MACON, Ga. — On Football Friday Night, the action is always coming at you, but for our very own Frank Malloy, the action got a little too close last week.
Frank was patrolling the sidelines, as he had done for the last 44 years, when a referee running backward crashed into Frank at the Stratford-Calvary Christian football game.
Frank took a tumble and a lens finder to the eye. Ever the professional, he popped back up, continued filming the game, and even popped over to get footage from the FPD game.
“I could feel the eye tingling a little bit,” Frank said. “You could start to see the discoloration. That’s when I realized I got hit pretty hard.”
Though he did try his best to fight through injury, the team held him out of action on the Football Friday Night show out of an abundance of caution for Frank.
“I wanted to do it, cause like Ben and I said, ‘It is like a battle scar,’” Frank said. “Hindsight, I would have really liked to have gotten on the air. I got hit, but I still covered my games. But we decided it was best if I didn’t.”
Marvin James filled in alongside Ben Jones for Frank following the injury.
“Frank is on the sidelines nursing an injury from out in the field,” James said on Football Friday Night to open the show. “He is definitely okay. He is still here.”
Following a trip to the doctor, Frank is set to make his return to action on Monday at 5 p.m., albeit with some visible bruising from the hit.
He says he might change how he films the game on Friday night when he steps back under the lights.
“I may have to adopt Ben’s strategy. Ben is a really good shooter but he mainly shoots from the end zone that way you don’t have to worry about the referees,” Frank said. “I don’t know if I trust the sidelines anymore. I got pretty lucky this time. There were no broken bones. But I may have to adapt my strategy differently from now and realize I am not getting any younger.”