Jim Lampley facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jim Lampley
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Lampley (right) in New York in 2010
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| Born | April 8, 1949 |
| Alma mater | University of North Carolina |
| Occupation | Television journalist |
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Notable credit(s)
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HBO World Championship Boxing anchor and co-host (1988–2018) Olympic Games reporter and anchor (1984–2008) |
| Spouse(s) |
Bree Walker
(m. 1990–1999)
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| Children | 4 |
Jim Lampley (born April 8, 1949) is a famous American sportscaster. He has also been a news anchor, a film producer, and even a restaurant owner! Many people know him best as the exciting announcer for HBO World Championship Boxing for 30 years. He has covered an amazing 14 Olympic Games on TV in the U.S., which is a record! His last Olympics was the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.
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Jim Lampley's Early Life and Education
Jim Lampley was born in Hendersonville, North Carolina. After sixth grade, he grew up in Miami, Florida. His father passed away when Jim was five years old. His mother encouraged him to get involved in sports.
In 1971, Jim graduated from the University of North Carolina. He studied English and also earned a master's degree in Radio, Television, and Motion Pictures.
Jim Lampley's Career in Television
Jim Lampley has worked for many big TV networks. He has covered many different sports events.
Working at ABC Sports
In 1974, while still in graduate school, Jim was chosen by ABC Sports. ABC was looking for new talent. They thought Jim's youthful look would appeal to college fans. He covered many events for ABC, including baseball and college basketball.
He also covered the 1986 and 1987 Indianapolis 500 races. Jim worked on five Olympic Games for ABC. He was also part of the famous show Wide World of Sports.
From 1983 to 1985, Jim was the studio host for the USFL games on ABC. This was a spring football league with stars like Herschel Walker and Steve Young.
On July 4, 1984, Jim called the NASCAR Firecracker 400 race. He even interviewed President Ronald Reagan after the race!
In 1985, Jim Lampley and Al Michaels were the anchors for ABC's first ever Super Bowl XIX broadcast. After the game, Jim presented the Vince Lombardi Trophy to the winning team.
Working at KCBS News
In 1987, Jim moved to CBS. He became a co-anchor for the daily news show in Los Angeles. He also worked as a correspondent. That same year, he started working for HBO. He covered boxing and the annual Wimbledon Championships tennis tournament. In 1992, he was a news anchor for KCBS-TV at the Albertville Olympics.
Working at NBC Sports
In 1992, Jim Lampley joined NBC. He helped cover the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. He also covered the 1993 Ryder Cup golf tournament and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
In 1993, Jim became the studio host for The NFL on NBC. He later moved to calling the play-by-play for NBC's NFL games. In 1995, he started working on the HBO series Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.
Jim continued to cover the Olympics for NBC. He worked on the Nagano Olympics and the Sydney Olympics. In 2004, he was the daytime anchor for NBC's 2004 Summer Olympics coverage. He also anchored the USA Network's coverage of those Games.
The 2006 Winter Olympics was Jim's 13th Olympics. This broke the record set by Jim McKay, another famous Olympic announcer. Jim Lampley anchored his 14th Games at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.
Jim Lampley and HBO Boxing
Many fans know Jim Lampley best for his work on HBO World Championship Boxing. He also worked on Boxing After Dark and HBO's pay-per-view boxing shows. He was the main announcer from March 1988 until December 2018. HBO stopped its boxing program at the end of 2018.
As a boxing announcer, Jim called some of the most famous moments in the sport.
- He called the fight between Julio César Chávez and Meldrick Taylor. Chávez won by knockout with only two seconds left in the final round!
- He announced James "Buster" Douglas's huge upset win over Mike Tyson for the world heavyweight championship.
- He was there for the first Riddick Bowe-Andrew Golota fight. A riot happened after Golota was disqualified for hitting below the belt.
- He made the famous "It happened...IT HAPPENED!" call when George Foreman made an amazing comeback. Foreman knocked out Michael Moorer to win the heavyweight title.
In 2004, Jim hosted a series called Legendary Nights. This series had 12 parts. It celebrated HBO's 30 years of covering boxing. It looked back at 12 memorable fights shown on HBO.
Jim also wrote, hosted, and produced his own boxing news show. It was called The Fight Game with Jim Lampley on HBO.
Jim Lampley's Olympic Coverage List
Jim Lampley has covered many Olympic Games. Here is a list of the Olympics he worked on:
- 1976 Winter Olympics (play-by-play for ABC)
- 1976 Summer Olympics (play-by-play for ABC)
- 1980 Winter Olympics (play-by-play for ABC)
- 1984 Winter Olympics (daytime host for ABC)
- 1984 Summer Olympics (late-night host for ABC)
- 1992 Winter Olympics (coverage for KCBS-TV)
- 1992 Summer Olympics (late-night host for NBC)
- 1996 Summer Olympics (late-night host for NBC)
- 1998 Winter Olympics (primetime host for Turner Sports)
- 2000 Summer Olympics (cable host for MSNBC)
- 2002 Winter Olympics (cable host for both MSNBC and CNBC)
- 2004 Summer Olympics (daytime host for NBC and cable host for USA Network)
- 2006 Winter Olympics (daytime and late-night host for NBC)
- 2008 Summer Olympics (daytime host for NBC)
Jim Lampley and Sports Radio
Jim Lampley was the very first host on New York's sports talk radio station WFAN. He started working there on July 1, 1987, when the station first began.
Awards and Recognitions for Jim Lampley
Jim Lampley has received several awards for his work:
- In 1992, he won the Sam Taub Award. This award is for excellent boxing broadcasting journalism.
- He earned three Emmy awards for his part in the Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel HBO series.
- In 2015, Jim Lampley was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. This is a very high honor in boxing!
Jim Lampley's Life Outside Sports
Jim Lampley has also worked in movies and as a producer.
Film and Producing Career
Jim Lampley has a movie production company called Crystal Spring Productions. It produced movies like Welcome to Hollywood in 2000. His company is now called Atticus Entertainment. It produced the HBO documentary series On Freddie Roach in 2012–13. Since 2012, it has also produced The Fight Game with Jim Lampley.
Jim has appeared in many movies as an announcer. He played himself in films like Rocky Balboa, Southpaw, Creed, and Grudge Match. He also appeared in the sports comedy movies Blades of Glory (2007) and Balls of Fury. Jim has also been on TV shows like Everybody Hates Chris and MacGyver.
Personal Life
Jim Lampley was married to news anchor Bree Walker from 1990 to 1999. They have a son named Aaron James Lampley, born in 1991.
Jim and his current wife, Debra, live in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. They have a big blended family with five daughters, two sons, and nine grandchildren. Jim used to own two restaurants in Utah called Lakota Restaurant and Bar.
One of his daughters, Brooke Lampley, is a top art expert at Sotheby's.
