My Funniest Moments With Frank Gambino

By now, most everybody has heard of the loss of longtime radio and TV Wyoming sports broadcaster Frank Gambino. Frank died of a heart attack at age 63. He was with his fiancée in Florida at the time.

Many who knew him shared stories. I wanted to share a few of my favorite moments with Frank on Wyoming's morning radio talk show.

Frank was a hoarder of Halloween candy.

There were little things, like the way I would decorate the hallways at the radio station for Halloween each year. There would be a bowl of candy left for everyone. Frank would raid the bowl of the best candy before anyone got to it, then complain to me, on air, that the damn thing was empty and I better get to it. A naturally thin guy ate all that crap and never gained an ounce.

Listeners dared him to eat abandoned pizza.

There was the time he drove down to Denver to watch a baseball game, but called the show from the hotel lobby to make sure the sports segment was filled. He sat in the lobby of the hotel, on his cell phone, talking to me on air. Next to him was a box of pizza that someone had left from the night before. There was still one slice left in it. Frank was hungry. Listeners kept calling and texting the show, daring him to eat it. He did. He lived.

Aleksandr Zyablitskiy

The best story of them all: listeners honking at him.

One Friday morning, Frank told me that he had to drive to Wheatland to cover a game. He would not be in the studio to do his last hour segment. He said that he would just pull over and call me to fill the time. At the Ayres Natural Bridge exit, he pulled down the off ramp, then partly up the on ramp, where he pulled over to call me. Seizing the moment, I asked listeners to honk at Frank as they drove by. He was in the radio station vehicle, so he was hard to miss.

But, honestly, we didn't think anyone would do it. We were wrong. While he was on the air with me, cars, pickup trucks, and semi-trucks all honked at him on the way by. One guy even drove down the off ramp and back up the on ramp just to wave and honk at him. Frank was yelling at me over the phone, "They're actually doing it."

Frank was a great person and a great broadcaster. It's hard to replace a personality like that. I'm not sure we can.