Radio host remembers an old friend, ‘polka king’ Yankovic

Friday, Oct. 16, 1998 | 11:31 a.m.

When Las Vegas radio personality Sig Sakowicz talked by phone to his longtime friend Frank "The Polka King" Yankovic six weeks ago, he detected a hint of sadness.

"He was depressed because he could not perform, and he felt he had a lot more to give," said Sakowicz, who reports on the local and national entertainment beat during 9 a.m. broadcasts on KLAV-AM 1230. "Frank hated the idea of retiring."

Yankovic, who recorded the hits "Just Because," "Pennsylvania Polka" and "Beer Barrel Polka," died Wednesday at his home in New Port Richey, Fla. He was 83.

"I remember he liked to come to Las Vegas to perform, because the people here were real receptive to his music," Sakowicz said. "Frank really packed them in at the Showboat." Yankovic played the hotel-casino frequently in the 1970s.

Yankovic, who won his first Grammy for polka in 1986 for his album "70 Years of Hits," quit performing last year because of his battle with heart disease. He fell last week and was briefly hospitalized.

Sakowicz, who had Yankovic as a guest on his former television show, "Sig's Superstar," which aired on KLAS-TV Channel 8 in the late 1970s and early '80s, said his friend of 35 years was pleased that polka music has made a comeback, especially among the young.

"He was tickled pink that younger people had taken to polka," Sakowicz said. "Frank and Lawrence Welk had popularized the accordion, but I think he (Yankovic) was a better accordionist than Welk."

Before he became ill, Yankovic did a version of the "Too Fat Polka" with fellow Cleveland celebrity Drew Carey. On his ABC sitcom at the recent start of the new TV season, Carey started portraying an accordionist front man for a rock 'n' roll group.

While Yankovic enjoyed coming to Las Vegas to perform, it was in mid-America that he attained legendary status for more than six decades. Many of his fans were ethnic Americans who had settled in large population pockets of that region.

"His biggest audiences were in Ohio and Illinois -- especially in Chicago," said Sakowicz who also broadcasts a Saturday afternoon show over WPNA in Chicago.

"What I'll remember most about Frank was that he always was willing to do events for charity. He couldn't do enough to help people."

Yankovic, like Sakowicz, was a longtime member of the Polish National Alliance, a fraternal insurance organization.

Born 1915 in Davis, W.Va., Yankovic was raised in Cleveland from infancy. He started playing the accordion at age 9 and got his first neighborhood gig when he was 15.

His biggest hits were million-sellers "Just Because," Yankovic's signature song, in 1948 and "Blue Skirt Waltz" in 1949. Other hits included "Pennsylvania Polka," "In Heaven There Is No Beer," "Accordion Man Waltz" and "Beer Barrel Polka."

When the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences began honoring polka musicians in 1986, many felt it was appropriate that Yankovic got one of the first statuettes for that musical genre.

He received three more Grammy nominations including for this year's "Songs of The Polka King, Volume 2."