Mud Hens legend Gilhooley mourned

Frank Gilhooley, who broadcast Mud Hens home games from 1986-2007 and was honored in Toledo this season, died Friday. He was 86.

Gilhooley received the inaugural Spirit of the International League award during Frank Gilhooley Day on May 16 at Fifth Third Field.

"He's still sharp as a tack," Jim Weber, Gilhooley's former broadcast partner, said during the event. "Perhaps the young kids in town don't know him, but everyone else does. It's like working with a living legend."

Gilhooley, a former baseball and basketball player at the University of Notre Dame, is a member of the Ohio Baseball, Toledo City League and Central Catholic High School Halls of Fame. He broadcast his first professional baseball game in 1953, providing the voice for the American Association's Toledo Sox.

Gilhooley served as sports director at WTVG-TV and broadcast Ohio State football games in the 1960s. He also played for the Toledo Jeeps, when the team traveled as the opponent for the Harlem Globetrotters.

"He's the best Toledo's ever had," Mud Hens broadcaster Bill Clark the Toledo Blade. "He's an icon in Toledo broadcasting. "He told you what was happening and told it to you in a straightforward, professional manner."

A Toledo native, Gilhooley's father, Frank Sr., played with the New York Yankees from 1913-18 and was a teammate of Babe Ruth on the Boston Red Sox.