FEATURE: Hamlin bids farewell to an old friend

Photos courtesy of Gary Ford

HAMLIN — The first time Charlie Shira sat behind a microphone to work PA at Hamlin High School, Ronald Reagan was President, “Dallas” was the top-rated show on television and the Space Shuttle had yet to get off a launch pad. 

That’s a long time ago. 

Some four decades later, Shira was honored prior to Tuesday’s Hamlin baseball game with Forsan in a brief ceremony to commemorate his years of service to HHS and to acknowledge his retirement from PA announcing. 

It brought to a close a career that included 40 years of track, 30 years of baseball and 25 years of football as the “Voice of the Pipers.”