Frank Burke Named Executive of the Year
Published on September 12, 2011 under Southern League (SL1) News Release
MARIETTA, GA- The Southern League of Professional Baseball Clubs is pleased to announce that Chattanooga Lookouts General Manager Frank Burke has been named the Jimmy Bragan Executive of the Year, as voted upon by his peers.
In his seventeenth season as Lookouts President and General Manager, Burke earns his second Executive of the Year honor, having won the award in 2001. It is the fourth time a member of Chattanooga's front office has won the award. With the club's highest attendance since 2009, it was one of five clubs in the league to increase attendance this season, with AT&T Field hosting 224,974 fans. 2011 has been a successful campaign for the Lookouts with an overall record of 77-62 and an outstanding second half record of 42-27. The Lookouts took the North Division title in the second half but lost to the Tennesse Smokies in the Playoffs.
In conjunction with Daniel Burke and Charles Eshbach, Frank Burke purchased the rights to the Chattanooga Lookouts franchise in 1995. At this time, Burke immediately became the club's President and General Manager. For the next four seasons (1995-99), he welcomed fans with new and exciting innovations to Historic Engel Stadium. Burke introduced a smoke-billowing train to celebrate home runs and victories, along with a cannon-firing mascot named "General Admission." Another staple of Lookouts home games also was introduced in 1995, the famous "Looie the Lookout." Burke, however, was not satisfied with trains, cannons and mascots. He purchased two live camels, Larry and Lumpy, who wore Lookouts helmets and resided in the deepest part of center field.
In 1999, Burke and his partners announced plans to build a new, privately funded ballpark, located on Hawk Hill in downtown Chattanooga. Burke devoted his attention to all the details of the planning and construction of a new state-of-the-art baseball stadium that would become AT&T Field. Burke was named Southern League Executive of the Year in 2001, and the Lookouts were honored by Baseball America the following year with the Double-A Bob Freitas Award, which recognizes long-term franchise success. In 2009, the Lookouts introduced their newest mascot, Blooie: a blue, half-sized Looie doppelganger. Blooie's leading of the "3.5 inning stretch," in which he would sing half of "Take Me out to the Ballgame," was one of Burke's innovative ideas that led to the Lookouts receiving the Larry MacPhail Award in 2009, which symbolizes the top promotion effort in Minor League Baseball.
Burke graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont with a B.A. in Political Science. He went on to graduate school and earned his MBA from Harvard University. Burke pitched for the Middlebury baseball team for three years and still claims to have given up the longest home run ever hit at the Middlebury College baseball field. He worked in product marketing for General Mills, Inc. in Minneapolis after graduating from business school. In 1990, he owned and operated an FM/AM radio combo in Bath, Maine. Prior to attending Harvard, Burke served as a production assistant at ABC sports and worked on the production of the 1984 Summer and Winter Olympic Games. He has also worked on Wide World of Sports, CFA College Football, and the Professional Bowlers Tour.
Burke served as the Southern League's representative on the National Association Board of Trustees and was the Chair of the Southern League's Advisory and Finance Committee. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Tennessee Aquarium, Imax Theater, the Creative Discovery Museum and the Chattanooga Convention and Visitors Bureau. Under Frank's leadership, the Lookouts continue to explore new ways to be productive, corporate citizens of Chattanooga.
Southern League Stories from September 12, 2011
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- Marla Terranova Vickers Named Woman of Excellence - SL1
- Frank Burke Named Executive of the Year - SL1
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