WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — For nearly 42 years WPTV NewsChannel 5/WFLX Fox 29 anchor John Favole has been part of the fabric for so many as they start their day.
His start? From humble beginnings. At the age of four Favole boarded a Pan Am flight in Cuba with his mother on Thanksgiving Day in 1960. Favs thought he was going on vacation. Little did he know, she was moving them to Miami for a better life.
By his teens, Favole developed a nose for news. A sports editor for his award-winning high school newspaper.
His drive and determination eventually took him to Tampa in 1979 where he got it food into TV News, lighting sets and running the studio camera.
For the next15 years, John spent time in Savanna, Chattanooga, Macon and Fort Myers. A typewriter often at his fingertips to crank out the story of the day.
Then in the Fall of 1994, WPTV NewsChannel 5 came calling. John was reunited with his morning co-anchor from Chattanooga almost six years prior, his work-wife Roxanne Stein.
Along with meteorologist Dean Tendrich, the trio affectionately became known as the Three Amigos.
By his side for the noon show, another dear friend with chemistry just as memorable, Kelley Dunn.
.@JohnFavolewptv starts his last broadcast on @WPTV ahead of his retirement. @StephanieWPTV pic.twitter.com/3yxCQa1ES3
— T.A. Walker (@timallanwalker) December 23, 2020
But for as much as John has loved his job, at heart, he is a family man. For 16 years he's been married to the love of his life Shannon. Together they have their daughter, Grace.
The "Mustache Man" who has maybe only had one bad hair day in his entire career. Favole is no doubt "Who Ya' Gonna' Call" for a laugh or two, but also a steady hand during life's most difficult and darkest times.
Whether it was building homes with Habitat for Humanity or chairing creative balls to raise money for cancer research, as an only child, Favs has always considered viewers part of his extended family.
To this day, viewers still remember the special reports that took Favole back to Cuba where his family fled the Castro regime.
Favole has never lost sight of what's important. Always down for a little monkey business, he wasn't one to cry foul when it came to animal segments and had the mouth to prove it.
Whenever up to bat, Favole has always strived to hit a home run. For him, that means being accurate, ethical and authentic.
The laughs with TV greats like Jerry Lewis, Bob Saget and more have been endless. Enough to knock your socks off. Through for the first time this year, Favole traded in his sock collection to wear flip flops behind his home desk during pandemic life.
And so we salute a man, who has meant so much to so many and has woven his way into our homes and our hearts.
His last shows are on WPTV Wednesday at 6 a.m. and Fox 29 at 8 a.m.
