Tip Off Luncheon- SOLD OUT

2024 Tip Off Luncheon | October 30, 2024 | Baylor University's Hurd Welcome Center | 11:30 a.m.

For over 30 years, the Greater Waco Chamber has hosted luncheons to excite the community for upcoming sports seasons. Held annually in the fall, the Tip Off Sports Luncheon celebrates the start of basketball in Waco.

2024 Keynote Speaker: Fran Fraschilla, ESPN Basketball Analyst

About the Tip Off Luncheon

This exciting event includes a preview of Baylor’s upcoming college basketball season from Baylor Bear head coach Scott Drew and the women's basketball head coach Nicki Collen. McLennan Community College women’s head coach and men’s head coach Kevin Gill also provide a preview to their upcoming seasons.

Prior year speakers have included Holly Rowe, ESPN Reporter and Play-by-Play Commentator, ESPN basketball analysts Fran Fraschilla and Carolyn Peck, Carroll Dawson (former GM Houston Rockets), Shelby Metcalf (former A&M Coach), Bobby Knight (former Texas Tech Head Coach), Van Chancellor (2004 Olympic Coach & former Houston Comets Coach), Leon Barmore/Kim Mulkey, and Marion Jones (former Olympic Gold Medalist track and WNBA player).

Speaker

Fran Fraschilla, ESPN College Basketball Analyst

Fran Fraschilla joined ESPN as a college basketball game and studio analyst in 2003. He serves as an analyst primarily on Big 12 Conference men’s basketball games.

At ESPN, he worked on NBA Draft coverage, the FIBA World Championships in 2006 and 2010, as well as the NBA and high school basketball. He was also an analyst on ESPN’s NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball coverage from 2007-2014.

Fraschilla coached at the collegiate level for 23 years, posting an overall record of 175-100. When he joined ESPN, he ranked as the 34th winningest active coach in men’s college basketball. His teams made eight postseason appearances in nine years, including three NCAA Tournaments (1993, 1995 and 1998).

From 1999-2002, Fraschilla was the head coach at the University of New Mexico, where he guided the Lobos to the Mountain West Conference championship game and the third round of the NIT in 2001. He received the NABC Literacy Pioneer Award for his work with the “Dream to Read” program in 2000.

Fraschilla was the head coach at St. John’s University from 1996-1998. In 1998, he led the Red Storm to the NCAA Championship for the first time in five years. He was the head coach from 1992-96 at Manhattan College, where his teams reached the postseason all four years, with two NCAA and two NIT appearances. In 1995, the team won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship and Fraschilla was named Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, National Association Basketball Coaches District II Coach of the Year, Eastern Basketball Coach of the Year and Metropolitan Basketball Writers Coach of the Year.

Before becoming a head coach, Fraschilla worked as an assistant basketball coach for five teams, including Providence College, Ohio State University, Ohio University, University of Rhode Island and New York Tech.

Active in several charity organizations, Fraschilla has participated in the NABC/American Cancer Society’s “Coaches vs. Cancer 3-Point Attack,” NY State Special Olympics, The O’Hara Foundation, St. John’s Bread and Life and White Plains Parks and Recreation. He was chairman of the NABC Committee on Academics from 1994-2002. Fraschilla served as an Honorary Chairman for the 2000 New Mexico Special Olympics Summer Games, as well as the Honorary Chairman for the UNM Library Development program.

Fraschilla is a graduate of Brooklyn College, where he received a bachelor’s degree in American history in 1980.

The Frank Fallon Award

The Frank Fallon Award will be presented on October 30, 2024 at the Greater Waco Chamber's Tip Off Luncheon. This award is presented annually to someone who has made a significant impact on basketball in McLennan County.

Nominees should demonstrate a tremendous positive impact on the basketball community at any level, but who also go beyond by volunteering their personal time to give back to the community.

Deadline for submission: Thursday, September 26, 2024.

About Frank Fallon:

A native of El Paso who grew up in San Antonio, Frank became known as "the Voice of the Baylor Bears." Fallon began his broadcasting career at age 18 at KITE in San Antonio. Following his graduation from Baylor in 1953, he joined Waco's KWTX station and worked there for 28 years. Frank was a play-by-play announcer for Baylor football and basketball for 42 years. He spent 20 years as the PA announcer for NCAA men's basketball Final Fours. He also performed television broadcasts for NBC and ESPN. A broadcast journalism instructor in his later years, Fallon received the Chris Schenkel Award, honoring lifetime excellence and community contributions. Fallon was the 2001 recipient of the Baylor Communications Award. Five times he was named the Texas Association of Broadcasters' "Sportscaster of the Year." Frank is in the Baylor Hall of Honor and the Texas High School Football Hall of Fame.