Farnham’s flatbread finale: ESPN commentator reflects on the initial meal that inspired his spicy shrimp fundraiser

On November 16, 2010, Sean Farnham pulled up to a high-top table inside of the 3-year-old Davenport Tower in downtown Spokane after a narrow Gonzaga loss.

It was his first trip to Spokane for ESPN, which had hired him earlier that year, but his affinity for the Lilac City that’s now known well hadn’t yet taken root. It was about to, starting with a Safari Room menu item that Farnham would have never thought twice to order.

Although she no longer works there, a server named Robin suggested a spicy shrimp flatbread that evening, Farnham remembers.

“I am not a big seafood flatbread guy, and yet it was delicious,” Farnham recalled in a recent interview.

It was just another item on the menu, but now is listed as “The Farnham.”

Robin and Jen, another server who no longer is at the Davenport, were the first two to serve Farnham and his play-by-play partner Dave Flemming over 15 years ago. Their kindness and attentiveness played an important role in forging a relationship that goes beyond Farnham’s overnight comfort.

Farnham compared the Tower to his “Cheers” bar.

“When you travel as much as I travel, it’s nice to go to a place where you do feel like everybody knows your name,” Farnham said.

When he would arrive, Robin or Jen would see him, they’d confirm his order – always the spicy shrimp flatbread – he’d check in, drop his bags in his room, and at his table would be his drink and his food.

His affinity for Gonzaga and his flatbread eventually became a fundraising vessel for the American Cancer Society.

Four years ago, Farnham, alongside the Davenport, agreed to raise money for cancer research through an event hosted by the Safari Room. One night a year, for one of the games Farnham calls in Spokane, proceeds from The Farnham go directly to the American Cancer Society.

This year, the event will take place on Friday from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Davenport Tower, and Farnham will be serving his flatbread as he does every year to those who can make it downtown.

Since 2022, sales of The Farnham have raised more than $100,000.

“That is nothing to just scoff at; that is really good money, and I’m really grateful and honored,” he said.

The donations hit $32,000 last year, and the goal this year is to break $40,000.

He created a direct link to his donation page: cancer.org/FarnhamFlatbread.

This year, with the help of Numerica Credit Union as a corporate sponsor, Farnham has high hopes.

Farnham said he understands that not everyone likes shrimp or can even have it (the Davenport proceeds only are applicable through The Farnham), but he hopes to also raise money from those who want to donate to the research through his link or who will show up and donate in person.

Along with his event, local Zags fans Lissa and Tom Tripp have stepped up this year and in recent years to help match donations.

It is natural partnerships like these that make Spokane so special, Farnham said.

“They have been unbelievable,” he said. “(They) have been major supporters of this and have singlehandedly made this a great event. They are just people who get it, and I consider them friends as we’ve gotten to know each other through this process. I am incredibly grateful for them; they are just really good people.”

Over the years, Farnham fondly remembers people who he meets in Spokane, as they share stories with him about people who they have lost or who they know fighting cancer.

One year, a man told him that his wife had just passed away, but that she would have really wanted to be there for the event. It reinforced his why.

“There are a lot of things that are divisive in our world right now – and it doesn’t matter what side you’re on – but there is one thing that is not, and that is cancer,” Farnham said.

Farnham has a close friend whose Stage 3 breast cancer diagnosis required very intense chemotherapy for nine months to have a chance at a life-saving surgery.

On Jan. 2, the surgery saved her life.

“It is those constant reminders that you see and that you hear that make you go, ‘OK, we’re making progress,’ ” Farnham said.

He pointed to recent numbers the American Cancer Society released that showed people living with cancer are making it past the five-year mark more than ever before.

At the same time, there was an uptick in certain types of cancer, and while the five-year numbers are great progress, Farnham wants to shoot to stretch that to 10, maybe even 15 years.

Fourteen years is the number that set Farnham’s life mission into action.

His father-in-law passed away in 2018, and he remembers telling him that he was going to do everything he could to make sure other families would not have to watch their loved ones go through what they watched him go through.

“He was given five to seven years to live, he went through seven different trials, and he ended up getting 14 years,” Farnham said.

With those 14 years came relationships with his grandchildren, ones they will now remember, he said.

“To me, time is the one thing we are lucky to have, and I am trying to make the best use of time while I’m here and try to make sure that I can help impact that fight against cancer,” he said.

Farnham has been on the American Cancer Society’s board of directors going on three years now, and he said he sees the direct good and impact they’re doing and the commitment they make to help lessen the burden on people and their families.

“We provide the most money to funding of grants and research outside of the federal government,” he said.

And while the home of the Zags has raised six figures for the foundation, the basketball side of his final trip to Spokane will force a tough signoff when the final buzzer sounds.

In an era of college athletics that differs extensively from his first trip to Spokane, with conference realignment and new media rights deals that pale in comparison to 15 years ago, Gonzaga’s move to the Pac-12 next season means a new channel for conference games.

ESPN will no longer be in Spokane for half a season as the primary partner; that title will shift to USA Sports.

And that means no scheduled trips to Spokane for Farnham and a low likelihood that he will call a game for the Bulldogs unless media rights change hands in the future.

In 2016, Farnham said “Part of me always misses (Spokane), because this is kind of where I really grinded out my teeth for ESPN. And the fans in this community in particular have a really good soft spot in my heart.”