Frank Fixaris

Frank Fixaris (May 6, 1934 in

WJAB [2]

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, Massachusetts and graduated from Emerson College [3] 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) and continued there until 1995. He served as sports director there from 1967 until 1992. Coincidentally Fixaris' cousin, former Major League Baseball player Jimmy Piersall, also worked as a sportscaster.

He was the

Cumberland County Civic Center [5] bears his name as a memorial tribute. A 2006 inductee into the 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 [6]

.

The Fix Cup [7], a former annual high school hockey tournament in Portland (modeled after the 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

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.