It Happened: Jim Lampley’s New Book Covers His Wide World Of Sports

After working for 50 years as a Hall of Fame sportscaster and the voice of the world’s greatest events, including nearly every major sport and 14 Olympic Games, you would expect the new book by award-winning broadcaster Jim Lampley to be chock-full of stories about the world-class athletes and celebrities he encountered.

Jim Lampley’s new book is now available for purchase. Photo: Simon & Schuster

Lampley’s book, It Happened!: A Uniquely Lucky Life in Sports Television, doesn’t disappoint. It follows the evolution of sports television from his unique perspective, with plenty of name-dropping, history-making events, and never-before-told stories from the world of sports.

But during Lampley’s appearance and book signing in front of an enthusiastic full house Wednesday at Warwick’s Books in La Jolla, California not far from his former home in Del Mar near the famed thoroughbred racetrack, Lampley emphasized the importance of being honest about both the achievements and failures, “my mistakes, my misjudgments, the things that went wrong,” while reflecting on the influence of the key relationships in his life and the lessons that resonate with him today.

“I knew the book would not be nearly as interesting if I wasn’t honest,” said Lampley, “Long ago, I learned in sports broadcasting and later in news broadcasting, that the truth is way more interesting than any kind of fiction.”

Hosted by Southern California sports broadcaster Scott Kaplan and Lampley’s longtime friend, Lampley talked about his approach to writing the book.

Jim Lampley’s Writing Process

Jim Lampley and moderator Scott Kaplan share stories from Lampley’s new book with an appreciative audience in Lampley’s former hometown. Photo: Gayle Lynn Falkenthal, NY Fights

“I wrote the book stream of consciousness. I didn’t have an outline. I would write a certain amount every day until I felt like I had told a story. And then I would go to bed that night and lie with my head on the pillow and think, Okay, what is it that I need to write about tomorrow?”

He finished the book in about three months. It was published on April 15. While it is an autobiography, it ties Lampley’s experiences together through the many people who shaped his life, from his mother and his late brother to his mentors, enemies, friends, and broadcast partners – and the many athletes whose accomplishments he chronicled.

Early in his career, Lampley crossed paths at the Rome Olympics in 1960 with a man who would greatly influence his life and career, the young gold medal-winning heavyweight Cassius Clay, soon known to the world as Muhammad Ali.

Other influential figures included tennis greats Arthur Ashe and Billie Jean King, whom Lampley jokes he still hears in his head offering life lessons to him, and the late former heavyweight champion, entrepreneur, minister, and actor George Foreman, who worked alongside Lampley as a boxing commentator with HBO.

George Foreman’s Influence on Jim Lampley

George Foreman transcended boxing to become an American cultural icon. Photo: BoxRec Wiki

“George Foreman was a special, wise, astonishing human being, which brings us to a strange fact. He died two weeks before the publication of the book.

“The first thing you read in the book is about the 19-year-old me watching the 19-year-old him win his gold medal in Mexico City. The blurb on the back of the book that he wrote is possibly the last public act of his life.” Foreman died on March 21 in Houston at age 76.

“The book is in many ways stimulated and inspired by George. For him to die two weeks before it was published, I’m surprised, knowing me, that I’m not weeping in front of you,” admitted Lampley.

History-Making Moves

Jim Lampley with his former HBO Boxing colleagues Andre Ward and Max Kellerman. Photo: HBO Boxing

Lampley may have had a tougher time deciding what to leave out of the book after witnessing so many history-making events, many of which transcended athletic competition into popular culture.

• Becoming the first live reporter on the sideline of a nationally televised college football game
• Following in the footsteps of Jim McKay as host on ABC’s Wide World of Sports and Howard Cosell as halftime host for ABC’s Monday Night Football
• Partnering with ABC, CBS, NBC, Turner, and HBO
• Ascending to host of HBO’s Wimbledon weekday telecasts
• Reaching “icon” status as the 30-year face and voice of HBO World Championship Boxing.

Today, Lampley is still best known for bringing his view from ringside at the world’s biggest prizefights for HBO Boxing. For 30 years, Lampley covered the most famous names during boxing’s heyday in the United States: Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Ray Leonard, George Foreman, Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather, and Manny Pacquiao.

Lampley isn’t quite done yet. Although HBO Boxing closed up shop on December 8, 2018, Lampley returned to the microphone for a boxing card last week, set in Times Square on Friday, May 3. He confirmed for NY Fights he expects to return for more boxing commentary in the near future.

And he’s already thinking about a second book, covering the many stories yet to be told.

Best Fight Lampley Ever Called – A Controversial Classic

Jim Lampley calls Chavez vs. Taylor the best fight he ever called. Photo: BoxRec Wiki

Best fight he ever called?

“I called a lot of great fights,” recalled Lampley. “One of the greatest fights I ever called, which is a heartbreaking fight, was Meldrick Taylor against Julio Cesar Chavez.

“I say that because Meldrick Taylor was a brilliant young American Olympian in the early stages and development of his career. He fought the fight of his life. He got reeled in toward the end by Julio Cesar Chavez, a savage, vicious fighter with tremendous body punching power.

“If the fight goes another five seconds, Meldrick Taylor is the winner of that fight, and his career goes forward on the basis of a massive victory. Richard Steele stopped the fight with five seconds to go.

“I thought it was totally unjust, and it still hurts me to this day that Richard stopped that fight. Chavez had 100 wins in his career. Why did he need one more gift win against a kid who had given so much of himself as Meldrick did that day?” observed Lampley.

Lampley’s Favorite Athlete: An American Icon

Muhammad Ali scored the only knockout of George Foreman’s career in 1974. Photo: HBO Boxing

When asked to name his favorite athlete among the thousands he has met, interviewed, and gotten to know, he did not hesitate.

“Cassius Clay, slash, Muhammad Ali, by far,” declared Lampley.

“Why? Because of his social significance, because of what he meant to society, because of what he talked to the world. And by the way, if you read the book, you will find that there is a personal interaction between him and me later on in my life, which further underlines that and makes it even more important.”

Jim Lampley’s Return to Boxing Broadcasting

How did Lampley feel calling boxing again in Times Square for the Ring Magazine card, his first in six years?

“It was fun. It was great,” said Lampley. But he admitted being “extremely apprehensive. After six years of not being at ringside, I did some things – my wife can tell you – I looked back at some old fights. I did some other things to try to prepare myself.

“But I didn’t have a clear expectation going in as to how good I was going to be,” recalls Lampley. “I was very comfortable from the first bell on.

“I wish that the fights had been better. They were dreadful, really a horrible night of boxing. But at the end of the evening, the boxing writer whom I most respect and care about said to me that he had watched it on TV. I said, ‘How did I do?’ And he said, ‘You were Jim Lampley,’ and that’s the highest compliment.”

Jim Lampley didn’t sugarcoat the poor quality of the Times Square Fatal Fury fight card on his broadcast call. Photo: Cris Esqueda, Golden Boy Boxing

Asked by a member of the audience about his longtime color commentator, the Hall of Fame champion Roy Jones Jr., Lampley paused and became emotional about his friend and colleague.

“My relationship with Roy is warm and loving, but now from a distance,” alluding to the tragedy suffered by Jones. Jr., after the death of his son in 2024.

“All I can say about it is my son is alive and sitting right in front of me. Roy has suffered a loss within his family that is unspeakably difficult for me to deal with. I love him. I miss him.”

Lampley said he suggested Jones Jr. join him for the Times Square broadcast. Ironically, Ring Magazine hired Jones Jr.’s long-time amateur and professional nemesis, Antonio Tarver.

“I had a good time working with Tarver. I have a hunch that’s who I’ll be working with going forward,” said Lampley. And it’s good to hear there is a ‘going forward’ in the future for Lampley’s fans and boxing fans worldwide.

Who does Lampley enjoy listening to among his sports broadcasting colleagues? Bill Simmons, founder and CEO of the sports and pop culture website The Ringer, and host of the popular sports podcast The Bill Simmons Podcast.