CHARLESTON, W.Va. — It’s not difficult for those who knew Frank Giardina to talk about him.
Giardina, the former Marshall play-by-play announcer, college athletic administrator and much more, died Sunday at the age of 72.
Two of Giardina’s closest friends since his days as a Marshall student are former Marshall AD Mike Hamrick and former Marshall football player, well-known pollster Rex Repass. Both talked to Giardina at least once week and sometimes more, every week for the past 50 years.
Repass remembers the last meeting that took place two weeks ago when he was in Huntington for Marshall’s homecoming. He drove to Putnam County to visit Giardina at the nursing home where he was receiving care.
“We had a good time. We reminisced about some old stories. We caught up,” Repass said. “I loved him like a brother, we were very close.”
Both Repass and Hamrick met Giardina in the 1970s after Giardina arrived on campus following his graduation from Dupont High School. Repass and Hamrick were both football players, Giardina lived in the athletes dorm.
“He didn’t have a mean, hateful bone in his body,” Hamrick said Monday on MetroNews “Talkline.” “He was always around the athletes. He was always there when we needed someone to talk to.”
Many of those conversations were spiritual ones.
“I considered him not only a great friend and brother but also someone who would guide anyone in their faith and he certainly helped me when I had challenges in my life,” Repass said.
Hamrick, who hired Giardina as an assistant athletic director in 2010, said Giardina even until just a few weeks ago, loved to talk about history of high school athletics in West Virginia.
“The guy until his death had a memory like an elephant. I can remember three weeks ago we were on the phone and Frank was talking about the 1973 Dupont-Hoover football game,” Hamrick said.
Repass said he has no doubt Giardina influenced thousands of people during his broadcasting career that stretched for parts of six decades.
“He interacted with so many people in his professional career and was never pushy or forward about his strong Christian faith but he also influenced people by who he was and the strong character that he had,” Repass said.
Hamrick said Giardina was a legend.
“You talk about West Virginia legends and you talk about Jerry West and Randy Moss, well, Frank Giardina is right up there with them in my mind,” Hamrick said.
A celebration of life is being planned for December.