Westlake Scholarship Namesake Remembered as Competitor, Hero

By Mike Gillis

In 1981, The Westlake Board of Education established the Frank Sarna Memorial Scholarship Fund. This scholarship is awarded annually to two senior track athletes (one male, one female) who have demonstrated the qualities of Frank Sarna: scholastic achievement, athletic excellence, personal character and leadership. Frank graduated from Westlake High School in 1975 after a distinguished academic and athletic high school career. Frank was admitted to United States Coast Guard Academy and continued his academic and athletic excellence, graduating near the top of his class in 1979 and making the All-Navy Track team after a brilliant collegiate track career. Thirty years ago this year, after a tragic accident at sea, Frank Sarna, 22, died while serving in the US Coast Guard.

Frank grew up in Westlake and was the oldest of seven children; he had four brothers and two sisters. “Frank learned competition at an early age because he had four brothers,” said Pat Sarna, Frank’s mother. “Frank participated in just about every sporting activity you could imagine,” she said.

As an Eagle Scout, Frank earned his lifesaving badge one summer just before he went to a family reunion on Lake Michigan. During the reunion, one of Frank’s uncles was swimming and was suddenly taken out into the lake by a strong undertow. Frank quickly swam out into the water and dragged his uncle, against the undertow, to the beach where the lifeguards took over. “The newspapers the next day gave all the credit for the rescue to the lifeguards,” Pat Sarna remembers. “That didn’t matter because we all saw it,” she said. Frank had achieved hero status with his entire extended family at age 14.

John Shie, a friend and classmate of Frank’s in Westlake remembers Frank often leaving the house late for school. He would have to sprint from his Hawkins Road home down to the end of the street to catch the bus. “Frank would fly down the street as the waiting bus load of kids cheered him on,” Shie said. Frank never missed that bus.

At Westlake High School, Frank was a track athlete of monumental achievement. Frank was the Captain of the track team and broke no fewer than five standing school records. “He was an outstanding athlete as well as an outstanding person,” said Larry Nickel, who was head coach of The Westlake Demon track team for 27 years. “Frank was one of the most outstanding young men I’ve ever had the pleasure to coach,” he said.

Frank Sturm was a fellow cadet and good friend of Frank Sarna’s at the Coast Guard Academy. “The Coast Guard Academy is a competitive place,” said Sturm. “It’s hard to get in and once you do, the program is competitive. It was the kind of place where everybody busted everybody’s chops,” he said. With his sense of humor and quick wit, Frank fit right in. “He could take it. And he could dish it out too,” said Sturm.

While at the Coast Guard Academy, Frank served in the Big Brothers program in New London, CT helping a disadvantaged child. “He wasn’t just helping the kid, he was involved in his life. I think he spent as much time with that kid as he spent with his buddies,” Sturm said.

Lee Jones, one of Frank's classmates and teammates on the Coast Guard Academy track team remembered one example of Frank’s drive and athleticism. “Frank hit one of the first three hurdles so hard that he nearly fell to the track, losing a lot of ground to the field,” Jones said. Frank recovered and gradually made up the gap on the field to win at the tape. “It was a gutsy performance that showed his fierce competitiveness and his never-give-up attitude," he said.

When Frank graduated from the Academy in 1979, his first assignment was to be a junior officer aboard the US Coast Guard Cutter Blackthorn, a 180-foot buoy tender. On that ship, Ensign Frank Sarna met Ensign Randy Ryan. Frank and Randy would share a room on the Blackthorn. “I wouldn’t call it a room, exactly,” Ryan said of the onboard accommodations. The two junior officers became close friends over the next several months.

Frank quickly earned the respect of his fellow officers and crew aboard the ship. “Frank was well loved by the crew. He was great at human interaction and had such a personal magnetism,” Ryan said. “He was brilliant too. Some people have common sense and some people are book smart. Frank had the combination of both,” he said.

Frank’s competitive edge followed him into his early career in the Coast Guard. “We were always playing this game of one-upsmanship, always trying to get something over on each other,” Ryan recalled. When he wasn’t at sea, Frank would get up at 5:00 AM every morning and go for a run. “He coaxed me into running with him a few times and ran circles around me and taunted me,” Ryan said.

Frank was in the prime of his life. On New Year’s Day, 1980 he got engaged to be married. He had already touched so many people with his inspiring attitude and accomplishments. “He accomplished a lot. I just wish he would have had more time, he never got to fulfill his dreams,” says his mother, Pat.

On the night of January 28, 1980, The Blackthorn was out bound from Tampa Bay on its way to its home port of Galveston, TX. Ensigns Sarna and Ryan were on the bridge of the ship as it made its way out of the Bay and past The Skyway Bridge. Minutes later the Blackthorn encountered the SS Capricorn, a tank ship making its way into the Bay. The two ships were on a collision course. The larger tank ship’s readied anchor hooked into the Blackthorn, pulling it over to its side in one quick, violent motion. Lying on its side with the Capricorn’s 12-ton anchor embedded in it, The Blackthorn quickly sank to the bottom of Tampa Bay.

Amidst the chaos and confusion that ensued, Ensign Sarna’s thoughts and efforts remained focused on the safety of his crew and shipmates. He was spotted on the water’s surface after the ship had capsized making repeated diving attempts to rescue members of the crew that were trapped on the sinking ship. Then, finally, on one of the dives, Ensign Sarna failed to surface.

Several days later, Ensign Frank Sarna’s body was recovered on the water’s surface, presumably released from the ship by currents or divers investigating the scene. In all, 23 aboard the Blackthorn died as a result of the accident, the worst peacetime accident in Coast Guard history. Frank was buried at Arlington National Cemetery alongside two of his shipmates.

In his never-ending pursuit of excellence, compassion and athleticism, Frank died so that others might live. And in what could be called his final game of one-upsmanship, Frank prevailed- because there is no greater love.

To contribute to The Frank Sarna Memorial Scholarship Fund, send a check of any amount made out to Westlake Board of Education (MEMO: Frank Sarna Memorial Scholarship Fund), to: Westlake Board of Education ATTN: Frank Sarna Memorial Scholarship, 27200 Hilliard Blvd., Westlake, OH 44145.

Gillis, a freelance writer and public affairs consultant, is an alumni of Westlake High School and currently lives in Fairview Park, Ohio. He can be reached at mpgillis@sbcglobal.net.