The Pittsburgh sports world is mourning the loss of legendary host Stan Savran, who passed away Monday at the age of 76.
Tuesday on 93.7 The Fan, host Andrew Fillipponi reflected on a Steel City icon.
Poni said unlike some of the other hosts at the station who shared stories about Savran and their relationships, he didn’t have the chance to get to know Stan all that well. So he did his best to pay respects to Savran by relating to Stan’s attitude toward punching the clock even through sickness and dark times.
Poni said what really resonated with him was hearing people close to Stan talk about how much he wanted to keep working through a lot of the health issues he had. He said he had a similar urge to want to get back to work after the death of his son Geno in December 2020.
“When my son passed away, I was in a real bad place trying to figure out what I wanted to do,” Fillipponi said on The PM Team. “Was it best for me and Amanda to take a lot of time off. I think in hindsight I probably rushed myself back. My wife and I have had a lot of conversations about that over the last few years. I think I came back two weeks after that happened, and that was probably not the best thing for our marriage and our relationship, but I felt like I needed it.”
“I wanted to get back on the air, and I wanted to talk about the things we do on the show every day because I was yearning for that normalcy,” he added. “I wanted the distraction, really. I wanted something that would get my mind off the grief that I had, the depression I was in.”
The last three years have been difficult, but Poni said doing his job has been a huge help. Learning that Savran wanted to get back to work even after multiple heart bypass surgeries, brain surgery and dealing with cancer, Andrew said that attitude really hit close to home.
“Hearing someone with their own personal battles and struggles use work as a way to cope and get on with life and deal with the struggles of life, when I hear people say that about Stan Savran, it’s really struck a cord with me,” he said.
