a part of,
• 22:35
  Speaker 9: it's those relationships that you make along the way that really,
• 22:40
  Speaker 9: really makes it special that you're grateful that you chose,
• 22:45
  Speaker 9: in my case, to be a broadcaster or a writer,
• 22:48
  Speaker 9: but just all the wonderful people I met. And again,
• 22:50
  Speaker 9: as I said earlier, Frank Ardine is right up there
• 22:53
  Speaker 9: near the top.
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and again, as we close out and we're getting
• 22:58
  Speaker 4: ready to have to take a break, I just think
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: that he was really truly one of the greatest, and
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: I'm just so happy that I actually had a personal
• 23:08
  Speaker 4: relationship with him and got to know him really, really well.
• 23:13
  Speaker 9: I think if you look up the word special in
• 23:17
  Speaker 9: the dictionary, you're going to see a picture.
• 23:19
  Speaker 4: Of Frank Gardenia. That's a fact. Mark, we appreciate your time, man.
• 23:24
  Speaker 9: Hey, guys, appreciate you having me. All right.
• 23:26
  Speaker 7: Thank you, Mark.
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: All right, ladies and gentlemen, we're going to take a
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: quick break and we will be right back.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: Let's Talk with Carl Lee is presented by attorney Frank Walker.
• 23:34
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• 23:40
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• 23:44
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• 23:46
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• 23:48
  Speaker 11: Let's face it, bad things happen to good people. Seriously
• 23:51
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• 23:57
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• 24:01
  Speaker 11: call Attorney Frank Walker at 304-413-0179.
• 24:02
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• 24:03
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• 24:05
  Speaker 4: 304-413-0179.
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: Or visit online at attorneyfrankwalker.com.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Let's.
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: Talk with Carl Lee.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: Let's Talk is proudly presented by attorney Frank Walker. Real talk,
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: real experience, real results. FrankWalkerLaw.com. Let the conversation begin on
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: Let's Talk.
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: All right, ladies and gentlemen, and we have another guest, again,
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: in the sports media field with all kinds of, in
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: every aspect, I'd say, Dana Farrow. Dana, how you doing, man?
• 25:16
  Speaker 8: I'm doing pretty good.
• 25:17
  Speaker 4: That's good. That's good. We're glad to have you. Tough
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: day today.
• 25:26
  Speaker 3: Yes, it is.
• 25:30
  Speaker 4: Tell us a little bit about how you feel today
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: in losing one of probably, I would make the case,
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: one of the best sports individuals that I've known.
• 25:43
  Speaker 8: Yeah, you look at it, this is a loft that's irreplaceable.
• 25:49
  Speaker 8: There'll be others come along and do their own thing,
• 25:53
  Speaker 8: but there'll never be another Frank Gardenia.
• 25:55
  Speaker 4: And what's amazing to me, when I think of him,
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: the first thing that comes to my mind is the friendship.
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: It wasn't necessarily his friendship. him interviewing you or what
• 26:13
  Speaker 4: the story said. I just, when I'm thinking about him,
• 26:17
  Speaker 4: I see him now and had seen him for a
• 26:20
  Speaker 4: while as like just this really good person who was
• 26:25
  Speaker 4: so knowledgeable about sports, but I didn't, you know, it was,
• 26:29
  Speaker 4: it was just, it was just a relationship that made
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: me care for him so much. And that's going to
• 26:37
  Speaker 4: be the thing that I think I will miss most.
• 26:40
  Speaker 8: Yeah, and I think of all the things that he
• 26:43
  Speaker 8: brought together that made him who he was and separated him,
• 26:47
  Speaker 8: I think, from the pack of good broadcasters, a lot
• 26:51
  Speaker 8: of good ones out there. But just what Senator Frank was,
• 26:53
  Speaker 8: number one, he wasn't a former athlete like a lot
• 26:56
  Speaker 8: of people that go into the business, and you know that.
• 27:00
  Speaker 8: But as you say, he was an avid student of
• 27:04
  Speaker 8: the game or whatever the sport.
• 27:06
  Speaker 11: Yes, yes.
• 27:07
  Speaker 8: And then I think another perspective he brought was he
• 27:11
  Speaker 8: had been outside of West Virginia. So he was able
• 27:15
  Speaker 8: to look at sports that they were inside the borders
• 27:19
  Speaker 8: of West Virginia from a different perspective than just being
• 27:23
  Speaker 8: a homer. And so I thought he brought that to
• 27:27
  Speaker 8: the table.
• 27:27
  Speaker 9: And then.
• 27:30
  Speaker 8: He, as we said, very professional player. I was always
• 27:33
  Speaker 8: impressed when we were doing our shows because, you know,
• 27:36
  Speaker 8: when you're out in the field, I always likened it
• 27:38
  Speaker 8: to shooting moon rockets because you're taking technology and putting
• 27:41
  Speaker 8: it in a hostile environment and pushing it to its limits.
• 27:46
  Speaker 8: And so, inevitably, things could go wrong. And, you know,
• 27:50
  Speaker 8: we'd have a, you know, as you set your schedule,
• 27:52
  Speaker 8: what you want to do and who you want to
• 27:53
  Speaker 8: talk to, but maybe somebody doesn't show up or somebody
• 27:56
  Speaker 8: does on the fly, and Frank would just roll with it.
• 27:59
  Speaker 8: He would.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: He would.
• 28:01
  Speaker 8: He was the best at it. But the one I
• 28:04
  Speaker 8: think just relaxed, I think separating him from the pack
• 28:09
  Speaker 8: immensely was his wit. You could not outwit him, no
• 28:17
  Speaker 8: matter what the topic was. And the other thing is
• 28:20
  Speaker 8: he could roll with it. You know, you guys, and
• 28:22
  Speaker 8: I'm telling you, you guys could get on him pretty
• 28:24
  Speaker 8: heavy on set. And he would just roll with it.
• 28:31
  Speaker 4: He was such a likable person in general.
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: And then I'll even say, like, his writing.
• 28:43
  Speaker 4: Kind of almost reflected who he was and how he was,
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: if that makes sense.
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: Like, you could say, oh.
• 28:51
  Speaker 4: That for sure is Frank. Frank wrote that, you know,
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: like because he was just.
• 28:56
  Speaker 6: That signature type of language and his sense of humor.
• 29:00
  Speaker 7: Yeah, for sure.
• 29:01
  Speaker 6: So.
• 29:02
  Speaker 7: So go ahead. I'm sorry.
• 29:04
  Speaker 8: You know, he would just find things, you know, we
• 29:06
  Speaker 8: would be out. We're all focused on what we're doing.
• 29:08
  Speaker 8: And he would just come up, like I said, his
• 29:10
  Speaker 8: wit and come up with something about the concession stand.
• 29:13
  Speaker 9: Yeah.
• 29:16
  Speaker 8: And don't ever, I'll never forget the strawberry milkshake thing
• 29:19
  Speaker 8: in use. Every time. We were doing a remote at Chick-fil-A,
• 29:27
  Speaker 8: as we did at times. They were a sponsor. And
• 29:29
  Speaker 8: so we were set up inside there. And, of course,
• 29:31
  Speaker 8: they wanted to bring out things to have on set
• 29:34
  Speaker 8: there for us to be eating and such. And ask
• 29:37
  Speaker 8: if we wanted anything and call us. asked for a milkshake. Yeah,
• 29:41
  Speaker 8: I believe it was.
• 29:42
  Speaker 7: Strawberry, if I'm not mistaken.
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: Strawberry, yes.
• 29:46
  Speaker 8: Frank could not get over that. Frank was like, you've
• 29:50
  Speaker 8: got to go with chocolate or vanilla. You just don't
• 29:54
  Speaker 8: order strawberry.
• 29:54
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 29:55
  Speaker 6: And one of my favorite memories, Dana, you're talking about
• 29:58
  Speaker 6: the concession stands when we were doing the RS and
• 30:00
  Speaker 6: tailgate show. And we would go to all the different,
• 30:03
  Speaker 6: you know, on location. We were in various counties of
• 30:06
  Speaker 6: the state and he always had to compare the hot dogs.
• 30:08
  Speaker 6: That was a big thing for Frank. He was on
• 30:11
  Speaker 6: the search for the best high school hot dog in
• 30:15
  Speaker 6: high school West Virginia football. And he would always have
• 30:18
  Speaker 6: to get a hot dog from the concession stand, and
• 30:20
  Speaker 6: he would compare it to other places.
• 30:21
  Speaker 7: It was so funny.
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: He was really, truly a blast in that.
• 30:26
  Speaker 4: And, again, it speaks to his comfort level in doing
• 30:31
  Speaker 4: it that he didn't even have to worry about it. Like,
• 30:34
  Speaker 4: it was just– he could just turn it on at
• 30:37
  Speaker 4: any given time, and you could count on that.
• 30:40
  Speaker 8: Well, and, guys, you know, what amazed me, too, is
• 30:43
  Speaker 8: when he came to work at RSN– He came with
• 30:47
  Speaker 8: you guys.
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: You guys all came with the package.
• 30:49
  Speaker 8: It was a package deal for me, and I was
• 30:50
  Speaker 8: glad to get it. But Frank had, I think, just
• 30:56
  Speaker 8: right at the same time, maybe it was the year
• 30:58
  Speaker 8: after he came on, right the year after, had the stroke.
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 31:03
  Speaker 8: And, you know, there were some other NTs that didn't
• 31:06
  Speaker 8: pick him back up, you know, or he didn't fall
• 31:07
  Speaker 8: back in. I think I remember he was like, hey,
• 31:11
  Speaker 8: you know, I'm not going to be on my A game.
• 31:13
  Speaker 8: Do you still want me? I'm like, heck, yeah, I'll
• 31:15
  Speaker 8: watch you. And we did. And, I mean, he just
• 31:20
  Speaker 8: rolled still. I mean, and sure, there were some visible
• 31:23
  Speaker 8: signs that he'd had the stroke, and he knew that.
• 31:25
  Speaker 8: But it did not take away from his knowledge of
• 31:28
  Speaker 8: the sport and his wit, his ability to be able
• 31:32
  Speaker 8: to pivot. The only thing different I've seen, he used
• 31:35
  Speaker 8: that cane, you know, to get to and from. But
• 31:40
  Speaker 8: I just count it as a blessing to me and
• 31:43
  Speaker 8: to ours and sports, my company, that– You know, I
• 31:47
  Speaker 8: was still able to have him there and that he
• 31:49
  Speaker 8: was interested in being a part of what we were doing.
• 31:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: I think that was pretty special.
• 31:55
  Speaker 4: Just like you said, you know, and it was kind
• 31:57
  Speaker 4: of like you were in the startup place and he
• 32:02
  Speaker 4: had no problem jumping in and, you know, making it great.
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: Just taking it to the top. He was just that
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: kind of person.
• 32:11
  Speaker 8: Right. And they never got flustered. I've never once seen
• 32:19
  Speaker 8: him upset at anything. And trust me, we gave him
• 32:23
  Speaker 8: plenty to be upset about.
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: That may be true.
• 32:28
  Speaker 8: Maybe up at Hoover, you know, before that new stadium.
• 32:32
  Speaker 8: And we had some students occasionally would work as interns.
• 32:35
  Speaker 8: And the producer was up there. One of them knocked
• 32:38
  Speaker 8: the camera over and He lit up and says some
• 32:45
  Speaker 8: not so choice words. Frank just looked over like, what
• 32:48
  Speaker 8: in the world?
• 32:52
  Speaker 7: I remember that so clearly.
• 32:53
  Speaker 4: But what that speaks of about him is his comfort level.
• 33:00
  Speaker 3: And nothing is really.
• 33:02
  Speaker 4: Going to bother, nothing's going to take him out of
• 33:04
  Speaker 4: that comfort level. And we can laugh at this and
• 33:08
  Speaker 4: keep on going. We don't even have to worry about it.
• 33:10
  Speaker 4: And I think that's a special gift to have. And
• 33:14
  Speaker 4: I think he used that probably a billion times everywhere
• 33:19
  Speaker 4: he was because I don't know if I ever seen
• 33:21
  Speaker 4: a time he was ever flustered or upset about something.
• 33:25
  Speaker 4: I don't think I ever seen him in that situation.
• 33:29
  Speaker 8: Because, like I said, you couldn't catch him off guard.
• 33:33
  Speaker 8: We didn't give him any big, long script. We just
• 33:35
  Speaker 8: had notes about what we were going to cover. Yeah,
• 33:37
  Speaker 8: pretty much. And he would whip it right in. I
• 33:41
  Speaker 8: always say this in any kind of broadcast, a lot
• 33:45
  Speaker 8: of people can come on and do commentary and collar
• 33:47
  Speaker 8: and things, but it takes a special person, and I
• 33:50
  Speaker 8: call it a point guard or the quarterback, whatever, because
• 33:53
  Speaker 8: they take you on and off the air constantly. between
• 33:58
  Speaker 8: segments and things. Frank was just the ultimate professional at that.
• 34:03
  Speaker 8: No matter what situation, he could handle it. I'll just
• 34:08
  Speaker 8: roll back to his experience. I just think those kinds
• 34:12
  Speaker 8: of things, and I've seen it over and over again
• 34:14
  Speaker 8: in broadcasting and such, you either have it or you don't.
• 34:17
  Speaker 8: Frank had it.
• 34:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah. He possessed everything that you needed.
• 34:25
  Speaker 4: In being in that role by he knew all the
• 34:29
  Speaker 4: facts and he could make those facts into fun.
• 34:34
  Speaker 3: He could make it fun, you know, because sometimes when you.
• 34:37
  Speaker 4: Have that person who's a factual person, it's kind of,
• 34:40
  Speaker 4: it's kind of stale because it's just, they're, you know,
• 34:43
  Speaker 4: they're ratting off all these stats and they're impressing you
• 34:46
  Speaker 4: all kinds of, in all kinds of ways. But Frank
• 34:49
  Speaker 4: would be able to do that and come up with
• 34:51
  Speaker 4: something funny in it to, to, to make it fun
• 34:58
  Speaker 4: compared to just the boring stat that you looked up or,
• 35:01
  Speaker 4: or found somewhere. He was so good at that, that
• 35:07
  Speaker 4: I think, I don't know if you can find anybody
• 35:10
  Speaker 4: that was able to.
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: Do it that way.
• 35:12
  Speaker 8: Well, what I loved about, you know, having you three
• 35:15
  Speaker 8: on set was, you know, obviously Carl, you had so
• 35:19
  Speaker 8: much on the field experience and, and, especially with football
• 35:24
  Speaker 8: when we're covering that. And then Lisa, you know, she was,
• 35:29
  Speaker 8: when it comes to stats and numbers, I mean, she's
• 35:31
  Speaker 8: the ultimate study of that.
• 35:34
  Speaker 7: She's still that.
• 35:35
  Speaker 6: I almost said I resemble that remark that he just
• 35:38
  Speaker 6: made a minute ago, Dana, but I'll let it go.
• 35:40
  Speaker 8: You could not out-research Lisa. Carl didn't have to do
• 35:46
  Speaker 8: any research because he'd been there, done that, I think,
• 35:49
  Speaker 8: with everything. But Frank... He came as the ultimate fan.
• 35:54
  Speaker 8: You know, he was just, like I said, he didn't
• 35:57
  Speaker 8: play the sports. He was just a fan of the
• 35:59
  Speaker 8: games and what was going on. And so I remember
• 36:03
  Speaker 8: a lot of the exchanges you guys would try to
• 36:05
  Speaker 8: get on him about, you know, that. And he would
• 36:07
  Speaker 8: just laugh and just pivot and just go right on.
• 36:10
  Speaker 8: And you could not catch him.
• 36:13
  Speaker 4: No, he was not the kind of person that you
• 36:15
  Speaker 4: could try to– say something smart to him or anything
• 36:21
  Speaker 4: like he he he was in such control of himself
• 36:27
  Speaker 4: and loved the idea of having fun with around the
• 36:31
  Speaker 4: mic like he was gonna say he could say something
• 36:34
  Speaker 4: silly and just just mess up the whole thing the
• 36:38
  Speaker 4: whole thing would be set on its ear.
• 36:42
  Speaker 8: And, you know, we during the tailgate shows interviewed a
• 36:45
  Speaker 8: lot of people, from sponsors to coaches, especially ADs and such. But,
• 36:52
  Speaker 8: you know, inevitably you had a group of cheerleaders or
• 36:54
  Speaker 8: things that would show up and you just, you know
• 36:56
  Speaker 8: what they were going to say.
• 36:59
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 36:59
  Speaker 3: I remember that, too.
• 37:02
  Speaker 8: And sometimes you didn't know what segment they were going
• 37:03
  Speaker 8: to do. They would just all of a sudden show up.
• 37:07
  Speaker 8: And Frank is like, okay, how's he going to handle this?
• 37:11
  Speaker 7: But he always did.
• 37:13
  Speaker 8: Always did. And made sure that those young people felt important.
• 37:18
  Speaker 8: And that was Frank. And, you know, I'll go back
• 37:19
  Speaker 8: to that, too. Frank never said it that I can
• 37:23
  Speaker 8: recall openly. But you knew Frank was a Christian, a
• 37:27
  Speaker 8: man of faith, just by his walk. He didn't have
• 37:30
  Speaker 8: to say it. You could just see it in how
• 37:33
  Speaker 8: he represented himself.
• 37:37
  Speaker 4: And to that point, I think that is really what
• 37:42
  Speaker 4: made him able to be fun, able to be smart,
• 37:50
  Speaker 4: and be able to fit any situation that we would be.
• 37:55
  Speaker 3: In behind the mics.
• 37:57
  Speaker 4: Because he just knew... where his life was, who he was,
• 38:03
  Speaker 4: who he worked for. And I think really he truly
• 38:09
  Speaker 4: represented his faith in doing sports and being able to
• 38:16
  Speaker 4: do it as good as anybody.
• 38:20
  Speaker 9: Right.
• 38:20
  Speaker 8: And, guys, you know, Frank, we know he's got a
• 38:26
  Speaker 8: history and a resume that just– incomparable to anybody else
• 38:32
  Speaker 8: out there. I think that's why I said I felt
• 38:34
  Speaker 8: so blessed that we got him when we did to
• 38:36
  Speaker 8: be able to do the tailgate shows with you guys.
• 38:39
  Speaker 8: And much credit to you guys because I definitely remember
• 38:42
  Speaker 8: we developed such a friendship.
• 38:44
  Speaker 9: It was camaraderie.
• 38:46
  Speaker 8: It was more than just a job. It was camaraderie.
• 38:48
  Speaker 8: And he would get to the point sometimes not feeling
• 38:51
  Speaker 8: well and his mobility was getting more and more compromised.
• 38:54
  Speaker 8: And I can recall you guys go to pick him up.
• 38:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we did.
• 38:59
  Speaker 8: A lot of times you rode I know he would
• 39:01
  Speaker 8: ride with you guys sometimes, and it was a road
• 39:03
  Speaker 8: trip thing. And so that's the kind of experience and
• 39:09
  Speaker 8: the memories that I have, you know, the guy like that.
• 39:11
  Speaker 8: You know, he wanted to be there, but he would really,
• 39:14
  Speaker 8: I can remember, call you, call him up, Frank, you know,
• 39:16
  Speaker 8: are you going to be able to make it? You know, well,
• 39:19
  Speaker 8: do you got, you know, I'm not sure I can
• 39:21
  Speaker 8: do this. I've been down whatever, and almost apologetic. And
• 39:27
  Speaker 8: do you still want me kind of thing? I'm like,
• 39:28
  Speaker 8: heck yeah, I want you to.
• 39:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 39:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 39:31
  Speaker 4: I do think, I do think he, he was struggling
• 39:37
  Speaker 4: there toward the end of, of.
• 39:41
  Speaker 3: Our shows.
• 39:42
  Speaker 4: And, and to the, to the degree of what you
• 39:46
  Speaker 4: just said, like, I don't even know if I'm bringing
• 39:49
  Speaker 4: anything to the show. What he didn't really realize is
• 39:54
  Speaker 4: being there and being able to say Frank Gardenia is here,
• 40:00
  Speaker 4: that was enough.
• 40:02
  Speaker 8: Oh, yeah, because you certainly didn't want Dana Farrow trying
• 40:05
  Speaker 8: to lead up to those. I'm letting her out behind
• 40:08
  Speaker 8: the camera. And then it makes me think, you know,
• 40:10
  Speaker 8: we went through when he couldn't be there. There was
• 40:13
  Speaker 8: times that Doug Scapp stepped in, you know, in that spot.
• 40:16
  Speaker 8: And ultimately we lost him last summer. And, you know,
• 40:19
  Speaker 8: and just I go back and look, rewind three or
• 40:22
  Speaker 8: five years ago where we are now today. And it's
• 40:25
  Speaker 8: just I think when you said what today to me,
• 40:27
  Speaker 8: it's just so profound how fragile life is. And, you know,
• 40:34
  Speaker 8: we just can't take moments like that for granted.
• 40:38
  Speaker 4: And it's crazy to think, you know, us sitting here
• 40:42
  Speaker 4: talking about like all the different shows, this situation, that
• 40:46
  Speaker 4: situation at that show. And then when the pause comes
• 40:50
  Speaker 4: in and you have to think the reality of he's gone,
• 40:56
  Speaker 4: it's challenging and gut-wrenching to me because again, We all
• 41:05
  Speaker 4: knew who he was and how he was and everybody
• 41:08
  Speaker 4: has a certain way of how he treated Lisa, how
• 41:12
  Speaker 4: he treated you, how he treated me. And every one
• 41:16
  Speaker 4: of us would be saying it was great. Like we
• 41:19
  Speaker 4: wouldn't wanted it any other way. You know, like he
• 41:22
  Speaker 4: would talk smack to me all the time.
• 41:24
  Speaker 3: Oh, my goodness. And I wouldn't want anything else.
• 41:28
  Speaker 6: Well, I mean, and that's what I was just going
• 41:29
  Speaker 6: to throw my story in there with Frank. You know,
• 41:32
  Speaker 6: I had zero radio and broadcasting experience.
• 41:35
  Speaker 7: I was a teacher.
• 41:36
  Speaker 6: And Frank discovered me on Facebook. We were friends and he,
• 41:40
  Speaker 6: you know, he sent me a private message, said, hey,
• 41:42
  Speaker 6: can I give you a call?
• 41:42
  Speaker 9: And he did.
• 41:43
  Speaker 6: And, you know, he explained who he was and we,
• 41:45
  Speaker 6: you know, found out we both went to DuPont from,
• 41:47
  Speaker 6: you know, the eastern end of the valley. And he
• 41:49
  Speaker 6: was like, you know, Carl Lee and I do a
• 41:52
  Speaker 6: radio show on WCHS. Why don't you join us? And
• 41:55
  Speaker 6: I was like, I'm telling you, I have zero experience.
• 41:58
  Speaker 6: He goes, oh, you're the football queen.
• 42:00
  Speaker 7: You'll be fine.
• 42:00
  Speaker 6: And that's where the nickname started. So, you know, so
• 42:04
  Speaker 6: then I came in and he was like, I was nervous,
• 42:06
  Speaker 6: of course. And he was like, Lisa, oh, football queen,
• 42:09
  Speaker 6: I won't let you leave you hanging.
• 42:11
  Speaker 7: You know that. And every show he would always tell
• 42:13
  Speaker 7: me that.
• 42:14
  Speaker 6: So, but yeah, he's basically the person who got me
• 42:17
  Speaker 6: started in all this. So I don't know how I
• 42:19
  Speaker 6: can ever, you know, pay back what he did for me.
• 42:22
  Speaker 7: I could never do it.
• 42:24
  Speaker 8: Well, I think the fact you're here now, you know,
• 42:25
  Speaker 8: you're a living legacy to Frank Gardena. Every time you
• 42:30
  Speaker 8: are able to go on air or go on a
• 42:32
  Speaker 8: show and those things, you know, you wouldn't be there
• 42:36
  Speaker 8: without Frank Gardena, I think. And, you know, I think
• 42:40
  Speaker 8: that's pretty much standard for Frank, you know, throughout his life.
• 42:44
  Speaker 8: Like I said, his resume is so long. I just
• 42:46
  Speaker 8: can't imagine the amount of people that he helped along
• 42:50
  Speaker 8: the way, and he left the impression on, and they're
• 42:52
  Speaker 8: still out there, so his legacy lives on.
• 42:55
  Speaker 4: And I think it will always, it's just one of those,
• 43:02
  Speaker 4: he's just one of those people that you cannot forget.
• 43:08
  Speaker 4: But again, I'll say this out loud, there should be
• 43:13
  Speaker 4: no way that there is not something somewhere with his
• 43:20
  Speaker 4: name on.
• 43:23
  Speaker 3: It in this city, in this state, some kind of way.
• 43:28
  Speaker 7: Some kind of memorial.
• 43:30
  Speaker 4: Some kind of memorial needs to happen because as a
• 43:36
  Speaker 4: former athlete and knowing him, I don't know anybody else truthfully,
• 43:45
  Speaker 4: that I could say was any better than him when
• 43:49
  Speaker 4: it came to interviewing.
• 43:51
  Speaker 3: Because when he interviewed you, it was like you were
• 43:54
  Speaker 3: talking to a friend.
• 43:55
  Speaker 9: You know?
• 43:56
  Speaker 3: I mean, he just.
• 43:57
  Speaker 4: Had a natural way to get information out of you.
• 44:02
  Speaker 4: And he did so many things in and around sports.
• 44:05
  Speaker 4: And to me, he was probably one of the biggest
• 44:07
  Speaker 4: names in sports. Mm-hmm. I don't think that we can
• 44:15
  Speaker 4: let this pass and not celebrate him in a way
• 44:21
  Speaker 4: that everybody will know who he is. They may not
• 44:24
  Speaker 4: know him, but who he was. And his accomplishments. Yes,
• 44:29
  Speaker 4: and his accomplishments. I think that is needed.
• 44:32
  Speaker 6: Well, we have two legislators sitting, you know, and one
• 44:35
  Speaker 6: on the phone and one sitting here.
• 44:36
  Speaker 3: You're so famous, Hollis.
• 44:39
  Speaker 4: So I'm giving y'all a task already. You know, I
• 44:43
  Speaker 4: think you can't find anybody any more notable than him
• 44:52
  Speaker 4: that has been through sports. And now he's gone. And
• 44:59
  Speaker 4: there are people who need to know who he was.
• 45:01
  Speaker 5: And to me.
• 45:04
  Speaker 4: Somebody's, wherever we put it, somebody's going to be, they're
• 45:08
  Speaker 4: going to walk.
• 45:08
  Speaker 3: Up to it and say, oh, oh, he did that. Oh,
• 45:11
  Speaker 3: that's cool. I agree. You know, I think that just
• 45:14
  Speaker 3: has to happen.
• 45:15
  Speaker 4: We can't let that particular person pass away and give him,
• 45:22
  Speaker 4: and not give him everything possible.
• 45:25
  Speaker 3: That he's due.
• 45:27
  Speaker 8: I agree.
• 45:28
  Speaker 4: Because he, covering sports, covering individuals in sports, interviewing individuals
• 45:37
  Speaker 4: that played sports. I mean, he made sure that he
• 45:42
  Speaker 4: could get your story out there.
• 45:45
  Speaker 3: Oh, absolutely.
• 45:46
  Speaker 4: Yes, he made a ton of stories, and I just
• 45:49
  Speaker 4: don't think it could be right that we do not
• 45:52
  Speaker 4: celebrate it and make sure that it is etched in
• 45:57
  Speaker 4: stone somewhere who he is and what he's done.
• 46:02
  Speaker 8: He certainly don't have any disagreement for me, and I
• 46:04
  Speaker 8: know you said Hollis is there. I'm sure that that's
• 46:09
  Speaker 8: something we can work on and help the communities. I
• 46:11
  Speaker 8: know he very much loved his home community. Lisa, you
• 46:14
  Speaker 8: mentioned about you both were from DuPont. He mentioned it
• 46:18
  Speaker 8: often and loved his home community and his home school,
• 46:22
  Speaker 8: and I admired that about him. I think anybody.
• 46:26
  Speaker 8: I remember him talking about the Saturday nights and just,
• 46:31
  Speaker 8: you know, a small town and the porch lights and,
• 46:35
  Speaker 8: you know, just walking home. It's just, you know, very
• 46:40
  Speaker 8: representative of small town West Virginia. And then he goes on.
• 46:45
  Speaker 8: And at one point, I know, was SID at Penn State, right?
• 46:49
  Speaker 3: Yeah, he was.
• 46:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 46:52
  Speaker 8: And, like I said, just... took on so many various
• 46:55
  Speaker 8: roles in journalism and broadcast journalism. It's just to the unequaled.
• 46:59
  Speaker 8: And so, yeah, as we say, you know, there'll be
• 47:02
  Speaker 8: a lot of other people I'm sure come along and
• 47:04
  Speaker 8: are good ones, but there'll never be another Frank Gardena.
• 47:08
  Speaker 3: I'm a hundred percent with you on that.
• 47:10
  Speaker 7: It won't be missed.
• 47:12
  Speaker 9: All right.
• 47:12
  Speaker 4: Well, we appreciate you coming on and, uh, Hopefully we can,
• 47:17
  Speaker 4: if you need any help from somebody who wants to
• 47:20
  Speaker 4: try to make that happen, call me because I'll be
• 47:23
  Speaker 4: willing to fight for it.
• 47:26
  Speaker 8: Sounds like an offer for sure.
• 47:29
  Speaker 3: All righty. We appreciate you being on.
• 47:32
  Speaker 8: Okay, guys. I appreciate being here.
• 47:33
  Speaker 9: Thanks, Dana.
• 47:34
  Speaker 11: Thanks, Dana.
• 47:36
  Speaker 4: Well, I apologize that this was something that you didn't.
• 47:41
  Speaker 3: Actually have a chance to. No, no, that's fine.
• 47:43
  Speaker 10: It's good, though, because, like, when he mentioned, like, Frank
• 47:46
  Speaker 10: Gardena's legacy, you know, bringing you on and obviously bringing
• 47:50
  Speaker 10: you on, you brought me on. So, like, I'm a
• 47:52
  Speaker 10: part of that lineage. Yeah. That, you know, at least
• 47:56
  Speaker 10: on that end of things. And you mentioned being, like,
• 47:59
  Speaker 10: a sports information director. those are such vital roles at
• 48:02
  Speaker 10: the university. I think it's Sean McAntham's estate and just
• 48:04
  Speaker 10: the various, you know, sports information. Cause they kind of
• 48:07
  Speaker 10: keep those historical documents in order and, you know, build
• 48:11
  Speaker 10: a legacy on that end. So, you know, it was
• 48:13
  Speaker 10: great to just, you know, learn about the, learn about
• 48:17
  Speaker 10: him as a person, as a man, as a, as
• 48:19
  Speaker 10: a professional. And I just love just the diversity that happens, right.
• 48:23
  Speaker 10: Cause you talk about, you know, being a sports information director,
• 48:25
  Speaker 10: being an executive producer, calling games, being a writer, uh,
• 48:29
  Speaker 10: And this path can just take you down so many avenues.
• 48:33
  Speaker 4: And I think that's part of the reason why when
• 48:36
  Speaker 4: he would write, if he was writing, he knew all
• 48:42
  Speaker 4: the aspects.
• 48:44
  Speaker 3: Of the game.
• 48:46
  Speaker 7: Almost every game.
• 48:47
  Speaker 9: Yes.
• 48:48
  Speaker 6: I mean, not just football. He called Cincinnati baseball. Cincinnati
• 48:52
  Speaker 6: read baseball for a while.
• 48:53
  Speaker 3: That's awesome. And again, he was just so good.
• 48:58
  Speaker 4: Had the perfect voice, had the perfect, I'll say, mannerisms
• 49:03
  Speaker 4: to make it fun. And if it's serious, he could
• 49:08
  Speaker 4: get you serious. But man, gosh, he was so much fun. Like,
• 49:12
  Speaker 4: he was just so much fun. And when we were
• 49:16
  Speaker 4: doing RSN, I mean, we we enjoyed it. We were
• 49:19
  Speaker 4: going everywhere all over the place and just, yeah.
• 49:22
  Speaker 3: And just having fun. And, and man, he, he, he
• 49:26
  Speaker 3: was a huge part of that. Yeah.
• 49:29
  Speaker 7: He will, he will be missed deeply.
• 49:30
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 49:31
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 49:32
  Speaker 3: Well, anybody got anything else? Um, That's it.
• 49:37
  Speaker 7: That's it for tonight.
• 49:38
  Speaker 4: All right, ladies and gentlemen, hope you enjoyed the show
• 49:40
  Speaker 4: and we will be back again next week.
• 49:43
  Speaker 3: We're out of here. You gotta work.
• 50:38
  Speaker 5: You gotta work Grind, shine, it's mine Gotta show.
• 50:42
  Speaker 3: Everybody it's my time Getting it.
• 50:44
  Speaker 5: You gotta work Grind, shine, never mind who talking down
• 50:48
  Speaker 5: Cause they lying, don't talk, you gotta work You gotta
• 50:52
  Speaker 5: work You gotta work You gotta work.
• 50:58
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 50:59
  Speaker 5: You gotta work.
• 50:59
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 51:00
  Speaker 3: You gotta work.
• 51:01
  Speaker 5: I'm going hard like Kobe inside the gym.
• 51:03
  Speaker 3: I'm a diamond in dirt.
• 51:05
  Speaker 7: I hit in gym.
• 51:06
  Speaker 5: Going for greatness. I gotta win by any means. Cause
• 51:09
  Speaker 5: I don't know when I'll be back again.
• 51:11
  Speaker 2: Going hard.
• 51:12
  Speaker 5: I gotta get it, man.
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: I can't even lie.
• 51:14
  Speaker 5: I put in so much sweat. My body running dry.
• 51:16
  Speaker 5: I shed so many tears. Now I don't wanna cry.
• 51:19
  Speaker 5: Now it's coming easy to me.
• 51:20
  Speaker 8: I'm like.
• 51:21
  Speaker 5: To do is try I had to work push myself
• 51:23
  Speaker 5: through it even though I knew it hurt long as
• 51:26
  Speaker 5: you do it right it don't matter who.
• 51:27
  Speaker 3: Do it first never say.
• 51:28
  Speaker 5: Yourself short know your worth I knew I wasn't one
• 51:31
  Speaker 5: since birth I had to work grind shine it's mine
• 51:35
  Speaker 5: gotta show everybody it's my time get in here you
• 51:38
  Speaker 5: gotta work grind shine never mind who talking down cause
• 51:42
  Speaker 5: they lying don't talk you gotta work you gotta work
• 51:48
  Speaker 5: you gotta work You got to work, yeah. You got
• 51:53
  Speaker 5: to work, yeah. You got to work. I knew I'd
• 51:55
  Speaker 5: be a legend if I put in the time. Never quit,
• 51:57
  Speaker 5: never give up if you falling behind. Anything you work
• 52:00
  Speaker 5: for comes to you by design. Obstacles will never stop
• 52:03
  Speaker 5: you because it's all in your mind. If you fall,
• 52:05
  Speaker 5: dust it off and get back up.
• 52:07
  Speaker 3: On your feet.
• 52:08
  Speaker 5: Anything could be a win, yup, even defeat.
• 52:10
  Speaker 3: They say sugar bath for you, wise, victory sweet.
• 52:13
  Speaker 5: Couldn't play with big kids, I had to sit in
• 52:15
  Speaker 5: the street and watch from a distance. But over time
• 52:18
  Speaker 5: I grew.