Thursday, February 27, 2025, 3:42PM |  49°
MENU
Advertisement
In this Nov. 9, 2010, file photo, Fran Fisher, left, congratulates former Penn State coach Joe Paterno, on his 400th career coaching win after his weekly NCAA college football news conference in State College, Pa. Fran Fisher, who broadcast Penn State football games on the radio for many years, has died. He was 91.
1
MORE

Obituary: Fran Fisher / Longtime voice of Penn State University football

Pat Little/Associated Press

Obituary: Fran Fisher / Longtime voice of Penn State University football

Sept. 23, 1923 - May 13, 2015

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.

Advertisement

“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.

Advertisement

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.

RELATED
Comments Disabled For This Story
Partners
Advertisement
Jeff Capel, head coach of Pitt looks on against Syracuse at the NCAA men’s basketball game on Tuesday Feb. 18, 2025 at Petersen Event Center in Pittsburgh, Pa.
1
sports
Paul Zeise: Pitt AD Allen Greene can save the basketball program by forcing some changes upon Jeff Capel
City leaders from Pittsburgh, New York City, Baltimore and Oakland, Calif. met Wednesday night for a Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership-led discussion on the future of Downtown.
2
business
City officials from NYC, Baltimore and Oakland, Calif. meet in Pittsburgh to discuss Downtown's future
Councilman Bobby Wilson of District 1 speaks at a press conference inside City Hall on April 11, 2024, in Downtown.
3
opinion
Editorial: Pittsburgh is withering. The region needs a strategy for growth
An Internal Revenue Service 1040 Individual Income Tax form for the 2019 tax year in an arranged photograph on March 20, 2020..
4
news
Trump, Republicans push tax cuts that helped cost them House majority last time
Gene Hackman arrives with his wife, Betsy Arakawa, for the 60th Annual Golden Globe Awards on Sunday, Jan. 19, 2003, in Beverly Hills, Calif.
5
a&e
Oscar-winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife and dog found dead in their New Mexico home
In this Nov. 9, 2010, file photo, Fran Fisher, left, congratulates former Penn State coach Joe Paterno, on his 400th career coaching win after his weekly NCAA college football news conference in State College, Pa. Fran Fisher, who broadcast Penn State football games on the radio for many years, has died. He was 91.  (Pat Little/Associated Press)
Pat Little/Associated Press
Advertisement
LATEST sports
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story