Frank Fixaris

Frank Fixaris (May 6, 1934 in Torrington,

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

– January 13, 2006 in Falmouth,

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

) was an American sportscaster, anchor, reporter, and disc jockey, spending the majority of his career at

WGME-TV WGME-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Portland, Maine, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to Waterville-licensed Fox affiliate WPFO (channel 23) under a loca ...

br>
in Portland, Maine, Portland,

. He also, along with partner Dave "Shoe" Schumacher, co-hosted a morning radio show on WJABbr>
after his television run. "Shoe" continues to co-host the show, known as "The Morning Jab", with present partner, Joe Palmieri. Fixaris attended college in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

and graduated from

Emerson College Emerson College is a private college in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It also maintains campuses in Los Angeles and Well, Limburg, Netherlands (Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of Public Speaking, o ...

br>
in 1956. He then worked at several radio stations early in his career before taking the job as a sports anchor at WGME in 1965 (then

WGAN WGAN (560 AM) is an commercial radio station licensed to Portland, Maine. The station is owned by Saga Communications and it airs a news/talk radio format. The station calls itself "Newsradio WGAN AM 560 and FM 98.5" The studios and offic ...

) and continued there until 1995. He served as sports director there from 1967 until 1992. Coincidentally Fixaris'

cousin A cousin is a relative who is the child of a parent's sibling; this is more specifically referred to as a first cousin. A parent of a first cousin is an aunt or uncle. More generally, in the kinship system used in the English-speaking world, ...

, former

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

player

Jimmy Piersall James Anthony Piersall (November 14, 1929 – June 3, 2017) was an American baseball center fielder who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for five teams, from 1950 through 1967. Piersall was best known for his well-publicized b ...

, also worked as a sportscaster. He was the

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The person may also be referred to as a summariser (outside North America) ...

of the

Maine Mariners Maine Mariners may refer to: * Maine Mariners (AHL), an ice hockey team in Portland, Maine, which operated from 1977 to 1992 * Maine Mariners (ECHL) The Maine Mariners are a professional ice hockey team in the ECHL that began play in the 2018 ...

br>
and later the

Portland Pirates The Portland Pirates were a minor league professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). Their home arena was the Cross Insurance Arena in downtown Portland, Maine. The franchise was previously known as the Baltimore Skipjacks ...

of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

. Although offered several network positions (particularly with

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

, as well as the

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (N ...

), he chose to remain in Maine. He was co-awarded one of the James H. Ellery Memorial Awards by the AHL for his outstanding work in 1978. In honor of his many years of work with the Mariners/Pirates, the press box at the

Cumberland County Civic Center Cross Insurance Arena (formerly Cumberland County Civic Center) is a multi-purpose arena located in Portland, Maine. Built in 1977, at a cost of US$8 million, it is the home arena for the Maine Mariners (ECHL), Maine Mariners of the ECHL. There a ...

br>
bears his name as a memorial tribute. A 2006 inductee into the Maine Association of Broadcasters, Maine Association of Broadcaster's hall of fame, Fixaris is also remembered annually with an award in his name issued by the Portland Fire Department, as well as two scholarships for students studying communication science at

Saint Joseph's College of Maine Saint Joseph's College of Maine is a private Catholic college in Standish, Maine, United States. It is the only Catholic college in Maine. Saint Joseph's College Online offers its online programs to 2,400 students in 50 states and nine countrie ...

br>
The Fix Cupbr>
a former annual high school hockey tournament in Portland (modeled after the Beanpot (ice hockey), Beanpot tournament), was named after Fixaris. He was known as having an encyclopedic knowledge of all things sports, especially at the local level. Popular broadcasters

Mike Emrick Michael "Doc" Emrick (born August 1, 1946) is an American former network television play-by-play sportscaster and commentator noted mostly for his work in ice hockey. He was the lead announcer for National Hockey League national telecasts on both ...

Dale Arnold Dale Everett Arnold (born March 27, 1956) is a New England sportscaster. He co-hosted talk radio shows on WEEI and WEEI-FM from 1991 until his retirement from radio in March 2021. He has served as the play-by-play announcer for the Boston Bru ...

Tom Caron Thomas Caron (born November 17, 1963) is a sportscaster and anchor on New England's NESN network. He is a co-owner of the USL League One soccer team Portland Hearts of Pine. He is the Co-Chairman of the Jimmy Fund. Biography Caron is a gradu ...

, Scott Wykoff and J.J. Jeffrey considered him as being instrumental in their development. Fixaris died in a fire at his home on January 13, 2006. He is survived by his wife, Barbara, and a son, Michael. His brother, Richard, died in December, 2013. He is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in

Portland, Maine Portland is the List of municipalities in Maine, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat, seat of Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolit ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Fixaris, Frank 1934 births 2006 deaths American sports announcers Maine Mariners (AHL) Portland Pirates Emerson College alumni People from Falmouth, Maine Burials at Evergreen Cemetery (Portland, Maine) Radio personalities from Maine