Photo submitted to Times Observer Thomas Frank Carr.

From part-time sports writer at the Times Observer …

To ESPN.

That may seem like a long shot to some, but it’s Thomas Frank Carr’s reality.

Carr, a Russell native, and 2008 graduate of Eisenhower High School, is now the morning talk show host on Majic 99, a music station in State College.

He also serves as the associate program director there.

Where we most recently heard Carr, however, as the beat writer for Penn State Nittany Lions football for ESPN 1450 AM in State College. He’s a regular contributor in pre- and post-game coverage, and has weekly feature on game day.

A rural Pennsylvania sports fan’s dream, he’s come a long way since working a few hours a week at the Times Observer when he was a high school senior.

“I know that one of my first assignments was to shadow the staff of the Eisenhower girls basketball team in a playoff game,” Carr said. “I also remember climbing on top of a dugout with the staff camera to get a good shot during a high school baseball game.”

After Carr graduated from Eisenhower, he studied Broadcast Journalism at Penn State.

“Each student at Penn State has to take a freshman seminar to familiarize themselves with the university,” Carr said. “The (seminar) I took was partly about that and partly a class about radio broadcasting. I had experience working in print at the Times Observer, so I figured I should get a taste of what radio was like. By the end of the class, I was enrolled in a student radio station on campus called ComRadio.”

ComRadio is a student-run radio station that broadcasts on the Internet and one of the first of it’s kind.

Within a month, Carr had his own show (about pro football — called The Redzone), and by the end of his time at Penn State he was a sports director who oversaw a staff of more than a hundred students.

“ComRadio was the greatest opportunity I could have asked for in college,” he said. “I went to Penn State because it was a nationally-known football program and I hoped that experience would help me in the future. I got that and more covering volleyball, soccer, baseball, softball, and of course football.

“I was an executive producer for our coverage of Joe Paterno’s final season, and all of it’s turbulence,” said Carr, “and was the play-by-play man for Penn State versus Nebraska, which was the first game in 40 years where Joe Paterno was not the head coach at Penn State. I could go on and on about the experiences that I had at Penn State and at ComRadio. It has been the single biggest factor on why I am where I am today.”

After graduation, he applied to jobs all across the country, but a contact in town told him of a job at Majic 99. He started out as a part-time, afternoon-drive host.

From there, he took it upon himself to get his foot in the sports media door.

“The company that owns Majic 99 also owns ESPN Radio 1450 in State College,” Carr said. “When I arrived, no one was attending press conferences or covering Penn State football for ESPN. I took it upon myself to attend press conferences, ask questions and writes stories for our website. I took any opportunity that was presented and made it my job to be as obnoxiously helpful as possible.”

Exactly what the Times Observer remembers about Thomas Frank Carr.

After two more years, Carr was offered the full-time position at Majic 99, as well as the current role he serves with ESPN 1450. He also serves as an on-field host for the short-season, Single A Minor League baseball team, the State College Spikes, during the summer.

He’s a busy guy.

“I’m at work by 5:20 (a.m.) to prepare for my morning show, which airs from 6-10 a.m,” Carr said. “After that, I prepare a mid-morning sports update for our ESPN Radio station. Then, I work on the social media and website updates for Majic 99. After that, I work on any work for the radio station that is outstanding, like making sound effects for the radio station called ‘imaging.’ Anything you hear on the radio, we produce. I am in charge of most of what you hear on Majic 99.

“After that is completed and I’ve crammed some food in my mouth, I’ll start to work on ESPN material. I watch as much tape on that week’s opponent that I can find, because nothing is as embarrassing as asking a bad question at a press conference. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays I attend media availability for the team where we get to ask questions of Head Coach James Franklin, and whatever players are made available.

“Any other free time I spend writing my feature article for the week, ‘Five Things To Watch For,’ said Carr. “I put all that I’ve learned that week together and pick the five most important elements of that week’s game. Occasionally, on Fridays, I also will guest-host for one of our sports talk shows when the regular host is off at away games. I also produce a two-minute feature called ‘The Extra Point’ for our local tailgate show. Sundays, I switch stations and work on our country station, Big Froggy 101.”

That’s a lot of responsibility, but it’s something Carr has wanted for a long time.

“I’ve wanted to be a part of the media since I was 15 years old and Mary Passinger added me to the sports staff at ‘The Squire,’ the bi-weekly newspaper publication at Eisenhower High School,” Carr said. “This joke may be getting old, but I always tell people that once I realized I wasn’t going to be an NFL wide receiver, I was going to make people listen to me talk about football if I couldn’t play it. I can honestly say that I never imagined I would be in radio, though.”

From the time he worked at the Times Observer to now, Carr has learned a thing or two from the business.

“Here’s how I will sum what I’ve learned — Fight like hell every day,” Carr said. “You don’t follow your dreams as much as you relentlessly pursue them. We make it sound grand in commencement speeches, but the reality is that there is more toil and sacrifice than you can ever anticipate. It will hurt sometimes and you will want to quit. Don’t quit. Fight with everything you have because you owe it to yourself to become everything you can be. Nothing in life worth achieving is done so easily.”