PROSTATE CANCER
Ed Randall devotes baseball life
to prostate cancer awareness
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | SEPT. 11-SEPT. 17, 2020 17
BY JOE PANTORNO
For more than four decades, Ed
Randall has been a familiar voice and
a mainstay on the airwaves, becoming
synonymous with baseball and one of
New York’s greatest sports-entertainment
exports.
Rising to fame in the 1980s with his
hit show, Talking Baseball, Randall recorded
500 half-hour television shows
with what he describes as “the greatest
baseball legends you can imagine,”
ranging from Mickey Mantle to Ted
Williams, to Yogi Berra, to Cal Ripken,
and even Hollywood star and noted Chicago
Cubs fan, Bill Murray.
He’s worked on the radio, served as
an emergency broadcaster for New York
Yankees telecasts, and even filled in
for legendary Yankee Stadium PA announcer
Bob Sheppard.
“Numbah 23, Don Mattingly. First
base. Numbah 23,” he reminisced while
doing his best Sheppard impression.
No one could possibly fill the shoes
of the man nicknamed “The Voice of
God,” who served as the soundtrack to
summer days in the Bronx for so many
years, but Randall’s rise to success is
just as sentimental for New Yorkers
rooting for the hometown kid.
“I’m a son of the Bronx. It was where
I discovered baseball,” Randall said.
“I am a product of 12 years of Catholic
school education at All Hallows conveniently
located three blocks from Yankee
Stadium.”
“I took the subway home from the
161st Street Woodlawn-Jerome station
located directly behind the bleachers in
centerfield. From there, it was on to the
Rose Hill campus of Fordham University
where I first broadcast on WFUVRadio.”
Fordham has its fair share of legendary
alums that graduated from its broadcasting
ranks — most notably long-time
Dodgers announcer, Vin Scully — and
Randall emerged from the school at the
perfect time.
“After putting in time in the Minor
Leagues all over the country, I was
lucky to be in the job market just as cable
TV sports and sports radio were exploding
in the early ‘80s,” Randall said.
“Thanks to Upper Deck and HBO, I had
a terrific run with Ed Randall’s Talking
Baseball.”
Randall (right) with 1969 Mets legends
(from left to right) Cleon Jones, Ed
Kranepool, Art Shamsky, and Ron Swoboda.
(Photo: Fans for the Cure)
Over the decades, the show moved
from TV to radio in the volatile New
York market but at the turn of the new
millennium, Randall faced a challenge
that was far more harrowing than
sports media.
In 1999, a 47-year-old Randall was
faced with the unimaginable that so
many men have gone through as he was
diagnosed with prostate cancer after a
routine annual physical that showed
elevated levels in prostate-specific antigen
(PSA), a protein produced by the
prostate gland which helps detect prostate
cancer.
“As with most men, there were no
symptoms,” Randall said. “Besides
being stopped in my tracks by the
word ‘cancer,’ I was also struck by
how few of my friends or colleagues
knew anything at all about the disease.
All I knew was that guys in their
forties were not supposed to get this
disease.”
According to the American Cancer
Society, prostate cancer will affect 1 in
9 men during their lifetimes and is the
second most common type of cancer
found in American men. It is generally
found in older men, with the average age
at diagnosis being approximately 66.
Thankfully for Randall, it was detected
early, and he was able to make a
full recovery thanks to the care of Dr.
Nick Romas, now at New York-Presbyterian
at Columbia Medical Center.
With his diagnosis and later, his recovery,
a vow was made.
“During treatment, I made a promise
to myself to use my platform to help
make men more aware of this horrible
disease and how to make informed decisions
about dealing with it,” he said.
So, in 2003, Randall founded Fans
for the Cure, a non-profit organization
that helps men recognize the risks of
prostate cancer while broadcasting the
importance of early detection to both extend
and save lives. When caught early,
the survival rate of prostate cancer is
nearly 100%.
In order to do so, he enabled the help
of some of the organizations that got
him to where he is today — most notably,
Minor League Baseball.
Since 2007, Fans for the Cure has visited
more than 1,200 ballparks across 39
states and was designated as the official
homegrown charity of Minor League
Baseball in 2009.
“The Minor Leagues and the support
of their teams were instrumental in providing
our charity with instant credibility,”
Randall said. “Baseball was a
world I knew, and being welcomed into
Minor League ballparks by the teams
and their healthcare partners put us on
the map. Particularly in our early days.
It was immensely helpful when the Minor
Leagues offered us the designation
as one of their official charities. The Minor
Leagues have been great to us.”
He’s also enlisted the help of some
big-time names throughout the years,
ranging from former New York Giants
linebacker, Harry Carson, to Baseball
Hall of Famer Andre Dawson, and 10-
time MLB All-Star Steve Garvey, who
serves as a chairman of Fans for the
Cure.
All three had battles with prostate
cancer, and their reach helps spread the
good work that Randall’s organization
is doing.
“We coordinate PSA screenings,
sponsor medical seminars, offer physician
and hospital referrals, provide educational
materials, and, most recently,
host bi-weekly men’s health support
groups,” Randall said. “Given that there
will be approximately 33,000 deaths nationwide
in 2020, we pledge to commit
all of our human and financial resources
to increase the number of men who
will live with the disease rather than
die of it.”
For those numbers to improve, men
must clear the all-too-often hurdle that
comes with the anxiety of just going to
the doctor. All too often there is unease
at the thought of hearing bad news,
which is why many won’t get checked
up.
“As someone once told me, ‘As we get
older, the bullets get closer.’ If that is indeed
the case and if we can assume there
will be ‘bad news’ along the way, then
let’s find whatever it is as early as possible
and be done with it,” Randall said.
“By definition, 10 treatment options are
better than two, one, or none.”
“If you worried about being scolded
by a doctor for no annual physicals in 20
years, then remember to nod vigorously,
don’t interrupt, and the speech will
be over in a minute. Then you and your
doctor can get about the important business
of taking control of your health,
improving how you feel each day, and
extending your life.”
Now over 20 years cancer-free, the
69-year-old Randall continues to do the
work he loves, hopping on the radio,
talking baseball, and helping ensure
that men across America don’t miss
life’s moments because of prostate cancer.”
“What I would say is that, most importantly,
the diagnosis of prostate
cancer is not a death sentence. Deaths
have been reduced dramatically since
my diagnosis, thanks to dedicated research
and the advent of new and effective
therapies,” Randall said. “There is
an almost 99% cure rate if the disease
is detected early. Fans for the Cure is
a resource for education that provides
solace from fear. Our goal is no empty
chairs on Thanksgiving!”
Ed Randall Photo via Facebook
/QNS.COM
