FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM SEPTEMBER 10, 2020 • PROSTATE CANCER • THE QUEENS COURIER 31
prostate cancer
Ed Randall devotes his baseball
life to prostate cancer awareness
BY JOE PANTORNO
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
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 fi lled 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 fi ll the shoes of
the man nicknamed “Th e 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 centerfi
eld. From there, it was on to the Rose
Hill campus of Fordham University where
I fi rst broadcast on WFUV-Radio.”
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.
“Aft er 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. “Th anks to
Upper Deck and HBO, I had a terrifi c 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 aft er a routine
annual physical that showed elevated
levels in prostate-specifi c 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 aff ect 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.
Th ankfully 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-profi t 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 offi cial homegrown
charity of Minor League Baseball
in 2009.
“Th e 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 off ered us the designation as
one of their offi cial charities. Th e Minor
Leagues have been great to us.”
He’s also enlisted the help of some bigtime
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, off er 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 fi nancial 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-oft en hurdle that
comes with the anxiety of just going to
the doctor. All too oft en 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 fi nd whatever it is as early as
possible and be done with it,” Randall
said. “By defi nition, 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. Th en 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 eff ective therapies,”
Randall said. “Th ere 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 Th anksgiving!”
Photo courtesy of Facebook
Ed Randall
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