![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/RHR-L-BARKANN-ADV-3.jpg\")
Michael Barkann speaks to the attorneys and staff at O\u2019Connor Law in Frackville, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL\/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR)<\/p>\nFRACKVILLE \u2014 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\u2019Connor Law.<\/p>\n
Barkann \u2014 best known for his work on the pregame and postgame shows for the Eagles, Phillies and other Philadelphia sports teams \u2014 made his first-ever stop to Frackville thanks to his good friend, Ed Wallace, a native of the borough.<\/p>\n
A boisterous on-air personality when sounding off on Philly sports, Barkann presented a friendly but reflective demeanor on Monday for \u201cElevate Your Leadership Profile\u201d \u2014 a professional development workshop for the attorneys and staff at O\u2019Connor Law.<\/p>\n
Barkann, 65, took participants through an inspirational workshop underscored by the theme of mortality. He talked about the \u201cdash,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour life\u2019s about what you do with that dash,\u201d said Barkann, who lives in Newtown Square, Delaware County. \u201cIt\u2019s about how well you connect with your family, how hard you work at the office, how much you give back to others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Michael Barkann speaks to the attorneys and staff at O\u2019Connor Law in Frackville, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL\/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR)<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Barkann, a six-time Mid-Atlantic Emmy award winner, has no plans to leave NBC Sports Philadelphia anytime soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love what I do,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that\u2019s 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\u2019t have an end date or an end point.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey treat me very well at NBC Sports Philadelphia. It\u2019s a cliche \u2026 (to say) they\u2019re family to me, but they really are. You spend more time with the people you work with than the people you live with.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s best-known sports media personalities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t foresee stopping doing it right now,\u201d Barkann said. \u201cI can only foresee talking about the Eagles or the Phillies or the Sixers or the Flyers or the Union every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"State](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/RHR-L-BARKANN-ADV-4.jpg\")
State Rep. Tim Twardzik, Michael Barkann, Mary Kathleen O\u2019Connor, James O\u2019Connor and Ed Wallace at O\u2019Connor Law in Frackville, pictured Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL\/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR)<\/p>\n
Barkann is good friends with Ed Wallace, a managing director at the leadership development firm AchieveNEXT.<\/p>\n
A friend of O\u2019Connor Law\u2019s founder, Michael J. O\u2019Connor, Wallace has also served as a presenter at some of the firm\u2019s previous renditions of its annual leadership workshop, held every President\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n
When Wallace was asked to recommend a speaker for this year\u2019s event, he saw a good opportunity in his friend from NBC and new business partner, Michael Barkann.<\/p>\n
Barkann recently joined AchieveNEXT as a keynote speaker, and will present at various events affiliated with the company.<\/p>\n
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 \u201cthe smallest company with the largest customer base in the world,\u201d serving companies such as Dow Chemical, Oracle and John Deere.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough my friendship with Michael over 25 years, conversation started about him wanting to kind of give back through keynote speaking,\u201d Wallace said. \u201c \u2026 We\u2019re totally gratified that someone with Michael\u2019s profile is joining us as a business partner.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Barkann\u2019s work with NBC Sports is \u201ccertainly my main gig,\u201d he said that motivational speaking is something he\u2019s wanted to explore for a long time.<\/p>\n
\u201cMostly, I kind of talk about my career,\u201d Barkann said. \u201cHow I grew up, how I got into sports and sportscasting. I do work in rebounding from disappointment because it\u2019s part of my story \u2014 you can\u2019t ignore that.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Mary Kathleen O\u2019Connor, an attorney with O\u2019Connor Law, said the firm\u2019s President\u2019s Day presentations have spanned a variety of topics, many of them relating to self-growth.<\/p>\n
She said that Barkann\u2019s presentation explored many important topics, such as adversity, leadership and active listening, and included breakout sessions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were really excited,\u201d she said. \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Two staff members at the firm \u2014 Ellen Guers, intake coordinator, and Vicki Hesse, a workers\u2019 compensation paralegal \u2014 wore Eagles shirts for Barkann\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n
Hesse, a longtime fan of the media personality and a lifelong Philly sports fan, said she was \u201cso excited\u201d when she heard he would be the speaker for this year\u2019s workshop.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was amazing,\u201d Hesse said after the event. \u201cIt was so great to meet him in person. He is such a good motivational speaker and so caring and giving to everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRACKVILLE \u2014 On a rare break from analyzing, opining or speaking professionally in any other capacity about Philadelphia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[26457,182,139,28,69,71,70,231,726],"class_list":{"0":"post-116130","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-frackville","9":"tag-local-news","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-philadelphia","13":"tag-philadelphia-headlines","14":"tag-philadelphia-news","15":"tag-schuylkill-county","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}