Michael Franke Obituary-Death; Fort Wayne Komets Co-Owner Has Passed Away.

Posted by Martina Birk on Monday, May 6, 2024

Sunday marked the death of a man who played a crucial role in keeping the Fort Wayne Komets afloat after the original team relocated.

The team announced on Monday morning that Michael Franke, the president and co-owner, had passed away following a protracted fight with cancer. He was sixty-three.

One of Michael Franke’s brothers, general manager David Franke, said in a statement, “Michael was the soul of our family and the Komets.” When Michael was a little child, he played ket hockey. In the summer of 1990, he fulfilled a lifetime aspiration of becoming the president of the Komets.

The original Komets franchise relocated to New York earlier that year. Together with Scott Sproat, the Franke brothers—Michael, Bill, Steve, and David—bought a franchise from Flint, Michigan, and promptly relocated the team to Fort Wayne.

Additionally, they managed to preserve the traditional Komets name.

In addition, Michael Franke was instrumental in keeping the United Hockey League alive, which the Komets joined in 1999. He also revived the International Hockey League and combined the Central Hockey League and ECHL, which is now home to the Komets.

He was on the Board of Directors of ECHL as well.

This past summer, Richard Franke, his brother, passed away.

“Michael was a good man, a loving husband, father, uncle, and brother,” David Franke said in a Komets media release. He is reunited with our mom, dad, brother Richard, sister-in-law Barbara, and cousin/brother Tommy Franke. Please keep his wife Teresa, daughter Katie, her husband Eric, and Micheal’s son James in your prayers”

“As our dad told us many times, nothing stays the same; things change, and we keep moving forward,” David Franke’s statement continued. “We will move forward, but with heavy hearts.”

This Friday, prior to their home game versus Utah at the Memorial Coliseum, the Komets will observe a moment of quiet in tribute.

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