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Bill Franques – Louisiana State University, Senior Associate Communications Director

CoSIDA 25-Year Award

by Scott Rabalais, Baton Rouge Advocate

Editor’s note: This Franques feature by Scott Rabalais was written and published in the Baton Rouge Advocate to mark Franques’ 30th year at LSU (in February 2018). Franques has worked as the LSU Baseball communications director since 1989. He is the Alex Box Stadium public address announcer and the baseball road game color analyst on LSU Sports Radio Network. He also has battled prostate cancer, as chronicled in this story by The Advocate’s Wilson Alexander last winter.

The producer and co-host of LSU Tiger Tracks, a weekly television program featuring LSU sports personalities, Franques also serves as managing editor of LSU’s football, men’s basketball and baseball game programs. He has earned numerous CoSIDA national honors for his football game programs and baseball media guides. 
 
Mellifluous. That’s the way someone once described the voice of the late Bob Sheppard, the long-time public address announcer for the New York Yankees. He was succinct and completely without fanfare, but as the word describes, pleasant to hear.

It is an appropriate way to describe LSU baseball P.A. announcer and Bill Franques, one for his love of language and two for his style of announcing. A style he patterned after hearing Sheppard’s voice cut through the background of stadium noise watching Yankees games on TV years ago.

They also used to call Sheppard “The voice of God.” People say the same of Franques, whose voice is the aural equivalent of pouring a rich, full-bodied cup of coffee over a microphone.

LSU’s home opener Friday night against Notre Dame marks the start of Franques’ 30th season as the Tigers’ team publicist, or sports information director — SID for short, as Russ Springer used to call him — and does color commentary on LSU road baseball games. It is his 29th season handling P.A. duties, something few SIDs do anymore, whether they’re named Sid or not.
 

Back when he started, it was hard for Franques to imagine he’d get through even one season.

“I’ll never forget my first game in 1989 against TCU,” Franques said. “Ben McDonald was pitching. We won, and I remember getting into my car and turning onto Nicholson (Drive) thinking, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me — I have 55 more of these? And that’s just the regular season.’ ”

More than 1,900 games later, Franques  is still at it. For LSU baseball fans, the loyal throngs who went to the old Alex Box Stadium for years and have been coming to the new “Box” for going on 10 seasons now, he’s the only voice they’ve ever known over the loudspeakers there. Franques has become as much a part of the fabric of LSU baseball as hot dogs, peanuts and victory laps around the ballpark as the Tigers head off for another trip to the College World Series.

“Of course, the memories are created by the players and coaches on the field,” Franques said. “Hopefully I can add to that with the presentation of the game.”

One big difference between the new Alex Box compared to the old is barbeque, or rather, the lack of it. Tailgaters surrounding the old Alex Box used to bring delicious-smelling platters to the press box, along with questions about the game or whether Franques had just called out their lucky number or not.

Although the move to the current ballpark was necessary if LSU was to keep pace with its baseball rivals, as for many of us there’s still a part of Franques that is nostalgic for the old stadium and its shabby grandeur.

“Of course, the old Box didn’t have any modern amenities, but it had so much charm and ambiance,” he said. “The fans were right there on top of the field. Where our press area was, we were literally just part of the grandstand at the very top. It was like we were sitting with all the fans.

“This will be the 10th year of the new Box, and from a logistical standpoint it’s much easier to operate the press area, the radio and TV booths, public address, the scoreboard. But I do miss the connection we used to have with the fans. We’re in a legitimate press box that isolates us from the fans.”

Franques brushed away the thought that three decades with LSU baseball has turned him into an institution, but that’s what he is. He found out the full measure of what that meant when he was serving as master of ceremonies at LSU’s First Pitch Banquet last month at Celtic Studios.

“Near the end Coach (Paul) Mainieri addresses the crowd, and part of it is acknowledging his assistant coaches and members of the support staff. He began to acknowledge me as he always does, and he said some very nice things, which I really appreciated. Then he continued to speak, longer and longer, and got more detailed.”

Mainieri then asked one of LSU’s sports information student assistants to bring out an enlarged replica of the LSU baseball ticket for the Tigers’ May 5 game against Arkansas. The ticket has Franques’ face on it, something LSU’s graphics department kept off his desk the day he was proofing this season’s tickets. It will be Bill Franques Day at The Box.

“Everything he does is first class,” Mainieri said of Franques. “When I introduce him to people, I call him the best in the business, and I mean that sincerely. He’s a great representative of LSU and knows just about everything about LSU baseball.

“Getting to know him has been one of the highlights of my 12 years here.”

Over the years, Franques has sprinkled in a few LSU basketball games — he’s done five this season filling in for Dan Borne, who has been dealing with some health issues — and a couple of football games. Hopefully, when Borne someday retires from the Tiger Stadium P.A. booth where he’s been since 1986, LSU will hand the microphone to Franques.

“If the opportunity came about, I’d be honored,” Franques said.

For now, he’ll be what he’s been for nearly 30 years: the voice of The Box.

Timeless. And mellifluous.