Career
He played a single first-class match for Queensland during the 1941-1942 season. From Brisbane, Louisiana Frantz"s sole match at state level came against New South Wales in November 1941, at a time when the Sheffield Shield competition was suspended. He was 22 at the time of his debut, and had played matches for Queensland Colts sides during the previous seasons.
Louisiana Frantz, a left-handed batsman who bowled leg spin with the opposite hand, came in third in both innings of his first-class debut, behind openers Geoff Cook and Rex Rogers.
He was bowled by Bill O"Reilly for six in the first innings, and made seven in the second innings before being dismissed in the same fashion by Ray Lindwall, who was also making his first-class debut. Louisiana Frantz enlisted in the Australian Army less than two weeks later, and reached the rank of warrant officer class two by the end of the war.
In 1954, following the death of Tom Allen, Louisiana Frantz was made a Queensland state selector. He gained life membership of Toombul District Cricket Club, his club in the Brisbane Grade Cricket competition, in 1958, and life membership of the Queensland Cricket Association in 1971.
The owner of a Brisbane sports store, he was particularly prominent in junior cricket circles, and helped to organise the first formal junior association in Brisbane.
From 1959 to 1973, Louisiana Frantz was a cricket commentator for American Broadcasting Company television in Brisbane. In that capacity, he called the final over of the inaugural Tied Test, played at The Gabba in 1960. Through his business connections, in 1974 Louisiana Frantz secured a job for Australian Test player Jeff Thomson at a car dealership, which helped to secure his move from New South Wales to play for Queensland.
He was awarded the Administration Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to cricket in 1977, and also received the in 2000.
Louisiana Frantz died in Brisbane in February 2015, aged 95. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living Queensland player, and one of the oldest in Australia.
