FRACKVILLE — On a rare break from analyzing, opining or speaking professionally in any other capacity about Philadelphia sports, NBC Sports Philadelphia host Michael Barkann visited the borough on Monday to lead a workshop for members of O’Connor Law.
Barkann — best known for his work on the pregame and postgame shows for the Eagles, Phillies and other Philadelphia sports teams — made his first-ever stop to Frackville thanks to his good friend, Ed Wallace, a native of the borough.
A boisterous on-air personality when sounding off on Philly sports, Barkann presented a friendly but reflective demeanor on Monday for “Elevate Your Leadership Profile” — a professional development workshop for the attorneys and staff at O’Connor Law.
Barkann, 65, took participants through an inspirational workshop underscored by the theme of mortality. He talked about the “dash,” or the concept of what you make of your life in the years between the birth and death years that will show up on your gravestone.
“Your life’s about what you do with that dash,” said Barkann, who lives in Newtown Square, Delaware County. “It’s about how well you connect with your family, how hard you work at the office, how much you give back to others.”
Michael Barkann speaks to the attorneys and staff at O’Connor Law in Frackville, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR)
Drawing from his personal experiences and the lives of various sports figures, the workshop explored three concepts: growing through disappointment; being there and actively listening; and not taking anyone for granted.
Barkann, who keeps busy with sports media year-round, said in recent years he has made public speaking engagements a side gig of sorts. He has presented similar workshops and speeches for large crowds at corporate events, as well as for community and religious groups and employers in small conference rooms, as on Monday.
Barkann, a six-time Mid-Atlantic Emmy award winner, has no plans to leave NBC Sports Philadelphia anytime soon.
“I love what I do,” he said. “I think that’s really important. You have to do what you do too many days of the week and hours of the day to not, by and large, love it. I don’t have an end date or an end point.
“They treat me very well at NBC Sports Philadelphia. It’s a cliche … (to say) they’re family to me, but they really are. You spend more time with the people you work with than the people you live with.”
Barkann has hosted numerous programs on NBC Sports Philadelphia since 1997. He is a seven-time Pennsylvania Sportscaster of the Year and is one of Philadelphia’s best-known sports media personalities.
“I can’t foresee stopping doing it right now,” Barkann said. “I can only foresee talking about the Eagles or the Phillies or the Sixers or the Flyers or the Union every day.”
State Rep. Tim Twardzik, Michael Barkann, Mary Kathleen O’Connor, James O’Connor and Ed Wallace at O’Connor Law in Frackville, pictured Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR)
Barkann is good friends with Ed Wallace, a managing director at the leadership development firm AchieveNEXT.
A friend of O’Connor Law’s founder, Michael J. O’Connor, Wallace has also served as a presenter at some of the firm’s previous renditions of its annual leadership workshop, held every President’s Day.
When Wallace was asked to recommend a speaker for this year’s event, he saw a good opportunity in his friend from NBC and new business partner, Michael Barkann.
Barkann recently joined AchieveNEXT as a keynote speaker, and will present at various events affiliated with the company.
Headquartered in suburban Philadelphia, AchieveNEXT works with companies and organizations that look to improve their performance by strengthening their relationships, according to Wallace. He describes his employer as “the smallest company with the largest customer base in the world,” serving companies such as Dow Chemical, Oracle and John Deere.
“Through my friendship with Michael over 25 years, conversation started about him wanting to kind of give back through keynote speaking,” Wallace said. “ … We’re totally gratified that someone with Michael’s profile is joining us as a business partner.”
While Barkann’s work with NBC Sports is “certainly my main gig,” he said that motivational speaking is something he’s wanted to explore for a long time.
“Mostly, I kind of talk about my career,” Barkann said. “How I grew up, how I got into sports and sportscasting. I do work in rebounding from disappointment because it’s part of my story — you can’t ignore that.”
While many of the topics he touches on should be familiar to most people, he said, the goal is to put them front of mind and help people commit to their priorities.
Mary Kathleen O’Connor, an attorney with O’Connor Law, said the firm’s President’s Day presentations have spanned a variety of topics, many of them relating to self-growth.
She said that Barkann’s presentation explored many important topics, such as adversity, leadership and active listening, and included breakout sessions.
“We were really excited,” she said. “We have a lot of Eagles fans, a lot of Phillies fans, who see Michael almost every game on TV, so we were just really happy to have him here.”
Two staff members at the firm — Ellen Guers, intake coordinator, and Vicki Hesse, a workers’ compensation paralegal — wore Eagles shirts for Barkann’s visit.
Hesse, a longtime fan of the media personality and a lifelong Philly sports fan, said she was “so excited” when she heard he would be the speaker for this year’s workshop.
“It was amazing,” Hesse said after the event. “It was so great to meet him in person. He is such a good motivational speaker and so caring and giving to everyone.”