For Franco Finn, winding down is the hardest part.
The build up is easy, when he enters the proverbial phone booth and transforms from a mere mortal into the Golden State Warriors’ deafening, larger-than-life emcee.
“It doesn’t take much for me to be excited about the Warriors,” Finn, a San Francisco native, told The Examiner shortly after the team was eliminated from the playoffs. That part comes naturally.
The most difficult period of his job is the come down at the end, he said; the transition into the offseason, to a life bereft of the adrenaline high that comes with being Stephen Curry’s biggest hype man.
But he never really unwinds. “I don’t turn it down,” he said with a laugh.
If you’ve been to a Warriors game this millennium, you’ve undoubtedly experienced Finn. Whether it’s his voice blaring through Chase Center’s booming speaker system or his many appearances on the venue’s 10,000-foot jumbotron, he’s hard to miss.
For two decades, he’s been entrusted with rousing up 20,000 Warriors fans every home game, first at Oracle Arena and now across the Bay in his hometown.
Finn, 46, serves as the Warriors’ in-arena host, a position he’s held far longer than the only other two people to have the job. You may see him interviewing people in the stands during commercial breaks, ringing the ceremonial cable car bell with a celebrity guest at center court, or telling fans to rise to their feet before a dramatic late-game moment.
But his job crescendos minutes before tip-off when he revs up the crowd and team by introducing the starting lineup — the most sacred sermon of any NBA arena announcer. It’s his job to “start the engine,” he said.
“Wa-Wa-Wa-Warriors fans! Iiiiit’s go time! Let’s get hyped and make some noiiiiise!” he bellows before launching into naming, one by one, which five Warriors are about to take the floor.
During the playoffs, his histrionics can be so intense that Finn — who’s introduced the Warriors’ dynastic core of Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green before every game they’ve played in the Bay Area — has come close to passing out.
His theatrics are widely praised in NBA circles, stamped with approval by current and former Warriors players, coaches, and front office staff. Even Toronto Raptors minority owner, basketball enthusiast and “Chef Curry with the pot” lyricist Drake has complimented him on his thunderous intros.
But basketball season is temporary. Even for the best teams — as the Warriors have often been over the past decade — it ends in mid-June. Or, as it did for this year’s Warriors, the campaign abruptly halts a month earlier.
So where does that leave Finn, with so much excess energy to spare and no Warriors games to spend it on?
If the Incredible Hulk’s secret is he’s always angry, then Finn’s secret is he’s always a hype man, both inside Chase Center’s halls and beyond them.
His Warriors gig is only part-time. He spends most of his working life as the community activations lead for Alaska Airlines, where he’s been employed the last 10 years. If the job description sounds vague and broad, that’s because it’s supposed to be. Finn is, in more ways than one, indescribable.
“My job is to be the face of Alaska Airlines,” Finn said. “Any big activations, big launches, whatever we need to jazz up the brand like I do with the Warriors, I do with Alaska Airlines as well.”
In the simplest terms, Finn is Alaska Airlines’ emcee — the master of ceremonies for any and all ceremonies that need mastering. The airline created the position especially for Finn, tailored to fit his zestful personality.
“You can’t put Franco in a box. If that happened, I’d feel bad for the box,” said Marilyn Romano, one of Alaska Airlines’ vice presidents and a friend of Finn.
When Alaska Airlines unveils a new route or has sponsorship appearances at events like San Francisco Pride and Carnavale San Francisco, it’s Finn’s job to bring them to life.
“He brings the excitement and the fun to anything that we’re doing,” Romano said. “He takes it to the next level.”
Take this example: Romano said the company hosts events called “Surprise and Delight Flights,” where they’ll spontaneously appear at the gate of a flight and add something special to the experience — like the debut of a newly painted aircraft. It could be the first flight of the morning or a redeye. That’s when they’ll send Finn to the airport gate to greet the unsuspecting passengers to spice up the event.
“There’s nothing funnier than watching people at the gate of a 6 a.m. flight — where passengers are tired and only looking for coffee — and then you start hearing this loud, happy voice. The last thing you think you want to do that early is breakdance with Franco Finn. But then you find yourself doing that,” Romano said. “He’s there giving away tickets or t-shirts, he’s going up to kids and getting them excited. That’s what he does. He brings that joy to what would normally be just another flight.”
As if his responsibilities with the Warriors and Alaska Airlines weren’t enough, Finn also triples up as a freelance auctioneer, contracted by some of the Bay Area’s biggest Asian American and Pacific Islander nonprofits.
He’s auctioned off hundreds of experiences and pieces of memorabilia in his career. The most lucrative items include a $50,000 Warriors basketball autographed by the 2015 championship team, a $100,000 private concert by singer Michael Franti, and an $80,000 Will Ferrell golf pack.
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His auctioning exploits have grown so renowned, he’s earned the moniker, the “hype man auctioneer.”
“I’m a hype man for hire,” Finn, a self-described hustler, said to sum up his multi-headed career.
Three different jobs, all sewn together by a common thread: Finn’s unrelenting appetite for uplifting others. “He’s just one person, but he’s got the energy of 20 people,” Romano said.
“I have many hands in many cookie jars,” Finn admitted. “It has definitely been a juggling act. But hey, when you’re the voice of the Bay Area and you’re being called upon, it’s an honor. Because I use my talents for the greater good.”
“You can’t put Franco in a box. If that happened, I’d feel bad for the box,” Marilyn Romano, one of Alaska Airlines’ vice presidents and a friend of Finn, said.
Craig Lee/The ExaminerFinn credited his nonstop zeal to his Filipino heritage. “Filipinos have been so adaptable,” he said. “I’m a pleaser, in many ways. I just like to make people happy. If you talk to the average Filipino, they make something out of nothing. They may not have much, but they make the most out of what they have.”
“Being humble, respectful, treating people how you want to be treated. That’s who I am. It comes from my Asian culture. It’s my foundation and DNA,” he said.
Finn is the only Asian American emcee across all 30 NBA clubs. For a sport so widely embraced by Asians across the globe, they are sparsely represented among its media and front-facing figures.
More Filipino Americans are arriving on the scene though, including guards Jordan Clarkson of the Utah Jazz and Jalen Green of the Houston Rockets. Erik Spoelstra, the first Asian American head coach in any of the four major North American sports leagues, is currently leading the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. Cassidy Hubbarth is a frequent host and sideline reporter for ESPN’s NBA coverage.
Finn's Filipino roots are what brought him to basketball in the first place. His mother, Angeles Lucente, immigrated to San Francisco from the Philippines in the 1970s. Finn called basketball her “entree” into the U.S., the first feature of Americana she fully embraced. She shared that love with Finn, and the sport became their “connector.” The two would spend night after night watching the Warriors from their Excelsior district home, the only time Finn was allowed to stay up past his bedtime.
His hype man origin story started a bit later when he became the student body spirit commissioner as a senior at Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep. That’s where he discovered his powers, stirring up his classmates before sports games or rallies.
Finn’s big break came at one of his earliest jobs out of college. He was an emcee for Radio Disney, warming up crazed teenagers before concerts for mega pop stars like Britney Spears, the Backstreet Boys, and Christina Aguilera.
When he was 25, after rousing up the Oakland Coliseum prior to a Hilary Duff show, he was approached backstage. It was a high-ranking Warriors business staffer who had been in the crowd with his family.
“God, you commanded that audience,” Finn remembers the team official telling him. “We need a hype guy. Like you.”
That opened the door for him to audition for the vacancy. Twenty years later, Finn has become a hallmark of the team that brought him and his mom together.
“This is the American dream,” Finn said. “My job is a symbol of what my mom wanted for her son when she immigrated here.”
It’s fitting that the two primary voices at Chase Center are Finn, an Asian American, and Matt Pitman, the only openly gay public address announcer in the NBA.
“What a perfect backdrop,” Finn said of his and Pitman’s unique dynamic. “There’s no judgment here. We have such a diverse population. And I embrace it and will continue to be a voice for the community.”
“I think it’s a natural fit. Of course it would be here in the Bay,” Pitman said. “The Warriors understand that more than any other organization. Having people in every role who reflect the many colors, stripes, orientations of the Bay Area community is important to them. Our pairing is significant in that way.”
Finn hopes his journey has blazed the trail for more people who look like him to pursue professions where they’ve historically been underrepresented.
“I do it because I love it. I knew from a young age this is what I wanted to do, and I just happen to be Filipino American,” he said. “Filipinos are stereotypically a nurse or a doctor. It’s nice to be someone that’s helping to break the bamboo ceiling.”
He frequently receives messages from fans in the Philippines who watch the Warriors on NBA League Pass — where the in-arena entertainment is shown during the commercial breaks — from either young people thanking him for paving the way, thrilled to see someone with their heritage take center stage on the NBA’s platform, or parents saying their children mimic his electric introductions.
“I’m living proof that when you put your mind to it, don’t let anything stop you,” he said. “If it’s something you love and you’re passionate about, you’ve got to trust that gut instinct.”
“I created my own path. It’s unconventional, but that plays into who I am.”
