Fran Fisher, a former Greensburg resident who served as the voice of Penn State University football for 19 years, died Wednesday in State College. He was 91.
Mr. Fisher’s son, Jerry, announced his father’s passing on his Twitter account.
Mr. Fisher’s first game as a member of the Penn State Radio Network was Sept. 17, 1966, a 15-7 victory against Maryland that also happened to be the first game of Joe Paterno’s head coaching career. Mr. Fisher and Mr. Paterno would become lifelong friends and later worked together when Mr. Fisher took a job as an assistant athletic director and executive of the Nittany Lion Club in the 1980s.
“They were joined at the hip,” said Jack Ham, the former Penn State linebacker and the longtime color commentator on Penn State radio broadcasts. “You talk about people who were devoted to Penn State. Joe Paterno was No. 1 and Fran Fisher was right there along with him.”
In 1966, Mr. Fisher landed the job as color commentator for the Penn State Radio Network. Four years later, he took over as play-by-play voice and held that position until 1982, when he retired from broadcasting after the Nittany Lions won their first national championship with a victory against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.
Mr. Fisher was named an assistant athletic director at Penn State and executive director of the Nittany Club in 1983 and held that position until he retired in 1988. He came out of retirement in 1994 and served as play-by-play man again until 1999.
“He was a legend with Penn State fans as much as Joe Paterno was,” said Lou Prato, a Penn State historian and a friend of Mr. Fisher’s.
Mr. Prato and his wife had dinner with Mr. Fisher on Tuesday night, and he was in good spirits. They ate stuffed peppers, sipped on wine and watched the Pirates game. Mr. Fisher was a devoted fan of the Pirates and covered Game 7 of the 1960 World Series for WHJB.
“He was talking about [Josh] Harrison’s slump, [Gregory] Polanco, how well the starting pitching was doing,” Mr. Prato said. “He had a love for baseball. How many people can say they met Honus Wagner in the dugout of a Pirates game, saw Babe Ruth hit his last three home runs at Forbes Field and worked the game when Mazeroski won the World Series?”
Mr. Fisher, who was born in Salem, Ohio, first attended a Penn State football game in 1932 when he was a youngster growing up in Dormont. He saw the Nittany Lions lose to Waynesburg, 7-6. His family moved from Dormont to Greensburg when he was in grade school.
Following graduation from Greensburg High School in 1941, Mr. Fisher went to Bethany College for a short time and later Penn State, where he was a member of the blue band, but he never graduated because he joined the Navy in 1942. He married his high school sweetheart, Charlotte, in 1944 and was discharged from the Navy in 1945.
In retirement, Mr. Fisher operated a consulting business in State College specializing in advertising, marketing and public relations. He was inducted into the Westmoreland County chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1978. He was elected to the Pennsylvania Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1997.
Mr. Fisher was preceded in death by his wife. He is survived by two sons, Jerry and Jeff Fisher, both of State College.
Visitation will be held Monday from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. at Koch Funeral Home, 2401 South Atherton Street, State College, Pa. A memorial service will be held Tuesday at 1 p.m. at the State College Presbyterian Church, 132 West Beaver Avenue.
Ray Fittipaldo: rfittipaldo@post-gazette.com.
First Published: May 14, 2015, 5:58 p.m.
Updated: May 15, 2015, 3:06 a.m.