Frank Salive still calling races in the United States

By C. Scott Holland

The smoothness of his voice is legendary, yet his first career option was in the world of hockey.

Leamington native Frank Salive has vocal skills to rival the best orators and a personality that is as smooth as his horse racing calls. Yet his career really began in 1972 when he was invited for a tryout with the OHL Peterborough Petes.

During his tryout, Petes’ coach Roger Neilson saw the potential and sent Salive to the Pembroke Lumber Kings. But Salive would join the Petes by December and stayed with the team for another two seasons. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 10th round of the 1975 Amateur Draft.

During his time with the Petes, he would suit up with some notable future NHLers including Doug Jarvis, Doug Halward and Stan Jonathan. According to Salive, it was Neilson who instilled his work ethic and the importance of teamwork.

Leamington native Frank Salive back in the mid-1970s as a goalie for the Peterborough Petes

“There were so many ingenious ways Roger motivated us to be better individually and to be better collectively,” he said. “He just made everyone better than they should have been.”

It was during his years with the Petes that his broadcasting career started. He began at CKPT and would do small projects for CHEX-TV.

After finishing with the Petes, he moved to St. Catharines, where he worked at CKTB doing radio sports casting during mornings and afternoons. A full-time offer from CTV took him to Sudbury and after an interview with LA Kings’ Dale McCourt, Salive landed back in Windsor doing radio and TV for the CBC. For some time, he appeared on CBC Windsor’s nightly newscast. He also did some assignments for TSN, covering stock car races from Checker Flag Raceway.

His breakthrough into calling horse races came in 1990 when he auditioned for the vacant track announcer’s job at the Ontario Jockey Club’s Woodbine Raceway — Canada’s largest raceway.

He left Woodbine in 2005 and spent four years at Western Fair in London, then four years at Pompano, Florida before joining the Fort Erie, Ontario track as both track and TV announcer.

Leamington native Frank Salive gets ready to call a horse race.

Along the way, he has announced over 12,000 horse races, including ones at Leamington and Windsor Raceways, and called some of the industry’s biggest races including the Breeders’ Cup, Queen’s Cup and Provincial Cup.

Despite being of retirement age, Salive has been in broadcasting for 48 years and his love of racing is “as strong as ever.” He makes his home in Florida, only two kilometres away from the Florida Panthers’ home rink.