Jon Marks
It wasn’t the first time Michael Barkann stood at the podium for the Philadelphia JCC Maccabi Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. Only this one was different.
Because this time, the man who’s been a fixture on the air in Philadelphia sports for decades wasn’t handing out the plaques: He was receiving one.
And what made it special was he was receiving it from his daughter, Emily.
“When she inducted me into the JCC Maccabi Games Hall of Fame a couple of months ago, I don’t know if I’ve ever felt prouder in my life,” admitted the 61-year-old Barkann, taking a break from his duties as host of “Phillies Pregame Live” and “Phillies Postgame Live.” “My daughter not only played Maccabi tennis, but she still coaches it.
“She’s going down to Florida in August to volunteer coach the Philadelphia team under Rose Weinstein. She’s been doing this for years since she stopped playing.”
Meanwhile, her father — once he finishes his daily four-mile walk — will be back in the NBC Sports Philadelphia studio listening to Ricky Bottalico gripe about Trea Turner or having Ben Davis explain the nuances of the game as a former major league catcher.
That’s for now, since the start of the football season and his role as longtime host of “Eagles Postgame Live” is just around the corner. Then, before you know it, his focus will turn to Joel Embiid and the James Harden saga known as the Sixers, with the Nick Nurse era getting underway.
It’s enough to make anyone’s head spin until you realize Barkann’s cut back his schedule in recent years. Remember, he used to do the daily “Mike and Ike” Show from 10-2 on 94 WIP with former Eagle Ike Reese. And that was just the warmup before he’d host “Philly Sports Talk” every night on what was then Comcast SportsNet.
“It was a lot,” conceded Barkann, a Newtown Square resident and a longtime member of Main Line Reform Temple in Wynnewood. “It was a great five-plus years, and I enjoyed my time there.
“But now it gives me more time to spend with my family. More time to spend preparing for what’s going on that night. And more time to take care of myself and stay healthy.”
That’s where those daily walks come in, although Barkann admits he used to run in his younger days. Back then, he was running around a lot, working as a sideline reporter at 18 U.S. Open Tennis Championships and three in golf. Then there were three Winter Olympics, a couple of Final Fours and an NCAA football championship.
“But I stopped doing all that, for the most part, when we started our family,” said Barkann, a seven-time Pennsylvania Sportscaster of the Year and a five-time Mid-Atlantic Emmy winner. “My dad and mom were there when I got home. I felt blessed by that, and I wanted to be there for my wife and children.”
But even though Emily (26) and Matthew (22) are grown now, priorities haven’t changed for Michael and Ellen Barkann. They’re still heavily invested in their Barkann Family Healing Hearts Foundation, which has raised nearly $1 million since its 2013 inception.
“The foundation’s going strong,” said Barkann, a 2010 inductee into the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, where he now often serves as the emcee — when his schedule permits. “We had our golf outing at French Creek Golf Club in May.
“We disperse money to families in need. We’re looking for people going through a life trauma, whether it’s the loss of a spouse or a child. We recently gave some money to a woman whose house collapsed.
“And we have a Holiday Hearts program. It started with 10 families where we’d give Santa sacks and gift cards. It’s grown to about 25 families. Howie Roseman, Don Smolenski and the Eagles have been mensches like you wouldn’t believe. The Phillies, too. But the Eagles have provided the NovaCare bubble for the Holiday Hearts get-together.”
To no surprise, Barkann learned such tikkun olam at home.
“My parents were charitable in their own way,” said Barkann, who lost his mother, Carol, in 2021. “My mom, in the later part of her life, would have these envelopes stacked up for American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, ALS and she’d donate to all of them. Philadelphia has been so great to us. It’s the home of my wife and children. I didn’t go to high school here [he’s from North Jersey], but I’ve been blessed to be able to do what I do here, so this is a way for us to give back.”
Yet Barkann admitted his late mother wouldn’t have been pleased when he said something inappropriate on the air in the immediate aftermath of the Eagles’ Super Bowl loss last February.
“Having to do it all over again, I think of my mom and, regardless of the situation, she’d have been disappointed in me that I couldn’t have expressed myself differently,” he said. “Maybe I should’ve shown more class, but I said how I felt and how everyone in Philadelphia felt.”
But don’t take that one faux pas as the beginning of the end. Far from it.
“I don’t see a finish line,” he says almost defiantly. “When you love what you do and who you work with, it’s a joy to go to work.”
Jon Marks is a freelance writer.
