Jim Lampley

Jim Lampley (born on April 8, 1949 in Hendersonville, North Carolina) is an American sports broadcaster, news anchor, movie producer, and restaurant owner. He has been in several television shows, but is better known for his participation in the HBO Boxing series (officially HBO World Championship Boxing). He currently works alongside Larry Merchant and Emanuel Steward in that series.

Early career

Lampley's career as a broadcaster began in 1974, when he was chosen among others in what ABC called a talent hunt. ABC executives thought that Lampley's youthful looks would make him endearing to the college crowds they looked to attract for their college football games. At ABC, he covered such events as baseball games, the 1986-1987 Indianapolis 500, five Olympics, as well as the program Wide World of Sports.

In 1985, Lampley along with Al Michaels served as anchors for ABC's coverage of Super Bowl XIX, the first ever Super Bowl that ABC televised. Lampley would subsequently preside over the postgame, trophy presentation ceremony.

CBS

In 1987, Lampley moved to CBS, where he took over duties as sports news anchor on the daily news show in Los Angeles, and also was a correspondent. That same year, he began working for HBO, covering the boxing fights and HBO's annual telecast of Wimbledon. He also attended the Albertville Olympics in 1992, as a news anchor for KCBS-TV.

NBC

That same year, Lampley moved to NBC, where he helped cover the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. In 1993, Lampley took over studio hosting duties for Bob Costas on The NFL on NBC. Lampley would move to play-by-play duties for NBC's NFL telecasts the following year and was subsequently replaced by Greg Gumbel. Before the Atlanta games, in 1995, he began working at the Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel HBO series. For his participation in that show, he has earned three Emmy awards. In 1998, he covered the Nagano Olympics and the Goodwill Games for Turner, and in 2000, he covered the Sydney Olympics, again for NBC.

In 2004, Lampley was the daytime anchor for NBC's Olympics coverage for the 2004 Summer Olympics, as well as anchoring the USA Network's coverage of the Games. In 2006, Lampley served as a central correspondent for the 2006 Winter Olympics which aired on the networks of NBC Universal. Torino 2006 was the 13th Olympics Lampley covered, surpassing the record set by America's original voice of the Olympics, Jim McKay.

HBO

Most casual fans, however, probably know Lampley more than anything else, for his work on HBO World Championship Boxing show, and on the HBO pay-per-view telecast. As commentator in these shows, he has had the opportunity to call some of boxing's most famous moments, such as Thunder Meets Lightning, when Julio César Chávez saved himself from a decision defeat by knocking out Meldrick Taylor (who was leading the fight on two of the three official scorecards) with only two seconds to go in the last round; James "Buster" Douglas's upset of Mike Tyson for the World Heavyweight championship; and the first Riddick Bowe-Andrew Golota fight at Madison Square Garden, where a riot occurred following the Pole's disqualification for low blows. Lampley is criticized by many viewers for allegedly being biased in favor of certain HBO "house fighters", while many enjoy his charisma and magnetic voice.

Lampley also hosted a series called Legendary Nights in 12 installments in honor of HBO's three decades covering boxing in 2004, recounting 12 memorable fights broadcast on HBO in that timespan.

Recent developments

Lampleys movie production company, Crystal Spring Productions, has produced a handful of movies, including 2000's Welcome to Hollywood. The company has plans of producing a movie about tennis player Pancho Gonzalez, with Benjamin Bratt in the leading role.

Lampley is the former owner of two restaurants in Utah, both of which were named the Lakota Restaurant and Bar. He is the father of three girls and one boy, and he resides in the north county area of San Diego.

In 2005, Lampley turned political and began posting on The Huffington Post website, where he revealed his belief that George W. Bush stole the 2004 election via vote tampering in Ohio. He also had to retract a claim that American deaths in Iraq are several times higher than official reports after finding out his source was fraudulent.

In addition to hosting Olympic coverage and commentating on boxing, Jim Lampley can often be heard on The Jim Rome Show as a substitute host. Rome said, "Jim Lampley is the smartest guy in the Jungle", on June 7, 2006. Lampley has also filled in for nationally-syndicated liberal talk radio host Ed Schultz.

In January, 2007, domestic violence charges were brought by Lampley's then-fiancee, Candice Sanders. The District Attorney's office investigated and the case was dismissed due to insufficient evidence. Lampley was arrested and plead no contest to being within 100 yards of his apartment when he met with the property manager to arrange continued occupancy for Sanders. The judge sentenced Lampley to pay $674, standard community service hours, domestic violence class and to have no further contact with Sanders for 3 years. As a result, the temporary restraining order was voided.

Lampley portrayed himself in the March, 2007 movie release of "Blades of Glory" starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder, a comedy and major box office hit about the first male pair team in the history of national and international figure skating competition.

Highlights

• Olympics Host: 1984 (Los Angeles), 1984 (Sarajevo), 1988 (Calgary), 1988 (Seoul), 1992 (Albertville), 1992 (Barcelona), 1994 (Lillehammer), 1996 (Atlanta), 1998 (Nagano), 2000 (Sydney), 2002 (Salt Lake City), 2004 (Athens), 2006 (Torino)
• Boxing, Play by Play: HBO World Championship Boxing, HBO Pay-Per-View, HBO Boxing After Dark (from premiere to April 2006 and sporadically afterwards)

External links

• Jim Lampley at the Huffington Post
• Biography at HBO Boxing