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<\/p>\nHer voice is a honeyed blend of old-Florida southern charm and steely sportswoman grit. It\u2019s in a lower register and slightly raspy \u2013 her childhood nickname was \u201cFroggy\u201d \u2013 and for nearly four decades, it reverberated through Tampa Bay living rooms like a friend who came to visit, and tell you what was what, virtually every day of the week.<\/p>\n
If any TV news personality could claim the title of \u201cthe voice of the bay\u201d it would be Gayle Sierens, the two-time Emmy winning \u201chometown girl\u201d who started out as a sports-loving tomboy and ended her broadcasting career as half of the highest-rated news anchor team in local history.<\/p>\n
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Tampa Catholic, Class of \u201972<\/p>\n
Sierens, who retired in 2015, spent all 38 years with WFLA-Channel 8, which is in itself something of a record. Tampa mayor Pam Iorio proclaimed Jan. 10, 2007 \u2013 her 30th anniversary with the station \u2013 as \u201cGayle Sierens Day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nationally, she\u2019s known as the first woman to do play-by-play for an NFL game (in 1987, for NBC).<\/p>\n
Regionally, she\u2019s known as a public figure who was always willing to donate her name and time to many causes, and an influential and important advocate for issues like physical and mental health care.<\/p>\n
At 71, she\u2019s a happily retired wife, mom and grandmother. And still a Tampa resident.<\/p>\n
No regrets. \u201cI loved my life,\u201d Sierens says. \u201cI loved the people I worked with. Those first, fun days at the beginning, especially, those were so fun. When we were all just goofy and young and thinking we knew everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just thought we were the bomb. We thought we were the smartest people we ever knew. We just had a great time being together and being at the station.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sierens grew up in Tampa, where her family relocated (from Jacksonville) when she was 3. Armed with a degree in Communications from Florida State University, she applied at WFLA in 1977.<\/p>\n
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Late \u201970s, WFLA.<\/p>\n
The ink on her diploma hadn\u2019t even dried when sports director Milt Spencer hired the fresh-faced redhead as a field reporter. She was 23 years old.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was very grateful for that,\u201d she reflects. \u201cI don\u2019t think any of the other stations had been broad enough to say \u2018OK, let\u2019s get all these women to come in here and do sports stuff.\u2019 I was just a sports person because my mom was such a sports person. And my grandma was such a sports person. So this was a life that was almost handed to me by my mom and my grandmother.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Tallahassee, Sierens been the sports reporter for the campus TV station, and hosted a public affairs show called Break of Day, which required her to get up at 4:30 a.m., often as her roommates were just coming home from a night of partying.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it was the launching pad for me, to get in the business,\u201d she says. \u201cIt gave me the opportunity to say \u2018Listen, I know how to do some of this stuff. Not everything, but I know how to do some of the stuff that you\u2019re doing.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
She used that line on Milt Spencer, and was promply added to the sports team, focusing on the fledgling Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the \u201970s iteration of the Tampa Bay Rowdies.<\/p>\n
Soon, a waggish sports writer at the Tampa Tribune called her \u201cwillowy and fragile.\u201d<\/p>\n
And so began the uphill climb. Sierens had to convince male coaches and players that she was professional, and that she was serious.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I always had to be nice about it. Like, I\u2019m not walking in there with my hands on my hips saying \u2018Listen, I\u2019m a chick and I know what I\u2019m doing.\u2019 I just tried to be a little more comfortable about walking into that venue.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain, I put so much credit on how I was raised. Mom loved watching football. She loved sports. And I don\u2019t think she played sports \u2013 way back, women weren\u2019t playing a whole lot of sports.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1983-White-Sox-manager-Tony-LaRussa-300x201.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
With Chicago White Sox manager Tony LaRussa, 1983. WFLA photo.<\/p>\n
When Gayle was 6 her father, mechanic Maurice \u201cRed\u201d Sierens, was killed in a freak elevator accident. Betty Sierens remarried when her daughter was 14, and attending Tampa Catholic High School.<\/p>\n
\u201cI loved sports because my mother loved sports. So here we are, with my mother, Betty Jean, and my grandmother, Beaulah Mae, and they both loved sports. So we watched sports all the time on TV. What little sports there were back then.\u201d Football and baseball, mostly.<\/p>\n
She was on the Tampa Catholic swim team, and a cheerleader.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven was I was a little kid, I played sports, at any little kid place you could go. A little soccer, maybe, or a little basketball down at the Y. But nothing was big \u2013 I wasn\u2019t thinking I\u2019m going to be a great, fabulous sports \u2026 somebody who\u2019s got that \u2018oomph.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Oomph or no, the audience grew, and in 1981, Tampa Bay Metro magazine named her the Bay Area\u2019s best sports reporter. New sports director Dick Crippen tapped her to anchor the 11 p.m. sportscast, and Sierens \u2013 who continued to research, report and edit her own stories \u2013 won her first Florida Emmy in 1984.<\/p>\n
Although Tampa Magazine named her one of \u201cThe Area\u2019s 50 Sexiest People\u201d and put her on the cover, she was never terribly interested in cultivating an \u201cimage.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t go into locker rooms forever, I don\u2019t think,\u201d Sierens recalls. \u201cBecause they weren\u2019t doing it, frankly. And if they were, I didn\u2019t feel like I needed to do it that way. I felt like I could go to the PR guy and say \u2018I would like to talk to him, him and him, could you send one of them out?<\/p>\n
\u201cI did not want to go into a room seeing all these men with their towels around them, and perhaps even dropping towels. It just wasn\u2019t my vibe, let\u2019s just say.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Sierens-early-80s-300x188.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Although Tampa Magazine named her one of \u201cThe Area\u2019s 50 Sexiest People\u201d and put her on the cover, she was never terribly interested in cultivating an \u201cimage.\u201d WFLA photo.<\/p>\n
It was 1985 when she was summoned to the WFLA General Manager\u2019s office. \u201cThey said \u2018We like you, and we think our viewers like you \u2026 and maybe you don\u2019t need to do sports any more.\u2019 And I\u2019m like \u2018Oh, God \u2013 am I getting fired?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
To her astonishment, she was offered a promotion, to be co-anchor with Bob Hite for the weekday afternoon and late night newscasts. In a TV newsroom, the anchor desk was the big enchilada.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the turning point for me. I was perfectly content doing what I was doing. It was fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Sierens_Tampa_Tribune_1986_06_13_30-300x156.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Between 1983 and 1989, because of an FCC license issue, the station\u2019s call letters were WXFL.<\/p>\n
The stakes had been significantly raised. \u201cWhen you\u2019re doing sports, the worst thing you\u2019re gonna tell someone is \u2018Your favorite team just lost.\u2019 And when you do real news, it\u2019s a lot bigger. It\u2019s a lot more important. It\u2019s a lot more life-changing than just watching a few football games, or basketball games, or soccer or whatever.<\/p>\n
\u201cI say this jokingly: At the end of the day, we just read the teleprompter. But it\u2019s really much, much bigger than that. Because before go in and start reading that teleprompter, we\u2019ve already talked about whose lives have been changed, or are being changed. And why it\u2019s so important that we make sure we\u2019re right about everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was my goal, to say \u2018I\u2019m doing my job the right way. I\u2019m not screwing it up by saying stupid things.\u2019 And I was still pretty young at that time \u2013 still in my 20s, and into my early 30s.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hite was a broadcast veteran who\u2019d arrived at WFLA in 1977, just after Sierens. Along with prior anchor desk experience, he had the deep, steady, stentorian voice of a Walter Cronkite, just what TV news needs.<\/p>\n
(Cronkite, in fact, was a family friend. Hite\u2019s father, Bob Hite Sr., was a veteran CBS reporter and sometime anchor whose voice was heard every day in primetime as the \u201cbumper announcer\u201d for color programs. And more.)<\/p>\n
Eventually, Sierens would win a second Emmy, for news reporting. In the beginning, though, she worried about creating chemistry with the more experienced Hite.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Gayle-Sierens-Bob-Hite-very-large-199x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Gayle and Bob. WFLA photos.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a very kind and funny guy,\u201d Sierens recalls. \u201cBut he had the voice, and he had the background \u2013 his father was a rockstar in the business \u2013 so he had a history of living with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hite, who retired in 2007 and now lives in southwest Florida, is effusive in his praise for his longtime (22 years) co-anchor.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s like a sister to me,\u201d he reports. \u201cI can crash at her house to this day, any day of the week, without even calling first.\u201d Hite affectionately refers to her as \u201cthe all-American girl.\u201d<\/p>\n
They were, he believes, a perfectly matched on-air team. \u201cI think I relied on Gayle a lot more than she relied on me. She was the mature member of the co-anchors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Never much of a spectator sports fan, Hite made the occasional faux paus during the newscast. \u201cOnce we were reading off a teleprompter,\u201d he offers, \u201cand at the end of one line was \u2018LA.\u2019 The beginning of the next line was \u2018RAMS.\u2019 And rarely did I ever go over the newscast beforehand, because frankly I\u2019m just a great sight-reader. And if I\u2019ve already read it, it\u2019s not news to me!<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I\u2019m going \u2018blah blah blah, LA RAMS.\u2019 Whenever I would make a mistake like that \u2013 which was probably several times a week, not necessarily to do with sports \u2013 whenever our director heard me say something stupid he would immediately punch to a two-shot. And get Gayle\u2019s doubletake. She\u2019d say \u2018Bobby \u2026 that\u2019s \u2018L.A. Rams.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s one of the reasons we were number one, because Gayle was the straight man. And I was the clown. We were kind of like the odd couple.\u201d<\/p>\n
In September 1987, Sierens married former Chicago Bears and New England Patriots linebacker Mike Martin, who lived in the bay area.<\/p>\n
Two months later, at the invitation of Michael Wiseman, NBC\u2019s Executive Director of Sports, Sierens flew to Missouri to call play-by-play for a game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Kansas City Chiefs. The first time a woman had performed the task for a regular-season game.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Sierens-Making-broadcast-history-Dec.-27-1987.-Screenshot-300x208.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Making broadcast history Dec. 27, 1987. Screenshot.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe thought I had a good voice,\u201d Sierens chuckles. \u201cAnd he was one of those guys who always liked to do something different. And the fact that he wanted to have a woman do play-by-play for an NFL football game was probably the most yummy thing he could come up with.\u201d<\/p>\n
She underwent extensive training for the gig and credits her network prep coach for making it (relatively) painless.<\/p>\n
Still, \u201cIt was scary, also because I was pregnant when I was doing it. Just pregnant, like within a month. That made it hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
She\u2019d had to get permission from WFLA to moonlight from her anchor job, and her generally positive reviews led to an offer from the network to continue.<\/p>\n
But she and Mike were starting a family. And while it had been adventure to dip her toe back into sportscasting, Gayle Sierens said no thank you.<\/p>\n
She spent a week in South Korea in advance of the 1988 Olympics. Visited the Vatican and had an audience with the Pope. She met movie stars, presidents, pop singers and even Oprah Winfrey. Her Gayle Sierens Reports specials were frequent and popular.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Sierens-Holiday-Parade-300x199.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Hosting Tampa\u2019s Holiday Parade. WFLA photo.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Sierens-All-Childrens-Hospital-telethon-300x196.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Emceeing St. Petersburg\u2019s All Children\u2019s Hospital telethon. Photo: ACH.<\/p>\n
Because of her ubiquitous presence on TV, she was a popular guest speaker at luncheons and fundraisers, and she rarely turned down an invitation to appear at, or host, a charity event.<\/p>\n
Sierens likes to think she was easy to relate to, because she was always thinking about her audience. \u201cI\u2019m going into these people\u2019s homes, and sometimes they\u2019re going to get news that\u2019s just so fun and joyous, stock market\u2019s up and blah blah blah, but I\u2019m also going to have to tell them that we\u2019ve lost someone special in the world and in our lives. And this hurts.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I lost someone special in my life when I was young, so I knew how to handle that in a way that I think was given to me. Sadly, but was given to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the 11 o\u2019clock broadcast on a Friday night in February, 1992, Sierens went into labor. She didn\u2019t tell anyone, signed off as usual at 11:30, and drove herself home. The Martins\u2019 third child, daughter Madison, was born at 5:30 the next morning.<\/p>\n
That same year, her husband started his lucrative bakery business Mike\u2019s Pies. Martin\u2019s creations are currently sold in 45 states, Canada and Mexico.<\/p>\n
In 2015, Gayle Sierens, veteran and pioneer, decided 38 years was enough. She switched off the TV for good.<\/p>\n
No regrets. \u201cMy life could not be any better than it is right now,\u201d she says. \u201cI have the dream life. I have all three of my children nearby, my daughter lives the next street over and a block up from us. One of my sons, Luke, lives eight blocks from us and a block up. And my other son, Cam, he went rogue on us \u2013 they\u2019re about a mile and a half from us.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of my children, all of my grandchildren, live here and live nearby. I\u2019m chillin.\u2019 My life is good \u2013 I take my dog for walks, I go golfing twice a week \u2026 or try to. I\u2019m just trying to live the good life, and simple.<\/p>\n
\u201cA good, simple life. And so far, so good.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/WFLA-photo-300x195.jpeg\")
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WFLA photo.<\/p>\n
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