By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
Frank Harnish loved being a radio man. In an age of live streaming, social media videos and obsession with followers and clicks, Ballpark Frank was a Las Vegas radio industry throwback who was the first Vegas Golden Knights radio broadcast pregame and postgame co-host.
I won’t use the term “radio personality” to describe Harnish because his enthusiastic, robust talking style on the Golden Knights radio shows was pure Frank, an unpretentious, non-phony radio lifer who was a jack-of-all-trades in the Las Vegas radio industry for 27 years. The Harnish you heard over the radio was the Harnish you met in person.
Harnish’s radio friends and anyone who met the burly-looking man with the kind demeanor, lunch bucket work ethic and long hair were deeply saddened Tuesday when news spread that Harnish had died after coping the best he could with cancer.
LVSportsBiz.com interviewed Harnish in July 2020 after Lotus Broadcasting in Las Vegas laid him off after 27 years.
Harnish told me at the time in typical everyman Frank fashion, “I was numb. Is this really happening to me? What the hell will I do? Most places are not looking to hire a 61-year-old guy.”
Harnish did his radio station work for love, not money. Harnish told me that during only one year did he make as much as $50,000. He said he started at Lotus Broadcasting in July 1993 making five bucks an hour and made $24,000 a year as promotions director.
Harnish lived the life of a sports-loving bachelor in his condo near the Town Square shopping center in the west valley. When I visited Harnish in July 2020, his condo was adorned in Chicago Bears memorabilia, with plastic bottles of Gatorade, Coca-Cola and water covering his kitchen table.
“He was the ultimate bachelor-sports guy who was going to live his life. He was happy. That’s the way he wanted to live,” said TC Martin, a close Harnish friend who did a radio sports show on 1400-AM from 2-4 PM with Harnish during the week. “He told me he needed to get out of the hospital because he said, ‘I’d rather die in my own bed watching my big screen TV.’ ”
Martin and Harnish clicked because Martin left the sports radio world at Lotus six months earlier. Both loved classic rock, sports and radio.
“We had a lot in common. We were both radio guys. He loved his classic rock. He worked on the radio side and when Lotus went to sports, he found a niche and did a variety of shows,” Martin said. Martin and Harnish even created a special songfest show that went over well this past year.
“We could finish each other’s sentences. We were two diehard sports fans, and music and radio guys,” Martin said, noting Harnish loved 1970s rock bands. “That was the beauty about why we connected and why we sounded really good together. We had heated debates, but it was always passionate and never personal.”
Martin noted that on Wednesday’s show he will have an hour-long tribute to Harnish at the 3 PM hour.
Harnish grew up in metro Chicago and loved attending Blackhawks games. His hockey love shined through when he talked Golden Knights hockey on the radio.
He was also a major tennis fan. Harnish was an active tennis player back in the day when he modeled his game after Bjorn Borg, even wearing the Borg headband. He was a big fan of World Team Tennis and closely followed the local professional tennis team in Las Vegas, the Vegas Rollers.
Steve Pratt of BZA PR noted Harnish’s love for tennis: “Ballpark Frank was one of the most genuine and respected members of the Las Vegas media, and just a pleasure to deal with over the years. As a former media member who transitioned into the world of sports PR, it was always a breath of fresh air to work with someone so professional and knowledgeable about Vegas sports like Frank.
“Frank had an affinity for tennis and the years was one of the ardent local media supporters of professional tennis in Las Vegas, dating back to 2008 and 2009 when the Tennis Channel Open ATP men’s event was played at Darling Tennis Center. Pro tennis moved to the Red Rock Country Club in the subsequent years as the Summerlin club hosted the USTA Pro Circuit women’s professional $50,000 tournament. From the early rounds to the finals, Frank came out nearly every day to watch top-level pros like former US Open quarterfinalist Melanie Oudin and former world top-5 player Belinda Bencic. He had an appreciation and love for tennis and would always welcome any players offered up to interview on his show. A true pros-pro, Ballpark Frank will be sorely missed.”
The Vegas Golden Knights sent this statement to LVSportsBiz.com Wednesday: ““Frank Harnish was as kind as he was passionate about all things sports and Las Vegas, and he will be missed by the Vegas Golden Knights. We extend our deepest sympathies to his family and friends.”
Others around Las Vegas added their voices in remembering Harnish.
Here’s Dan D’Uva, the VGK radio play-by-play broadcaster:
Dan Bickmore: “My heart goes out to his family. A sports radio mainstay and the epitome of press box kindness.”
Jeremy Long: “Worked with Frank at Lotus from 2014 until 2019. Frank was straightforward, hard working, generous with his time and talent, and low key hilarious. You’d be very hard pressed to find a more knowledgeable sports voice in Vegas. He’ll be greatly missed.”
Chris Winn: This is tough. Frank was one of the first people I was fortunate to meet when I started doing radio here in town and couldn’t have been more up my alley. Like me, he was a sports nut & native Midwest guy. We immediately hit it off. Over the past decade plus we’ve had memorable times and as most of you know in recent years he’s faced both physical & professional obstacles & battled through them admirably. It’s beyond an understatement to say he will be missed. YOU, will not be forgotten brother. Rest easy my friend. RIP Ballpark Frank.”
Four years ago, he survived a serious car crash when his vehicle was T-boned by another motorist. He suffered a broken neck.
More recently, Harnish battled cancer, and was getting chemo treatment. He wrote this on his Facebook page only 15 days ago: “Starting next round of Chemo. Five straight days sucks but looking forward to getting through the week. Hope to have something to truly be thankful for this Thanksgiving if all goes well. Take care stay strong and God Bless.”
RIP Frank. A lot of people loved you.
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