Jim Lampley | Stories from “It Happened!: A Uniquely Lucky Life in Sports Television” | The Only Ball That Matters

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Jim Lampley:00:00:00

I did seven interviews in Montreal in 1976 with Bruce Jenner, but

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00:00 Jim Lampley joins Story & Craft

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at one point he said to me, we're on

camera so often here, people are going

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to think there's something going on.

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Announcer: Welcome to Story Craft.

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Now, here's your host, Marc Preston.

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Marc Preston: Okay, here we go.

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Another episode of Story Craft.

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Welcome back.

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Glad to have you.

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If this is your very first

episode, thank you very much for

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stopping by, checking it out.

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Do appreciate it.

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Uh, today we have a great episode, hall of

Fame, sportscaster and author Jim Lampley.

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Now Jim has covered everything,

uh, football, boxing, the

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Olympics, just all kinds of stuff.

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I mean, we covered like everything,

Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali.

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Jim is such a great storyteller.

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Uh, a guy with a big heart

has a lot of stories to tell.

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No way we could fit them all.

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In this episode.

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So, uh, you ought to

check out his new book.

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It's, uh, available for

pre order right now.

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It is called It Happened, uh, Uniquely

Lucky Life in Sports Television.

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It is coming out April 15th, but

of course, pre order it right now,

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wherever you get, uh, your books.

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It was a great conversation.

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I really could have talked

to him all day long.

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Uh, just so many great stories

about his career, uh, and, uh,

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kind of what he's up to right now.

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Also, I want to drop a quick note

in, we had a conversation a few

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weeks back with actor Jordan Bridges.

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He was in Den of Thieves,

if you remember the sequel.

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He's also in the TV show Palm Royale, one

of my favorite characters in the show.

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Now we discussed during our episode with

him, he likes to put together playlists.

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And, uh, he said he was going to offer

up a custom playlist just for us.

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And it is available right now.

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He calls it Requiem for a Beach.

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Just go to storyandcraftpod.

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com and look up the episode with Jordan.

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It's only it's on the front page.

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It's only a few episodes ago.

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And in the description of the episode,

you will see a link right at the bottom.

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That's where you can check out.

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His, uh, his cool mix.

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He made up something very unique.

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Now he also sent me a few links where

you can help out the folks who were

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affected by the California wildfires.

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Just, uh, go take a look.

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Uh, it's on the front page.

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Look at the very top.

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It says California fire support.

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Just click on that link at the top

of the page and you will be taken

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to a page where you can go find a

few links to, uh, kind of help out.

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Help out the folks, uh, who were

affected and, uh, Jordan sent me some

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pictures of his backyard, uh, backyard.

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It's like more of a

Canyon ish looking thing.

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It was pretty wild.

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So hearts are with

everybody in California.

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Of course, that's the reason why we're

just now getting that link from Jordan.

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He's got a couple of

things he was working on.

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So, uh, go check out the, uh, music

link to Spotify, the playlist.

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So thank you to Jordan for sending

over that very cool Spotify link.

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And, uh, of course the links.

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So you can help out the

good folks in California.

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Okay.

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Also, uh, since you're going to be at the

website, by the way, storyandcraftpod.

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com.

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Go to storyandcraftpod.

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com slash rate.

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It's a small favor.

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I'm asking if you can just follow the

show that way you get notified every

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time there's a new episode, but also

leave a review, leave some stars.

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You can do that also in whatever

podcast app you listen to.

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It just helps folks to find the

show and so they can experience

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the mischief we have going on here.

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All right, so let's jump

right into it today.

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Love this conversation.

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I could talk to Jim.

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All day long.

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Uh, so many great stories.

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I've got to go get his book.

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It's coming out here in April because

I want to know more of the stories.

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So, uh, here we go today.

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It is Jim Lampley day right

now on story and craft.

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03:55 Jim Lampley's Early Life and Career Beginnings

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How are you doing?

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Very well.

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So I was running just two minutes behind.

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I have a rambunctious 10 month old

golden retriever who desperately wanted

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to stay down here with us, but I had

to scoot him upstairs cause he was,

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uh, He was wanting to sit on my lap.

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Jim Lampley: I first acquired a

golden retriever when I was living

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here in Chapel Hill in the, um,

early seventies, eventually took

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the golden retriever to New York,

eventually gave him to my mother.

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Uh, when she retired to the country,

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Marc Preston: his name was Ernie.

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We just had this little guy for I

think nine months now, but we're going

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through the adolescent teen years, the

rambunctious nonstop kind of a thing.

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So you're in Chapel Hill right now?

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I'm

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Jim Lampley: in Chapel Hill, yes.

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Marc Preston: So is that

where you're originally from?

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Jim Lampley: Return to Chapel

Hill is a frequent and widespread

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syndrome of Carolina grads, uh,

or Carolina dropouts, either one.

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Uh, it's, it's very hard once you

have been here, once you've lived

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here, once you have it in your

system, it's hard to get it out.

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You may know that just recently the

university signed Bill Belichick to be

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the head football coach here, right?

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No, I actually did not.

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Bill Belichick is coming to coach

the university of North Carolina.

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College football team, winner of

six Super Bowls, arguably the most

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successful coach in NFL history.

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Why in the world would he take

a head coaching job at the

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University of North Carolina in his

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Marc Preston: seventies at this point?

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Because of the aesthetic, uh, just that's

where he wants to be, or is he, uh,

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Jim Lampley: It's, it's a

Tar Heel coming home story.

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His father was an assistant

coach here in the fifties.

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He was a little boy here in the fifties.

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He won the news conference here.

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When he stood up at the podium and

said, you know, my parents always

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told me that the first words I ever

learned to say out loud were beat Duke.

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So with that, he instantly

cemented himself.

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Um, but yeah, it's, we all come

home at some time or another.

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Yeah,

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Marc Preston: I'm originally from

Dallas, but, uh, my, uh, I had,

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uh, worked in radio many moons ago.

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I made a swing through New Orleans

and my ex wife's from New Orleans.

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The same thing happens with a lot of folks

from New Orleans, or if you marry somebody

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from New Orleans, you're going to end up

living there at least a period of time.

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Now I'm back in Texas though,

on the coast, so there's always

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this idea from folks that I've

known that they're going to end up

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back there at some point in time.

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Jim Lampley: Well, I think this

happens with places that are

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arguably unusual or unique.

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And Chapel Hill has that identity.

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New Orleans has that identity.

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There aren't that many megalopoli,

big cities in the USA that can make

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that claim that they are unique

and different from other places.

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I think San Francisco can make that claim.

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I think New Orleans can

definitely make that claim.

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I think Boston can make

that claim in some ways.

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And obviously New York

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Marc Preston: is New York.

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There, there is no other New York.

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Was that the objective way, but way

back when, when you were deciding,

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okay, here's what I want to do.

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Here's what I aspire to do.

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06:59 College Years and Personal Struggles

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Is, was it going to be sports

casting or were you thinking more

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just straight traditional journalism

or how did that manifest for you?

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It is all an accident.

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Jim Lampley: Okay.

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And the reason that the book is titled.

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It happened is because there was no plan.

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There was no roadmap.

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There was no, um, logical

way of constructing what

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was going to happen to me.

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I had very assertively

attempted to throw my life away.

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Um, when I was flunking out of.

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Undergraduate school and, um, sinking

my grades to a level where it would

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be almost impossible to come back and

graduate, uh, and getting into a position

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where I had to go home to my mother's

crappy rented apartment in Miami and

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work, uh, in the filing department

of a So, um, Um, a large bank and,

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uh, and I was, you know, I was gone.

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I had, I had no horizons, no prospects.

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Well, going back, what would you

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Marc Preston: ascribe

to being the, the issue?

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Was it just, you were having just so

much fun in college that the grades

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were secondary or maybe the academia

thing just wasn't how you were wired.

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Jim Lampley: I was having so much fun in

college that the grades were secondary

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and, um, and I was, Um, from pretty

much the moment I arrived here in Chapel

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Hill, I was a 17 year old alcoholic.

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I was spending all day drinking

beer and eventually bartending

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at a place called The Shack.

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Um, come down before it falls down.

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And, uh, and I didn't go to class for

about a year and a half for two years.

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So at one point I had taken,

um, you get this straight.

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I, at one point I had taken 25 courses.

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I had passed 16 or 17 of them.

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I had a 1.

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44 academic average.

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I had to make A's on two

correspondence courses, which was.

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mountainous work and almost

impossible to get back into

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school to regain my eligibility.

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And I did that.

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And I came back and I made, um,

a long string, uh, I think I

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made 24 straight A's to graduate.

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So, so my undergraduate career

is this unbelievable disconnect.

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Uh, between the first person

and the second person.

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Eventually I wound up applying

to graduate school in the radio,

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television, motion pictures department.

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And in those days to get into the

graduate program in that department,

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you had to meet with the chairman

of the department, very boisterous.

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Self important dude, and I had to go in

and sit at his desk and meet with him,

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have a personal interview to try to

get into the graduate school program.

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And when I arrived, I saw that

he had my transcript on his desk.

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So there was no way to hide any of this.

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And right in the middle of the

transcript, if he looked carefully,

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he would find where I had taken his

signature undergraduate course, RTVNP

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58, never attended a class session

and made an F. So he looked it all

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over while I was sitting there.

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He was, and I could see his eyes.

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Lighting up as he saw the RTB MP 58

and all the F's and that kind of stuff.

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And eventually he looked at me

and said, well, the army sure did

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you a world of good, didn't it?

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I'd never been in the army.

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Uh, and so when he said the army did

you a world of good and I'm thinking,

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okay, that's, that's positive.

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That cleans me up, but

I don't want to lie.

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So I, I gave him a kind of a. Head shake.

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It wasn't up and down.

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It wasn't anything that said yes or no.

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It was just a movement of the head.

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He bought it and we went on and I

wound up, uh, going to graduate school

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and being for a period of time, the

best graduate student in his program.

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Sometimes takes those

moments where things are on

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11:17 Turning Point and Academic Success

11:17 ,134 --> 00:11:19,084

Marc Preston: the bottom, almost

falls out where you kind of

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see, Oh yeah, better course.

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Correct.

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Yeah.

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No.

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Jim Lampley: Uh, well, I was ashamed.

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Uh, and my, Um, double widowed,

single mother had sweated bullets and

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blood to, uh, get me through junior

high school in Miami and high school

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in Miami and put me in a position

to actually get into the university

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of North Carolina for out of state.

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And I had ruthlessly betrayed by

coming up here and dishonoring the

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whole thing, et cetera, et cetera.

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And I. Had gone home in shame and, um,

and, you know, had to watch her weep

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when I moved back into the apartment

and wound up with, um, job prospects of,

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I could either become a trainee at the

global headquarters of Burger King on,

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uh, Highway 1 in Miami, Or I could, uh, go

into the mortgage loan filing department

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at, uh, first national bank of Miami with

2, 500 feet of filing cabinets for women

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between the ages of 62 and 65 and me.

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And I took the bank job because

it seemed more glamorous.

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Uh, and, and I did a good job.

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Um, you know, catching the tiny errors

here and there on endlessly deep

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mortgage loan packages, FHA and VA loans.

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Um, and I did that for almost two years.

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No, no.

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This is after you got

your graduate degree?

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No, this is, this is while I

was flunked out, dropped out.

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This is in the middle of my own.

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This is when my undergraduate

transcript was all Fs and this is

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before I went back and made it all As.

245

13:04 ,814 --> 00:13:12,034

Uh, the purgatory in the bank filing room

is what motivated me to actually go back

246

13:12 ,035 --> 00:13:18,560

to school and, and try to succeed because

I recognized I eventually when I decided

247

13:18 ,560 --> 00:13:22,480

I was going to go back and the word got

around the department I got called into

248

13:22 ,480 --> 00:13:28,060

the um chief executive of the mortgage

loan department's office A guy I had

249

13:28 ,060 --> 00:13:31,810

never met named gene turkoski and uh, mr.

250

13:31 ,810 --> 00:13:36,910

Turkoski Was looking at my personnel

file and he looked across the desk and

251

13:36 ,910 --> 00:13:38,450

said, I hear you going back to college.

252

13:38 ,450 --> 00:13:40,540

I said, Yeah, he said,

Why would you do that?

253

13:40 ,849 --> 00:13:43,219

You have done so well here.

254

13:43 ,459 --> 00:13:48,089

You have gotten three

pay raises in 13 months.

255

13:48 ,310 --> 00:13:52,550

Um, you are really respected

within the department.

256

13:52 ,550 --> 00:13:58,055

If you stay here, you can Uh,

ultimately succeed to the level of

257

13:58 ,055 --> 00:14:02,714

becoming an assistant cashier, uh,

here in the mortgage loan department.

258

14:02 ,765 --> 00:14:06,844

And my thought was, Oh my God, he

thinks this is the best I can do.

259

14:07 ,214 --> 00:14:10,805

He thinks that this is

the limit of my horizons.

260

14:11 ,024 --> 00:14:12,724

Get me out of here.

261

14:13 ,184 --> 00:14:18,844

Uh, and I, and that I use that as

fuel to go ahead and follow through

262

14:18 ,844 --> 00:14:23,474

and, Come back to Chapel Hill and be

a completely different person and do,

263

14:23 ,885 --> 00:14:28,285

yeah, I mean, you know, cause this

is true Jekyll and Hyde type stuff.

264

14:28 ,464 --> 00:14:31,954

Uh, and, and I can honestly say

when I arrived here in Chapel

265

14:31 ,954 --> 00:14:37,744

Hill, my only real motivation was,

okay, the drinking age here is 18.

266

14:38 ,064 --> 00:14:42,594

I'm only 17, but I can get a fake

ID and I will be able to drink

267

14:42 ,594 --> 00:14:44,045

in these bars in Chapel Hill.

268

14:44 ,295 --> 00:14:46,535

And, you know, there are other.

269

14:46 ,830 --> 00:14:49,880

Um, really bloody elements

of the whole thing.

270

14:49 ,880 --> 00:14:56,370

I lost my mother's 1964 Oldsmobile

Cutlass in a poker game at the SAE house.

271

14:56 ,430 --> 00:14:59,939

Uh, and you know, it

goes on and on and on.

272

15:00 ,250 --> 00:15:06,020

And so no one would have foreseen that

this person would someday be writing.

273

15:06 ,354 --> 00:15:11,984

His autobiography about his

fairly successful and respected

274

15:11 ,984 --> 00:15:14,055

sports television broadcasting

275

15:14 ,055 --> 00:15:14,384

Marc Preston: career.

276

15:14 ,464 --> 00:15:15,564

No one would have foreseen that.

277

15:15 ,574 --> 00:15:18,295

Well, you're mentioning, uh, Miami.

278

15:18 ,305 --> 00:15:19,894

Is that where you grew up originally?

279

15:19 ,894 --> 00:15:22,604

Or I'm originally from

Hendersonville, North Carolina.

280

15:22 ,604 --> 00:15:22,854

Okay.

281

15:22 ,854 --> 00:15:23,204

Jim Lampley: Okay.

282

15:23 ,205 --> 00:15:23,919

Marc Preston: My

283

15:23 ,919 --> 00:15:25,664

Jim Lampley: mother was a double widow.

284

15:26 ,260 --> 00:15:32,460

Widowed to two World War II bomber

pilots, um, and the second one was a

285

15:32 ,650 --> 00:15:35,130

Hendersonville, North Carolina resident.

286

15:35 ,210 --> 00:15:40,709

She lived there for, uh, probably

10 or 12 years, uh, raising

287

15:40 ,709 --> 00:15:42,879

my older half brother and me.

288

15:43 ,329 --> 00:15:46,239

Uh, my father died when

I was five years old.

289

15:46 ,770 --> 00:15:53,369

Uh, and eventually, my, uh, his automobile

dealership failed, and my mother needed to

290

15:53 ,369 --> 00:15:58,875

find a way to earn money to Uh, support me

and my brother and get us through school.

291

15:59 ,215 --> 00:16:05,795

And she wound up choosing to go, uh, back

to South Florida where she had been during

292

16:05 ,805 --> 00:16:10,764

world war II when living on military bases

and learned how to sell life insurance.

293

16:10 ,765 --> 00:16:14,194

She was going to sell life insurance

to, uh, the people on military

294

16:14 ,195 --> 00:16:16,395

bases, uh, in and around Miami.

295

16:16 ,635 --> 00:16:17,735

That was the whole plan.

296

16:18 ,045 --> 00:16:22,365

So I went to junior high school

and high school in Miami after

297

16:22 ,375 --> 00:16:24,355

having left Hendersonville.

298

16:24 ,560 --> 00:16:25,060

In

299

16:25 ,220 --> 00:16:28,010

Marc Preston: seventh grade, was it

a big culture shock for you between

300

16:28 ,010 --> 00:16:31,420

North Carolina, which the only thing

I remember from North Carolina,

301

16:31 ,420 --> 00:16:35,099

very, you know, I'm around, almost

got a job in Charlotte back in 98.

302

16:35 ,099 --> 00:16:37,070

I remember, uh, it's a lot of trees.

303

16:37 ,320 --> 00:16:39,589

It aesthetically, it's just very relaxing.

304

16:39 ,589 --> 00:16:39,999

If you will.

305

16:40 ,009 --> 00:16:41,330

Miami's a whole different,

306

16:42 ,020 --> 00:16:42,770

Jim Lampley: that's so funny.

307

16:42 ,770 --> 00:16:45,610

When I brought my wife here a few

years ago, for the first two or

308

16:45 ,610 --> 00:16:48,770

three days, all she kept saying was

trees, trees, trees, trees, trees.

309

16:49 ,070 --> 00:16:50,390

There's nothing but trees here.

310

16:50 ,790 --> 00:16:55,710

Um, but yes, uh, Hendersonville in

the mountains in the western part

311

16:55 ,710 --> 00:17:02,740

of the state, 18 miles south of

Asheville, uh, is a, an idyllic resort

312

17:02 ,740 --> 00:17:05,610

town, uh, just beautiful, glorious.

313

17:06 ,000 --> 00:17:07,640

My grandparents lived there.

314

17:07 ,829 --> 00:17:12,460

My aunts and uncles in the

Lampley family lived there.

315

17:12 ,790 --> 00:17:19,630

Um, I was forced by the Henderson County

school system to skip the fourth grade.

316

17:20 ,190 --> 00:17:21,270

So.

317

17:21 ,335 --> 00:17:26,454

So, once my mother took me to Miami

in the seventh grade, I was one

318

17:26 ,464 --> 00:17:31,225

year younger than everybody else in

my class, heading into junior high

319

17:31 ,225 --> 00:17:33,094

school, uh, and then high school.

320

17:33 ,154 --> 00:17:37,475

And I, you know, I was this kid

from North Carolina, one year

321

17:37 ,475 --> 00:17:38,675

younger than everybody else.

322

17:38 ,675 --> 00:17:42,895

I was a social misfit, uh, and that's.

323

17:43 ,290 --> 00:17:45,929

Part of how I became a teenage alcoholic.

324

17:45 ,929 --> 00:17:46,850

I was trying to fit in.

325

17:46 ,919 --> 00:17:49,840

Marc Preston: What were you up

to when you were back as a teen?

326

17:49 ,850 --> 00:17:52,040

Were you, uh, you know, when

you were in school, where

327

17:52 ,040 --> 00:17:53,490

you did, did you play sports?

328

17:53 ,490 --> 00:17:56,439

Was that part of your

ecosystem or were you working?

329

17:56 ,439 --> 00:17:57,220

What were you up to?

330

17:57 ,459 --> 00:17:59,500

Jim Lampley: I was a hundred

percent certain that I was going

331

17:59 ,500 --> 00:18:01,919

to be a college level athlete.

332

18:01 ,980 --> 00:18:03,909

I was going to play sports in high school.

333

18:04 ,340 --> 00:18:10,950

Um, and I will never forget the Eighth

grade day at South Miami Junior High

334

18:10 ,950 --> 00:18:15,909

School, when I learned that I was

the slowest kid in Phys Ed, that

335

18:15 ,909 --> 00:18:21,105

I, that I could not run as fast as

Any of my phys ed classmates, and

336

18:21 ,125 --> 00:18:23,655

particularly not as fast as Ricky D.

337

18:23 ,655 --> 00:18:26,514

Frank, who ran the 50 yard dash and 6.

338

18:26 ,545 --> 00:18:27,514

2. I was like 8.

339

18:27 ,565 --> 00:18:29,135

1 or something like that.

340

18:29 ,375 --> 00:18:30,274

I was a sloth.

341

18:30 ,524 --> 00:18:34,914

So at that point I learned that the

only sport I would ever play with

342

18:34 ,915 --> 00:18:36,745

any competence whatsoever was golf.

343

18:37 ,325 --> 00:18:42,405

Uh, and I did wind up being number two

on the golf team, but, uh, but that

344

18:42 ,405 --> 00:18:46,004

was not exactly high prestige, uh, at.

345

18:46 ,655 --> 00:18:53,175

Southwest Miami High School, which was

a 3, 200 student motorcycle high school,

346

18:53 ,175 --> 00:18:59,925

uh, south of Coral Gables in a kind of

a tract house community where my mother

347

18:59 ,925 --> 00:19:02,885

would rent one crappy house after another.

348

19:04 ,029 --> 00:19:06,059

Pretty much a new house every two years.

349

19:06 ,450 --> 00:19:10,320

And, uh, and I was just

constantly desperate.

350

19:10 ,740 --> 00:19:12,219

Uh, can I get out of here?

351

19:12 ,219 --> 00:19:13,679

Can I get back to North Carolina?

352

19:13 ,710 --> 00:19:18,930

So getting into school in Chapel

Hill was a holy grail type objective.

353

19:19 ,210 --> 00:19:21,639

And for that, I studied for that.

354

19:21 ,700 --> 00:19:22,249

I did.

355

19:22 ,504 --> 00:19:24,125

homework in high school for that.

356

19:24 ,125 --> 00:19:28,655

I, you know, put myself out and made

sure that I was going to be able to get

357

19:28 ,665 --> 00:19:32,774

into a school out of state at Carolina,

which wasn't an easy thing to do.

358

19:33 ,254 --> 00:19:38,125

And then when I did do that and

arrived here in Chapel Hill as a 17

359

19:38 ,135 --> 00:19:44,365

year old freshman, my only real goal

was, okay, um, can I get a fake ID and

360

19:44 ,365 --> 00:19:46,034

drink in these bars, even though I'm

361

19:46 ,034 --> 00:19:47,235

Marc Preston: not 18 until April.

362

19:47 ,520 --> 00:19:51,020

You said you had a, uh, older brother,

but was, was that kind of the first time

363

19:51 ,020 --> 00:19:54,620

you'd ever kind of been on your, kind

of on your own, that college experience?

364

19:54 ,670 --> 00:19:57,380

Jim Lampley: Well, my brother, my older

brother and I were lifestyle different.

365

19:57 ,700 --> 00:19:59,390

He was also in Chapel Hill.

366

19:59 ,420 --> 00:20:01,630

He had also come to school here.

367

20:01 ,999 --> 00:20:11,710

Uh, and there was in 1966 when I

arrived, a Um, fairly active and safe

368

20:11 ,710 --> 00:20:13,870

enough gay community in Chapel Hill.

369

20:14 ,200 --> 00:20:15,750

So that was my brother.

370

20:15 ,860 --> 00:20:21,220

He, he was maybe the bravest

person I've ever known in my life.

371

20:21 ,230 --> 00:20:25,909

He came out at age 14 in

Henderson, North Carolina.

372

20:27 ,010 --> 00:20:34,230

So, you know, try to top that for

courage, uh, as a, A teenager and, but

373

20:34 ,230 --> 00:20:39,780

the result of that was that, um, my

only real interactions with my brother

374

20:40 ,110 --> 00:20:44,700

once I was here in Chapel Hill were

that every once in a while I would go

375

20:44 ,700 --> 00:20:48,780

to a party at his house or every once

in a while, he would take me to a bar

376

20:48 ,780 --> 00:20:51,180

called the Tempo Room because they had.

377

20:51 ,445 --> 00:20:54,275

The best roast beef sandwich

in all of North Carolina.

378

20:54 ,595 --> 00:21:00,575

The Tempo Room was the most famous gay

bar between Washington, D. C. and Atlanta.

379

21:00 ,575 --> 00:21:04,715

Uh, and, uh, and my brother

was, of course, a regular there.

380

21:05 ,125 --> 00:21:07,845

So, um, we didn't spend

that much time together.

381

21:07 ,845 --> 00:21:10,294

We didn't see that much

of, uh, each other.

382

21:10 ,294 --> 00:21:11,935

We had different backgrounds.

383

21:11 ,935 --> 00:21:14,075

The story here is that.

384

21:14 ,530 --> 00:21:17,710

Um, and I want to, don't want to get

too deep into details that you don't

385

21:17 ,720 --> 00:21:25,700

really need, but, um, my mother's first

husband was, uh, a highly decorated B

386

21:25 ,700 --> 00:21:29,710

29 pilot from, um, Berlin, Wisconsin.

387

21:30 ,455 --> 00:21:37,785

And, uh, he made it to Lieutenant Colonel

flying B 29s off of Saipan over Japan.

388

21:38 ,325 --> 00:21:44,385

Um, and when he came back at the end of

the war, the transport plane bringing

389

21:44 ,385 --> 00:21:48,955

him back from Saipan crashed into a

mountain in Brevard, North Carolina,

390

21:48 ,975 --> 00:21:54,635

18 miles away, 18 miles away from

where, from where his good friend.

391

21:55 ,000 --> 00:21:58,510

Jim Lampley was already

home in Hendersonville.

392

21:58 ,960 --> 00:22:05,190

The legend in my family, and it's

surely apocryphal, um, is that on the

393

22:05 ,190 --> 00:22:10,449

morning after that crash, my father

walked into his mother's kitchen in

394

22:10 ,500 --> 00:22:15,970

Hendersonville and Grandma Mid said,

Jim, there's a radio report of a

395

22:15 ,970 --> 00:22:19,250

transport plane crashing in Brevard.

396

22:19 ,270 --> 00:22:22,450

And my father said, Fred

Tricky's on that plane.

397

22:22 ,510 --> 00:22:26,680

Now the fact is there's no way he

could have known, uh, on what transport

398

22:26 ,680 --> 00:22:28,510

plane his buddy was coming back.

399

22:28 ,570 --> 00:22:32,160

That's, that's something that my

grandmother made up for the sake

400

22:32 ,160 --> 00:22:38,070

of embellishing the story, but he

did two days later, take a uniform.

401

22:38 ,794 --> 00:22:42,774

And some medals to Tampa for my

mother to bury so that she would

402

22:42 ,774 --> 00:22:44,655

have something to put into a casket.

403

22:45 ,215 --> 00:22:46,775

And they began seeing each other.

404

22:47 ,125 --> 00:22:50,484

Uh, that was late 1940s, early

405

22:50 ,485 --> 00:22:52,085

Marc Preston: 1930s.

406

22:52 ,085 --> 00:22:55,524

and your father, did they know each other

from, uh, being from North Carolina?

407

22:55 ,745 --> 00:22:56,384

They were wingmates.

408

22:56 ,805 --> 00:22:57,195

Okay.

409

22:59 ,935 --> 00:23:02,435

Jim Lampley: Jim Lampley was from

Hendersonville, North Carolina.

410

23:02 ,725 --> 00:23:05,324

But they were wingmates in

the same bomber squadron.

411

23:05 ,324 --> 00:23:05,705

I got you.

412

23:06 ,590 --> 00:23:10,540

So he ultimately wound up

marrying my mother in 1948.

413

23:11 ,259 --> 00:23:12,999

I was born in 1949.

414

23:13 ,429 --> 00:23:15,879

My father died of cancer in 1954.

415

23:16 ,139 --> 00:23:22,769

So by the time my mother's 35, she's

a double widow, um, to two dead.

416

23:23 ,199 --> 00:23:24,310

Air Force bomber pilot.

417

23:24 ,310 --> 00:23:28,249

She has one son by each of those two guys.

418

23:28 ,300 --> 00:23:34,710

The sons are personality very different

and she has to figure out how to, um,

419

23:34 ,760 --> 00:23:36,669

earn enough money to raise these two boys.

420

23:36 ,840 --> 00:23:41,159

So, um, her courage, perseverance.

421

23:41 ,895 --> 00:23:44,285

Tenacity, resourcefulness.

422

23:44 ,695 --> 00:23:46,044

Um, those are the

423

23:46 ,044 --> 00:23:47,725

Marc Preston: reasons

that I'm still here now.

424

23:47 ,814 --> 00:23:50,064

You know, having just you and your

brother, I mean, that had to have been

425

23:50 ,064 --> 00:23:53,635

sort of, um, uh, she's definitely doing

double duty, uh, as you're coming up.

426

23:53 ,844 --> 00:23:57,534

W were you cognizant of, of the

burden that maybe that wa was

427

23:57 ,534 --> 00:23:59,574

on her, uh, when you were young?

428

23:59 ,635 --> 00:24:03,375

Like, did you understand like, okay,

you know, double widow to you as a

429

24:03 ,375 --> 00:24:05,385

kid, she's old, but she's only 35.

430

24:05 ,775 --> 00:24:08,385

Were, uh, were, were you

kind of cognizant of the, the

431

24:08 ,385 --> 00:24:09,615

burden that she was navigating.

432

24:10 ,005 --> 00:24:10,385

Jim Lampley: Yes.

433

24:10 ,385 --> 00:24:15,254

I, I mean, I, I won't say

I was oblivious to it.

434

24:16 ,225 --> 00:24:17,425

Was I sympathetic?

435

24:18 ,445 --> 00:24:19,465

Not nearly enough.

436

24:19 ,735 --> 00:24:21,395

Not, not anywhere close.

437

24:21 ,774 --> 00:24:27,024

I later felt tremendous guilt,

uh, about the way that I treated

438

24:27 ,024 --> 00:24:33,959

her and the degree to which I, Um,

failed to observe and support, uh,

439

24:33 ,990 --> 00:24:36,399

how difficult all that was for her.

440

24:36 ,709 --> 00:24:39,179

Because of course I was about

my own objectives, right.

441

24:39 ,179 --> 00:24:43,119

And my own objectives were, you

know, I want to play golf today.

442

24:43 ,160 --> 00:24:47,280

Uh, I, I want to get hold of some beer.

443

24:47 ,330 --> 00:24:48,184

I, you know.

444

24:48 ,745 --> 00:24:53,835

A lot of my objectives created

problems for her, but, um, that was

445

24:53 ,835 --> 00:24:59,724

what she was there for, was to take

care of me and, uh, and to deal

446

24:59 ,724 --> 00:25:02,204

with whatever flack took place.

447

25:02 ,205 --> 00:25:05,924

And when I was in Hendersonville for

the summers, because I always left

448

25:06 ,315 --> 00:25:12,915

Miami the day after school was out,

um, all of the seven remaining years or

449

25:12 ,915 --> 00:25:17,255

eight remaining years of school after

I moved from Hendersonville to Miami.

450

25:17 ,255 --> 00:25:24,015

I always left, um, the day after school,

took the train to, uh, Columbia, South

451

25:24 ,015 --> 00:25:29,244

Carolina, where my grandfather, Pappy,

would, would drive down, pick me up, take

452

25:29 ,244 --> 00:25:33,860

me to Hendersonville, and spend the whole

summer in Hendersonville at my grandmother

453

25:33 ,860 --> 00:25:35,790

and granddad's house being spoiled.

454

25:36 ,330 --> 00:25:41,430

And, uh, and that created more

problems for mom, uh, because

455

25:41 ,870 --> 00:25:46,090

everything in Hendersonville

was about catering to Jimbo.

456

25:46 ,220 --> 00:25:50,929

Everything in Miami was about how

do we get through the week and do

457

25:50 ,929 --> 00:25:53,909

we have enough money for dinner,

Friday night and stuff like that.

458

25:54 ,090 --> 00:25:54,921

It was rough.

459

25:54 ,921 --> 00:25:55,752

Marc Preston: I mean, she

460

25:55 ,752 --> 00:25:56,540

Jim Lampley: had a very rough

461

25:56 ,540 --> 00:25:57,139

Marc Preston: existence.

462

25:57 ,459 --> 00:25:57,649

Yeah.

463

25:57 ,649 --> 00:25:58,750

I can only imagine.

464

25:58 ,810 --> 00:26:02,050

I mean, and especially about when you're

a teenager, you're you're, I don't think

465

26:02 ,050 --> 00:26:07,019

you're your empathy muscles nearly as

flexed as, or nearly, nearly as limber

466

26:07 ,019 --> 00:26:08,730

as it is as you get a little bit older.

467

26:08 ,790 --> 00:26:09,139

There was

468

26:09 ,139 --> 00:26:12,889

Jim Lampley: a single turning point

that, I mean, it's graphic, a single

469

26:12 ,909 --> 00:26:18,745

turning point that kind of, um,

reversed that and lit the flame for me.

470

26:19 ,295 --> 00:26:28,204

And, uh, and that was when we were moving

for about the fifth time in Miami from

471

26:28 ,704 --> 00:26:34,534

one crappy rented tract house to another

slightly lesser crappy rented tract

472

26:34 ,534 --> 00:26:37,145

house which would rent for slightly less.

473

26:37 ,145 --> 00:26:41,535

And this time, uh, it

was on the second floor.

474

26:41 ,925 --> 00:26:46,475

of a, an apartment, uh, building

that looked like a motel.

475

26:46 ,795 --> 00:26:51,385

And, um, she was a, a bit of a pack rat.

476

26:51 ,815 --> 00:26:56,405

And she had all of the memorabilia

related to her two husbands

477

26:56 ,764 --> 00:26:59,155

packed into cardboard boxes.

478

26:59 ,174 --> 00:27:03,870

And I was the person who always had

to lift and carry and move and deal

479

27:03 ,870 --> 00:27:07,870

with the cardboard boxes when we

would move sometimes once a year.

480

27:08 ,030 --> 00:27:11,719

Sometimes we would stay at a place for

two years, never more than two years.

481

27:12 ,000 --> 00:27:14,080

So it was a hundred degree day in Miami.

482

27:14 ,120 --> 00:27:14,900

We were moving.

483

27:15 ,410 --> 00:27:18,630

Uh, I was lifting the cardboard

boxes and hauling them.

484

27:18 ,985 --> 00:27:25,415

up the stairs into the second floor of

this place, new experience, uh, and at

485

27:25 ,415 --> 00:27:31,775

one point I got angry and I turned around

and I yelled at her and I said, you know,

486

27:32 ,754 --> 00:27:34,895

I'm the one who always has to do this.

487

27:34 ,975 --> 00:27:35,525

Damn it.

488

27:36 ,094 --> 00:27:39,415

Why do we never get rid of

anything in these boxes?

489

27:39 ,785 --> 00:27:44,545

And my mother looked at me and

said, because other women, my age.

490

27:45 ,034 --> 00:27:51,875

have husbands who work to support

them and I have what's in those

491

27:51 ,895 --> 00:27:55,154

boxes and that was graphic.

492

27:55 ,774 --> 00:27:56,225

I got it.

493

27:57 ,004 --> 00:27:57,654

I understood.

494

27:58 ,014 --> 00:28:03,674

So, um, she couldn't have elicited that

kind of sympathy without confronting me.

495

28:04 ,104 --> 00:28:05,339

She did confront me.

496

28:05 ,610 --> 00:28:11,320

She confronted me the right way and, um,

I was considerably more supportive and

497

28:11 ,320 --> 00:28:17,360

helpful and thoughtful to her, uh, in

the years we spent in Miami, a couple

498

28:17 ,360 --> 00:28:19,349

more years before I went to college.

499

28:26 ,969 --> 00:28:29,149

Marc Preston: There's right around

your junior high years, I guess.

500

28:29 ,159 --> 00:28:32,999

And that's, that's, that's such a

rough, weird time for every kid anyway.

501

28:33 ,040 --> 00:28:33,889

And anything

502

28:34 ,219 --> 00:28:37,379

Jim Lampley: early when you're one year

younger than everybody else in the class

503

28:37 ,699 --> 00:28:42,189

and you wanted to be an athlete and you

are the slowest guy in the foot races.

504

28:42 ,219 --> 00:28:45,850

I mean, it's, and you,

and you have memorized.

505

28:46 ,585 --> 00:28:53,205

The phone numbers for several of the

very attractive girls in the class and

506

28:53 ,295 --> 00:29:00,145

every night you sit in your, um, den

trying to do homework and thinking of

507

29:00 ,145 --> 00:29:03,844

calling one of these girls to ask for

a date, but you never have the courage

508

29:03 ,845 --> 00:29:06,954

to actually do that because you're

when you're younger than they are.

509

29:07 ,174 --> 00:29:08,984

So it was yes.

510

29:09 ,740 --> 00:29:12,190

It was a terrible kind of purgatory

511

29:12 ,190 --> 00:29:14,670

Marc Preston: that I was living

through during that period of time.

512

29:15 ,010 --> 00:29:18,490

I'm getting flashbacks of my own

seventh grade years actually, roughly.

513

29:18 ,820 --> 00:29:22,170

Um, but you know, post grad,

like what, what was, you know,

514

29:22 ,170 --> 00:29:23,429

where was the trajectory?

515

29:23 ,440 --> 00:29:27,189

Like, uh, you know, you got your

grad degree to the RTVF program.

516

29:27 ,330 --> 00:29:29,120

Did you immediately jump into a job?

517

29:29 ,120 --> 00:29:30,020

Were you interning?

518

29:30 Graduate School and Early Career

29:30 ,030 --> 00:29:31,890

How did, how did that manifest for you?

519

29:32 ,210 --> 00:29:34,070

Jim Lampley: Well, first I

finished undergraduate school

520

29:34 ,220 --> 00:29:37,220

and I finished undergraduate

school with a degree in English.

521

29:37 ,590 --> 00:29:42,390

I, uh, I finished in a summer

session, uh, which was pretty

522

29:42 ,390 --> 00:29:43,890

typical for me at that time.

523

29:43 ,890 --> 00:29:49,509

I think I wound up graduating

with, uh, three fall semesters.

524

29:49 ,890 --> 00:29:55,225

Um, Four spring semesters and seven

summer sessions or something like that.

525

29:55 ,225 --> 00:29:59,655

It was, it was a ridiculous

polyglot, but I, when I graduated,

526

29:59 ,655 --> 00:30:04,405

I wound up going to, um, it was

early fall, the beginning of fall.

527

30:04 ,845 --> 00:30:11,970

I went to a, uh, post football game party

at, Somebody's house here in Chapel Hill.

528

30:12 ,360 --> 00:30:18,630

And at that party, I met my congressman's

wife, a woman named Louise Galifianakis,

529

30:18 ,639 --> 00:30:23,280

whose husband, Nick Galifianakis, was

a three term congressman, uh, from

530

30:23 ,290 --> 00:30:26,069

Durham, and a professor at the Duke

531

30:26 ,100 --> 00:30:26,470

Marc Preston: Business School.

532

30:27 ,129 --> 00:30:30,830

And when I met him That's, uh, Zach

Galifianakis, the actor's father, right?

533

30:31 ,210 --> 00:30:31,580

Uncle.

534

30:31 ,580 --> 00:30:31,970

Okay.

535

30:32 ,570 --> 00:30:35,720

Cause I knew, I knew he had some

connection to that part of the country.

536

30:35 ,720 --> 00:30:36,880

Uh, that's where he was from.

537

30:36 ,880 --> 00:30:37,520

So, okay.

538

30:37 ,600 --> 00:30:37,730

Jim Lampley: Yeah.

539

30:37 ,860 --> 00:30:41,890

He's from Mount Airy, North Carolina

and, um, Nick and Louise lived

540

30:41 ,890 --> 00:30:44,720

in Durham and Nick was his uncle.

541

30:44 ,760 --> 00:30:50,750

And, um, at this party I met

Louise and we were talking and she

542

30:50 ,750 --> 00:30:52,540

says, so you've just graduated.

543

30:52 ,540 --> 00:30:53,090

I said, yes.

544

30:53 ,100 --> 00:30:55,170

She said, so what are you going to do?

545

30:55 ,370 --> 00:30:56,660

I said, I, I don't know.

546

30:56 ,790 --> 00:30:58,180

I really don't have any idea.

547

30:58 ,529 --> 00:31:00,700

She said, your Degrees in English.

548

31:00 ,700 --> 00:31:01,450

I said, yes.

549

31:01 ,820 --> 00:31:02,860

She said, can you write?

550

31:03 ,130 --> 00:31:04,000

I said, yes.

551

31:04 ,290 --> 00:31:08,870

She said, show up at our campaign office

at such and such a hotel in Raleigh,

552

31:08 ,870 --> 00:31:10,830

the Sir Walter Raleigh Hotel in Raleigh.

553

31:11 ,180 --> 00:31:13,810

Monday morning, you will have a job.

554

31:14 ,050 --> 00:31:19,160

I became assistant press secretary for

the Galifianakis for Senate campaign.

555

31:19 ,260 --> 00:31:20,560

That was fall of 71.

556

31:20 ,920 --> 00:31:24,470

He was running for the

United States Senate in 1972.

557

31:24 ,745 --> 00:31:30,725

We unseated an incumbent senator named B.

Everett Jordan in the Democratic primary.

558

31:30 ,735 --> 00:31:34,825

It was the first time that an

incumbent Democratic senator had

559

31:34 ,825 --> 00:31:39,705

been unseated in a primary in

the South in more than 100 years.

560

31:40 ,084 --> 00:31:43,505

Since the Civil War era, it was

a phenomenal accomplishment.

561

31:43 ,955 --> 00:31:48,185

I thought that we would win the

general election against Jesse Helms,

562

31:48 ,225 --> 00:31:53,335

a television editorialist, and we

lost to Jesse Helms, and that became

563

31:53 ,935 --> 00:31:56,215

the next giant heartbreak of my life.

564

31:56 ,245 --> 00:32:02,624

But I gained tremendous and valuable

experience, uh, as, uh, a campaign

565

32:02 ,625 --> 00:32:04,695

press secretary for Nick Galifianakis.

566

32:05 ,045 --> 00:32:10,250

And at the same time, I had bumped

into someone on campus who said, you

567

32:10 ,250 --> 00:32:13,660

know, you know a lot about sports

and you really talk well about

568

32:13 ,660 --> 00:32:18,109

sports and I'm doing the pregame and

postgame shows for the University

569

32:18 ,109 --> 00:32:20,359

of North Carolina radio network.

570

32:20 ,979 --> 00:32:26,299

Why don't you come and be the person who

does the field interviews, because I sit

571

32:26 ,300 --> 00:32:29,280

in the press box so if you will take a.

572

32:29 ,650 --> 00:32:34,460

portable tape player and go interview

coaches and players after the game.

573

32:34 ,780 --> 00:32:37,750

Uh, then you can be on the radio.

574

32:38 ,160 --> 00:32:44,030

So I did that and, and now I had two

very good credentials going forward.

575

32:44 Breakthrough at ABC Sports

32:44 ,520 --> 00:32:50,520

And eventually I. Uh, decided that I

should go to graduate school and that's

576

32:50 ,520 --> 00:32:54,640

when I, uh, went to interview with

the radio, television, motion pictures

577

32:54 ,640 --> 00:33:00,790

department, uh, Dean and got into the

graduate program at the radio, television,

578

33:00 ,790 --> 00:33:05,520

motion pictures department and began

studying for a master's degree in radio,

579

33:05 ,520 --> 00:33:10,370

television and motion pictures, which

I never got because when I finished

580

33:10 ,370 --> 00:33:16,550

it, The classroom work for that, I

had been recommended by that faculty

581

33:16 ,560 --> 00:33:24,479

member, that chairman, for a once in

a lifetime, uh, strange opportunity.

582

33:24 ,930 --> 00:33:29,809

ABC Sports was interviewing

around the country.

583

33:29 ,820 --> 00:33:34,920

They wound up interviewing 432 college

age or close to college age students

584

33:35 ,390 --> 00:33:41,560

to find Someone to fill the role of

the quote, college age reporter, the

585

33:41 ,560 --> 00:33:46,469

first person who would ever stand

on the sidelines of the camera.

586

33:46 ,529 --> 00:33:52,240

I mean, uh, with a camera and

microphone at football games to do a

587

33:52 ,240 --> 00:33:57,310

role, which is now perfunctory, which

is now an institution and a part of.

588

33:57 ,695 --> 00:34:03,075

Uh, all college football broadcasts,

but which had never been done before

589

34:03 ,115 --> 00:34:08,785

I did it, along with a Stanford

graduate named Don Tollefson in 1974.

590

34:09 ,015 --> 00:34:16,505

And I was chosen, I was the person

chosen from the 432 person, um, talent

591

34:16 ,514 --> 00:34:18,425

hunt for the College Age Report.

592

34:18 ,740 --> 00:34:21,730

Now it's something for which

they hire people who already have

593

34:21 ,730 --> 00:34:24,070

experience and have done broadcasting.

594

34:24 ,080 --> 00:34:26,350

And in fact, quite a

lot of them are women.

595

34:26 ,350 --> 00:34:31,380

And I remember telling, um, the producer

of the College Football Telecast toward

596

34:31 ,380 --> 00:34:35,549

the end of that first season in 1974, what

you're ultimately going to do with this

597

34:35 ,549 --> 00:34:40,385

role is to fill it with women, because

that will give your director who was

598

34:40 ,395 --> 00:34:42,215

obsessed with attractive young women.

599

34:42 ,515 --> 00:34:47,295

Another chance to, uh, photograph

attractive young women on the telecast.

600

34:47 ,575 --> 00:34:50,915

And if you note most of the

sideline reporters now, whether

601

34:50 ,915 --> 00:34:54,544

pro or college football or

basketball or whatever are women.

602

34:54 ,675 --> 00:34:58,544

Marc Preston: So were you, were you

taking a big bite out of this experience?

603

34:58 ,544 --> 00:35:03,065

Uh, when you're, uh, uh, when you were in

school and, and immediately thereafter,

604

35:03 ,065 --> 00:35:04,765

I mean, were you like TV that's.

605

35:05 ,295 --> 00:35:06,175

That's what I'm doing.

606

35:06 ,265 --> 00:35:09,105

Or the path you're going to take was

still a little bit up in the air for you.

607

35:09 ,575 --> 00:35:13,405

Jim Lampley: So my first job was in

radio and I was on the University

608

35:13 ,405 --> 00:35:16,225

of North Carolina football

and basketball radio networks.

609

35:16 ,274 --> 00:35:20,644

So it wasn't just, I was, I was

on the local station, WCHL, but

610

35:20 ,644 --> 00:35:22,085

it wasn't just the local station.

611

35:22 ,965 --> 00:35:28,765

I was on the network because the guy

who owned and ran the local station

612

35:29 ,225 --> 00:35:35,145

saw and believed that I had the

talent to do bigger things, but I

613

35:35 ,145 --> 00:35:39,405

will never forget we're in the car on

the road going to a basketball game

614

35:39 ,445 --> 00:35:44,535

one night, and we were just chatting

about the business, and he was a.

615

35:45 ,405 --> 00:35:50,615

very decorated and esteemed broadcast

manager type here in North Carolina.

616

35:51 ,255 --> 00:35:54,865

And I remember him saying to me,

by the way, he still lives here.

617

35:54 ,875 --> 00:35:55,695

He's a neighbor of mine.

618

35:56 ,174 --> 00:35:59,854

I remember him saying to me, you

know, Jim, you're really good

619

36:00 ,015 --> 00:36:01,705

at all of this on air stuff.

620

36:01 ,870 --> 00:36:06,860

You, you have it, you have the right

kind of gift, but the fact of the matter

621

36:06 ,860 --> 00:36:12,619

is, if you fall in love with being on

the air and decide that that's your

622

36:12 ,620 --> 00:36:17,479

goal and that's your vocation, you could

very easily wind up carrying equipment

623

36:17 ,520 --> 00:36:19,940

in New Bern when you're 46 years old.

624

36:20 ,330 --> 00:36:24,640

Now, I had seen New Bern during

the political campaign, 46 sounded

625

36:24 ,640 --> 00:36:27,740

like a million to me, uh, and

he said, what you really want

626

36:27 ,740 --> 00:36:30,329

to do is to get into management.

627

36:30 ,800 --> 00:36:36,640

Uh, start out in sales, prove yourself

in radio sales, get into management,

628

36:36 ,850 --> 00:36:41,659

eventually you'll become a station

manager, then you can wind up like me

629

36:41 ,659 --> 00:36:43,470

and have a chain of them, etc, etc.

630

36:43 ,760 --> 00:36:46,180

That's the way to make

money in broadcasting.

631

36:46 ,180 --> 00:36:49,970

The whole thing of trying to become

a star on the air, you think you

632

36:49 ,970 --> 00:36:53,600

want to be Walter Cronkite or Keith

Jackson or one of those people,

633

36:53 ,790 --> 00:36:55,290

that's a needle in a haystack.

634

36:55 ,590 --> 00:37:00,320

Uh, the smart thing is going to be To

follow the path I'm recommending to you.

635

37:00 ,740 --> 00:37:05,170

And, and all I could think was, I

don't want to be carrying equipment

636

37:05 ,170 --> 00:37:11,229

in New Bern when I'm 46, but I also

don't think I am a radio salesperson.

637

37:11 ,610 --> 00:37:12,799

So what's going to happen here?

638

37:13 ,110 --> 00:37:16,500

And what happened was

not something I control.

639

37:16 ,590 --> 00:37:21,390

What happened was that, have you seen the

movie in November 5, November 5, you say?

640

37:21 ,865 --> 00:37:29,955

November 5 is the movie about ABC

Sports response and ABC News response

641

37:30 ,285 --> 00:37:37,104

to the kidnapping and captivity of the

nine or ten, I think it's ten Israeli

642

37:37 ,425 --> 00:37:40,714

athletes at Munich in 1972, okay?

643

37:41 ,105 --> 00:37:46,805

During that captivity, Two ABC reporters,

Peter Jennings from the news side,

644

37:47 ,405 --> 00:37:51,775

Howard Cosell, of course, from the

sports side, pushing the control room.

645

37:52 ,045 --> 00:37:53,215

How can we get closer?

646

37:53 ,324 --> 00:37:55,024

How can we get greater access?

647

37:55 ,195 --> 00:38:01,054

How can we get pictures from inside

the Olympic Village, etc., etc.?

648

38:01 ,764 --> 00:38:07,065

And through that process of dealing with

Jennings and Cosell, the sports division

649

38:07 ,065 --> 00:38:13,430

learned that radio frequency, wireless,

Cameras and microphones would do things

650

38:13 ,430 --> 00:38:15,020

that they didn't know that they would do.

651

38:15 ,390 --> 00:38:19,519

They learned that the signal would go

over concrete and metal barriers, or

652

38:19 ,520 --> 00:38:21,609

around concrete and metal barriers.

653

38:21 ,640 --> 00:38:25,630

They learned that they had far more

flexibility with those kinds of

654

38:25 ,630 --> 00:38:27,630

equipment than they thought they had had.

655

38:28 ,099 --> 00:38:32,280

And so when the whole thing was over

and the Olympics were done, Network

656

38:32 ,300 --> 00:38:35,900

came back to New York and there was

a meeting among sports executives,

657

38:35 ,960 --> 00:38:41,140

news executives, and engineering

executives to try to figure out What

658

38:41 ,140 --> 00:38:44,360

is it we can do now that we know this?

659

38:44 ,560 --> 00:38:48,740

And one of the first ideas that came

up was, we could put a reporter on

660

38:48 ,740 --> 00:38:50,470

the sidelines of a football game.

661

38:51 ,000 --> 00:38:53,839

Now, they knew from the beginning

that it wouldn't be the sidelines

662

38:53 ,839 --> 00:38:58,749

of an NFL game, because the NFL

was more structured and restricted.

663

38:58 ,769 --> 00:39:00,840

They wouldn't allow that.

664

39:01 ,210 --> 00:39:06,540

But through the vehicle of, um,

the Chevrolet Motor Company and

665

39:06 ,630 --> 00:39:11,430

an advertising agency named Dancer

Fitzgerald Sample, ABC Sports,

666

39:11 ,735 --> 00:39:13,625

practically owned college football.

667

39:14 ,065 --> 00:39:17,005

If they wanted to put a reporter

on the sidelines of college

668

39:17 ,015 --> 00:39:20,445

football, they could go to the NCAA

and say, we're going to do this.

669

39:20 ,664 --> 00:39:24,564

And nobody was going to say

no, because ABC was the goose

670

39:24 ,565 --> 00:39:25,655

that laid the golden egg.

671

39:26 ,345 --> 00:39:32,565

So that's how people first showed up on

the sidelines of college football games.

672

39:32 ,565 --> 00:39:34,275

And Don Tollefson and I.

673

39:34 ,495 --> 00:39:40,825

were the first two after we won, quote

unquote, the, the, uh, talent hunt.

674

39:41 ,225 --> 00:39:46,385

Um, and by the way, I was,

I was 25, not 18 to 22.

675

39:46 ,785 --> 00:39:49,945

There were other ways in which I

didn't fit their original description.

676

39:50 ,305 --> 00:39:51,225

I was.

677

39:51 ,450 --> 00:39:56,730

Um, weeded out of the talent hunt

pretty much from the beginning.

678

39:57 ,030 --> 00:40:01,060

I was not somebody they were considering

as they got toward the end of it.

679

40:01 ,410 --> 00:40:07,569

It was late summer 1974, Rune

Arledge, the legendary president of

680

40:07 ,580 --> 00:40:11,820

ABC Sports, was considering what had

happened in the process, and Arledge

681

40:11 ,830 --> 00:40:15,900

said to his assistant, Dick Ebersole

who ran the talent hunt said, is

682

40:15 ,900 --> 00:40:20,350

there anybody we've spoken to who

actually has held a microphone and

683

40:20 ,560 --> 00:40:22,330

been in front of a camera and ever?

684

40:22 ,330 --> 00:40:26,630

So I said, yeah, there's, there's this

one guy from North Carolina who was kind

685

40:26 ,630 --> 00:40:30,460

of abrasive in the screening interview

and I didn't really get along with him.

686

40:30 ,489 --> 00:40:34,080

But, uh, yeah, he's got

a lot of experience.

687

40:34 ,150 --> 00:40:34,950

Arledge said.

688

40:35 ,265 --> 00:40:36,195

let me see him.

689

40:37 ,035 --> 00:40:42,965

So on August 8, 1974, I was at a beach

house in Swans Corner, North Carolina.

690

40:43 ,465 --> 00:40:44,885

Phone rang on the wall.

691

40:45 ,225 --> 00:40:49,805

To this day, I still don't know how

Ebersole got that phone number, but he

692

40:49 ,805 --> 00:40:54,204

called to tell me that Arledge wanted

to see me do an on camera audition.

693

40:54 ,285 --> 00:40:57,935

And they had already chosen the

subject for my on camera audition,

694

40:58 ,705 --> 00:41:01,745

an interview that I would go

and do in Birmingham, Alabama.

695

41:02 ,210 --> 00:41:06,930

with a down on his luck professional

quarterback named George Myra,

696

41:07 ,550 --> 00:41:13,950

who, uh, had been in the NFL,

uh, the CFL, the something else.

697

41:14 ,310 --> 00:41:16,669

And I was in the USFL.

698

41:16 ,700 --> 00:41:20,010

He was down, he was down to

his last shot as a quarterback.

699

41:20 ,239 --> 00:41:22,140

And Arledge saw that as a great story.

700

41:23 ,520 --> 00:41:25,950

And I was being sent to

Birmingham to interview him.

701

41:26 ,590 --> 00:41:30,080

Well, whatever soul didn't know

when he called to tell me that what

702

41:30 ,090 --> 00:41:35,299

nobody in New York knew was that

having grown up in Miami, I had

703

41:35 ,299 --> 00:41:39,450

season tickets to watch George Myra

play for Miami in the orange bowl.

704

41:39 ,530 --> 00:41:43,749

My mother had bought those

and Myra was one of my giant

705

41:43 ,750 --> 00:41:45,620

childhood and teenage years.

706

41:45 ,620 --> 00:41:46,400

He really, okay.

707

41:46 ,400 --> 00:41:47,000

And I still have,

708

41:47 ,350 --> 00:41:50,620

Marc Preston: so you already, I see you

already had all the prep already done.

709

41:50 ,760 --> 00:41:51,030

Yeah.

710

41:51 ,390 --> 00:41:52,140

Jim Lampley: Do any research.

711

41:52 ,640 --> 00:41:57,490

I already had a number 10 George

Myra jersey in my closet in Chapel

712

41:57 ,490 --> 00:42:02,849

Hill the day that Ebersole called me

to, to tell me that they wanted me

713

42:03 ,030 --> 00:42:05,760

to go do this particular interview.

714

42:06 ,079 --> 00:42:09,599

So they're all could see whether I

should be the college age report.

715

42:10 ,010 --> 00:42:14,100

And when I hung up the phone, my

wife, Linda, and the two other

716

42:14 ,100 --> 00:42:17,650

people with whom we were traveling,

looked at me and said, What was that?

717

42:17 ,860 --> 00:42:20,710

And I said, I'm going to be

the college age reporter.

718

42:21 ,170 --> 00:42:21,790

They said, really?

719

42:21 ,830 --> 00:42:23,380

He told you that they've chosen you?

720

42:23 ,500 --> 00:42:27,870

I said, no, they're reopening the

process because they want to look at me.

721

42:28 ,170 --> 00:42:33,049

But the universe has already

decided, uh, and I'm going to

722

42:33 ,049 --> 00:42:34,410

be the college age reporter.

723

42:34 ,580 --> 00:42:35,484

How do you know that?

724

42:35 ,905 --> 00:42:39,425

And I looked at my wife and said, they're

sending me to interview George Myra.

725

42:39 ,575 --> 00:42:41,155

Oh, wow.

726

42:41 ,325 --> 00:42:42,075

That's stunning.

727

42:42 ,395 --> 00:42:44,865

So yeah, that's how, that's how my

728

42:44 ,865 --> 00:42:46,344

Marc Preston: network

television career began.

729

42:46 ,685 --> 00:42:51,924

I remember speaking with Lee

Steinberg, a sports agent, a TV and

730

42:51 ,925 --> 00:42:53,785

its integration into sports really.

731

42:54 ,050 --> 00:42:58,850

reshapes sports like, uh, to, to

some not reshaped it, but it, it

732

42:58 ,850 --> 00:43:00,470

definitely was, is a big factor.

733

43:00 ,470 --> 00:43:02,980

Like you saying, you know, ABC

said we want to sideline reporters.

734

43:02 ,990 --> 00:43:07,060

Now that you just expect at least one

or two, you know, on the sidelines.

735

43:07 ,080 --> 00:43:08,120

Jim Lampley: It's a convention.

736

43:08 ,120 --> 00:43:13,800

Yes, it is a convention and, and

it's, and it's a key pathway for, uh,

737

43:13 ,840 --> 00:43:18,170

people who want to get into the on

camera part of the business early.

738

43:18 ,585 --> 00:43:22,845

Used to be, in the old days, you didn't

get on camera at a network until you

739

43:22 ,845 --> 00:43:28,285

had spent 15, 20, 25 years doing it at

local stations and working your way up.

740

43:28 ,704 --> 00:43:29,164

I didn't have

741

43:29 ,164 --> 00:43:29,495

Marc Preston: to do that.

742

43:29 ,715 --> 00:43:32,175

Growing up, I remember seeing

people, now I had this big

743

43:32 ,175 --> 00:43:33,845

affection for television news.

744

43:34 ,105 --> 00:43:36,544

There would be people come

through, I remember WFAA, and

745

43:36 ,544 --> 00:43:37,955

then they'd go off the network.

746

43:38 ,095 --> 00:43:40,915

Dallas was kind of one of those places

where people would come through.

747

43:41 ,295 --> 00:43:42,805

I thought that was a cool thing as a kid.

748

43:42 ,845 --> 00:43:45,425

Cause I, for whatever reason, I

was dialed in a, you know, how

749

43:45 ,425 --> 00:43:46,815

the sausage is made as it were.

750

43:46 ,815 --> 00:43:47,885

It was always interesting to me.

751

43:47 ,895 --> 00:43:49,164

How does this all come together?

752

43:49 ,194 --> 00:43:51,154

Then I saw how much

work TV folks had to do.

753

43:51 ,154 --> 00:43:52,635

I was like, nah, I'm

gonna stick with radio.

754

43:53 ,184 --> 00:43:55,045

No, it's, it's a lot,

it's a lot more work.

755

43:55 ,665 --> 00:43:55,995

You know,

756

43:56 ,055 --> 00:43:59,885

Jim Lampley: again, you could wind up

carrying equipment, new burn, uh, at age

757

43:59 ,895 --> 00:44:03,325

46, because you are judged subjectively.

758

44:03 ,904 --> 00:44:07,225

Eventually you get to a point where

you might be judged objectively,

759

44:07 ,515 --> 00:44:11,064

particularly if you are a local

news anchor in a major Marcet.

760

44:11 ,285 --> 00:44:15,275

And I eventually had that

experience too, long way down the

761

44:15 ,275 --> 00:44:17,585

road from, uh, from where we are.

762

44:17 ,855 --> 00:44:20,925

But, um, sportscasters.

763

44:21 ,590 --> 00:44:26,470

aren't judged according to the ratings of

the sports events that they're televising.

764

44:27 ,250 --> 00:44:30,400

The events themselves are evaluated

according to the ratings, but

765

44:30 ,400 --> 00:44:33,970

the sportscasters aren't seen as

having anything to do with that.

766

44:34 ,179 --> 00:44:36,630

So it's just a matter of, are you good?

767

44:36 ,879 --> 00:44:39,939

Do you satisfy the audience

with your storytelling?

768

44:39 ,939 --> 00:44:44,300

Do you satisfy The executives at

the station or network with the,

769

44:44 ,330 --> 00:44:49,360

your storytelling and those are

subjective, not objective criteria.

770

44:49 ,380 --> 00:44:49,670

Marc Preston: Yep.

771

44:49 ,750 --> 00:44:50,000

Yep.

772

44:50 ,280 --> 00:44:54,120

I mean, in looking at your career,

was it a pretty quick jump?

773

44:54 ,190 --> 00:44:55,360

Like we're talking about local news.

774

44:55 ,360 --> 00:44:58,200

Did you do that for a while and

then get into the network thing?

775

44:58 ,210 --> 00:45:01,490

Or did you find yourself in the network

side of things relatively quickly?

776

45:01 ,670 --> 00:45:04,440

Jim Lampley: So I become the

College Age Reporter in:1974

777

45:05 ,090 --> 00:45:07,670

and I'm working for ABC Sports.

778

45:07 ,750 --> 00:45:13,150

So I'm identified from:1974

onward as a network person.

779

45:13 ,800 --> 00:45:17,289

The original idea of the College Age

Reporter is that you would do one year and

780

45:17 ,290 --> 00:45:20,740

then they would go out and find somebody

else and there would be another one the

781

45:20 ,740 --> 00:45:22,309

second year, another one the third year.

782

45:22 ,779 --> 00:45:28,540

But of course, That idea went the way of

all flesh because the whole talent hunt

783

45:28 ,590 --> 00:45:33,610

and recruiting process was ungainly.

784

45:33 ,640 --> 00:45:40,700

And once Arledge saw me, uh, on the

air, he basically said, okay, that's it.

785

45:40 ,799 --> 00:45:42,349

That's, that's what we were looking for.

786

45:42 ,350 --> 00:45:43,149

That's what we wanted.

787

45:43 ,629 --> 00:45:48,375

So, To my great discomfort and

chagrin, I was angry about it.

788

45:48 ,375 --> 00:45:48,835

Really.

789

45:49 ,205 --> 00:45:52,905

I was made to do the sidelines of

college football for three years.

790

45:53 Wide World of Sports and Olympic Coverage

45:53 ,335 --> 00:45:58,264

But, um, the whole time my mentor at

the network, a head of production named

791

45:58 ,264 --> 00:46:02,854

Chuck Howard told me, don't worry, we're

going to find other things to do for

792

46:02 ,855 --> 00:46:08,115

you and with you in the months between

college football and, you know, end of

793

46:08 ,115 --> 00:46:09,675

season, beginning of season, et cetera.

794

46:09 ,735 --> 00:46:10,845

Marc Preston: Plus at

that age, you're, you're.

795

46:11 ,365 --> 00:46:14,025

Hardwired to be the most

impatient person on the planet.

796

46:14 ,055 --> 00:46:15,285

You want it right now?

797

46:16 ,985 --> 00:46:20,465

Jim Lampley: And they had wide world

of sports and wide world of sports was

798

46:20 ,465 --> 00:46:24,765

a weekly, you know, telecast sometimes

both days, Saturdays and Sundays.

799

46:25 ,135 --> 00:46:30,905

And it had all of those, um,

arcane folklore type events,

800

46:30 ,994 --> 00:46:34,984

the lumberjacks wrist wrestling,

the, you know, motorcycles on

801

46:35 ,015 --> 00:46:38,324

ice, the New York state fireman's

competition, et cetera, et cetera.

802

46:38 ,664 --> 00:46:40,674

None of the other announcers on the stack.

803

46:41 ,030 --> 00:46:46,420

Wanted to go back to do those

events again, most everybody

804

46:46 ,660 --> 00:46:48,690

had done them once, right?

805

46:49 ,060 --> 00:46:54,019

So I became the guinea pig who had to

go do the wrist wrestling four times

806

46:54 ,019 --> 00:46:57,929

and the lumber jacks four times and

New York state fireman's competition

807

46:57 ,929 --> 00:46:59,169

four times, et cetera, et cetera.

808

46:59 ,179 --> 00:47:04,579

That was my apprenticeship was

week after week, crazy wide worlds.

809

47:04 ,679 --> 00:47:06,799

Uh, and then eventually.

810

47:07 ,925 --> 00:47:13,455

After several years of that, along

came the ultra endurance culture.

811

47:13 ,775 --> 00:47:18,095

Ultra endurance didn't exist when I

first started doing Wide World in 74.

812

47:18 ,554 --> 00:47:25,515

Uh, it wasn't until we first noticed

a thing called the Ironman triathlon.

813

47:25 ,735 --> 00:47:30,035

And then a thing called the race across

America, which was a nonstop bicycle

814

47:30 ,035 --> 00:47:34,204

race from the coast of California

to the Empire State Building.

815

47:34 ,205 --> 00:47:37,835

And, and I wound up being

the person to go do those.

816

47:38 ,005 --> 00:47:38,445

Why?

817

47:39 ,205 --> 00:47:41,445

I was still in my 20s or early 30s.

818

47:41 ,755 --> 00:47:44,584

And all the other announcers

were in their 50s or 60s.

819

47:44 ,895 --> 00:47:48,265

They didn't want to go out on the

road and watch bicyclists pedal

820

47:48 ,265 --> 00:47:49,555

all the way across the country.

821

47:49 ,965 --> 00:47:53,135

So, so I wound up doing those things.

822

47:53 ,175 --> 00:47:58,935

And, um, and eventually I had a very

broad, uh, apprenticeship at ABC Sports.

823

47:58 ,935 --> 00:48:04,080

And oh, by the way, Um, first

year of sidelines is 74.

824

48:04 ,080 --> 00:48:06,730

First year of doing wide worlds is 75.

825

48:06 ,730 --> 00:48:11,539

Uh, Innsbruck Olympics,

winter Olympics in 1976.

826

48:11 ,890 --> 00:48:15,999

I was promised, uh, by the head of

production that I would be there.

827

48:15 ,999 --> 00:48:20,400

And I did go, that was the

first of what wound up being

828

48:20 ,700 --> 00:48:22,600

14 trips to the Olympic games.

829

48:22 ,660 --> 00:48:26,050

So, um, you know, it all germinated.

830

48:26 ,390 --> 00:48:30,630

from being the guinea pig on the

sidelines and then the guinea pig on

831

48:30 ,640 --> 00:48:36,830

wide world and, uh, having to prove

myself in a system where all the other

832

48:37 ,040 --> 00:48:41,319

senior more experienced, more, you

know, more broadly exposed announcers

833

48:41 ,319 --> 00:48:42,760

had already done all the stuff

834

48:43 ,070 --> 00:48:43,759

Marc Preston: that I was doing.

835

48:44 ,150 --> 00:48:47,850

But doing it at a high level early

on, you set a high bar for yourself.

836

48:47 ,850 --> 00:48:51,010

I'm assuming you already kind

of, you, you were already had a

837

48:51 ,010 --> 00:48:53,650

mentality of, uh, network mentality.

838

48:53 ,680 --> 00:48:56,209

You've done football, basketball, boxing.

839

48:56 ,210 --> 00:49:00,119

Of course, when you started going,

okay, I'm going to do this thing.

840

49:00 ,139 --> 00:49:02,270

This is what I would really like to cover.

841

49:02 ,309 --> 00:49:03,749

This is where my jam is.

842

49:03 ,809 --> 00:49:05,419

Or we just like throw me everywhere.

843

49:05 ,419 --> 00:49:05,869

I don't care.

844

49:06 ,199 --> 00:49:07,580

You know, what was that for you?

845

49:08 ,060 --> 00:49:13,190

Jim Lampley: So, my colleagues at

ABC Sports at the beginning, the

846

49:13 ,190 --> 00:49:19,290

people with whom I was working in

competition for spots on the production

847

49:19 ,290 --> 00:49:22,720

schedule, were all legendary figures.

848

49:23 ,230 --> 00:49:29,179

Howard Cosell, Jim McKay, Bill

Fleming, Frank Gifford, you know, I

849

49:29 ,200 --> 00:49:31,870

could go on, but you get the point.

850

49:32 ,100 --> 00:49:37,790

These were all people with, um, very

high identities, broad exposure.

851

49:38 ,300 --> 00:49:44,050

Um, dossiers that were going to put

them in hall of fame type situations.

852

49:44 Starting Out in Sports Broadcasting

49:44 ,270 --> 00:49:47,580

I was, I stuck out like a sore thumb.

853

49:48 ,160 --> 00:49:52,730

I was, I was the kid on the sidelines

who was now the kid in the office

854

49:52 ,730 --> 00:49:57,200

building at 1336th Avenue and was

going out to do all, and they loved me.

855

49:57 ,860 --> 00:50:02,150

In a certain way, because my presence

there meant none of them would have

856

50:02 ,150 --> 00:50:05,530

to go back and do the rest of it,

or the barrel rolling, or the log

857

50:05 ,540 --> 00:50:09,110

jumping again, and again, and again,

I was done, I was there to do that.

858

50:09 ,480 --> 00:50:16,299

Um, but you know, they, there was

no welcome wagon, and eventually as

859

50:16 ,299 --> 00:50:20,720

I began to improve my assignments,

okay, so now I'm going to do the U.

860

50:20 ,720 --> 00:50:22,320

S. Track and Field Championships.

861

50:22 ,765 --> 00:50:23,785

McKay used to do that.

862

50:24 ,245 --> 00:50:28,525

Now I'm going to do the U. S. Long

Course Swimming Championships.

863

50:28 ,685 --> 00:50:30,055

Keith Jackson used to do that.

864

50:30 ,405 --> 00:50:37,004

Uh, and so as I moved along, they

had reason to begin to be less

865

50:37 ,025 --> 00:50:39,494

comfortable about my upward mobility.

866

50:39 ,494 --> 00:50:44,965

But my upward mobility was the product of

the fact that I could do this and, and I

867

50:44 ,965 --> 00:50:45,465

Marc Preston: could do it.

868

50:45 Mentorship and Career Growth

50:45 ,860 --> 00:50:48,940

Pretty well, was there anybody in

particular, you know, that you would

869

50:48 ,940 --> 00:50:54,500

kind of feel direct mentorship, you know,

have direct mentorship from them or feel

870

50:54 ,500 --> 00:50:58,969

like, you know, they were your North

star that was, it would be a stylistic

871

50:58 ,970 --> 00:51:01,270

or be at just trajectory of their career.

872

51:01 ,470 --> 00:51:04,359

Was there anybody you looked at and

like, that's the guy that's, that to me

873

51:04 ,359 --> 00:51:06,040

would be success if I'm in his shoes.

874

51:06 ,150 --> 00:51:10,210

Jim Lampley: Well, that would have

been Jim McKay because the, uh, biggest

875

51:10 ,210 --> 00:51:12,979

role at ABC sports bigger, even then.

876

51:13 ,465 --> 00:51:16,855

Uh, play by play on college football or

play by play on Major League Baseball.

877

51:17 ,245 --> 00:51:21,625

The biggest role at the network where

I worked was host of the Olympics.

878

51:22 ,065 --> 00:51:26,835

So, I wanted to be, eventually,

host of the Olympics.

879

51:27 ,124 --> 00:51:34,525

And, I probably was a little bit too,

um, open and assertive in making clear

880

51:34 ,525 --> 00:51:40,035

that, that was what I wanted because,

um, eventually McKay figured that out.

881

51:40 ,215 --> 00:51:46,825

And, that became, you know, a kind of

a, an obstruction or a barrier between

882

51:46 ,975 --> 00:51:53,045

him and me, logically, you know, uh,

but yeah, at the end of the day, I

883

51:53 ,045 --> 00:51:55,464

would have wanted McKay to be my mentor.

884

51:55 ,765 --> 00:51:59,465

He had no interest in being my mentor

to the degree that I had a mentor.

885

51:59 ,465 --> 00:51:59,945

It was.

886

52:00 ,295 --> 00:52:04,705

a guy named Chuck Howard, who

was the, um, uh, senior producer,

887

52:04 ,715 --> 00:52:07,705

head of production and produced

the college football telecast.

888

52:07 ,875 --> 00:52:13,424

He was the one who really put

his, um, imprimatur on me from the

889

52:13 ,425 --> 00:52:18,915

beginning and anointed me and kept

going to Arledge's office to say.

890

52:19 ,200 --> 00:52:20,190

He needs to do this.

891

52:20 ,210 --> 00:52:21,300

He needs to do this.

892

52:21 ,570 --> 00:52:24,050

I want to see him move up

to this and stuff like that.

893

52:24 ,050 --> 00:52:29,290

So Chuck guided and fostered

my career at ABC sports.

894

52:29 ,320 --> 00:52:30,229

I think some of the

895

52:30 ,229 --> 00:52:33,879

Marc Preston: people who are off air

have a sense of perspective that,

896

52:33 ,960 --> 00:52:37,399

you know, it's kind of forest of the

trees when you're part of the on air.

897

52:37 ,790 --> 00:52:42,310

Crew, you know, and then the people

who are off air, sometimes they can be

898

52:42 ,350 --> 00:52:45,770

wonderful mentors because they're sort of

seeing things from a 30, 000 foot view.

899

52:45 ,770 --> 00:52:46,990

They kind of see everything.

900

52:47 ,020 --> 00:52:48,630

Jim Lampley: Well, it's

extremely interactive.

901

52:48 ,870 --> 00:52:53,530

They're the people who are sitting

in a, in a control booth and who are

902

52:53 ,569 --> 00:52:55,789

in your ear while you're on the air.

903

52:55 ,940 --> 00:52:59,670

They're the people who are watching

you in the monitor and, uh, and

904

52:59 ,670 --> 00:53:05,240

telling you what we need to do next,

etc, etc. So, absolutely, they have

905

53:05 ,480 --> 00:53:10,740

the most, um, graphic and complete

sense of what it is you can do and

906

53:10 ,750 --> 00:53:12,230

why it is you ought to be doing it.

907

53:12 ,439 --> 00:53:19,190

And, um, so, you know, I was treated

very well by By all of those people.

908

53:19 ,190 --> 00:53:23,410

And you know, when on those rare

occasions when I would bump into Rune

909

53:23 ,410 --> 00:53:27,510

or have any contact with Rune, he would

always say something to let me know,

910

53:27 ,860 --> 00:53:29,900

you're right where we want you to be.

911

53:29 ,909 --> 00:53:31,269

You are a fixture.

912

53:31 ,270 --> 00:53:33,700

You're going to become

an institution here.

913

53:34 ,055 --> 00:53:39,425

Uh, this is your long term career

and what you want at ABC sports, you

914

53:39 ,425 --> 00:53:40,825

keep working the way you're working.

915

53:40 ,835 --> 00:53:42,105

You'll get that had to be a

916

53:42 ,105 --> 00:53:42,885

Marc Preston: very empowering.

917

53:42 ,984 --> 00:53:43,564

It's so funny.

918

53:43 ,564 --> 00:53:46,545

You're saying, cause bringing back all

these memories when you're the young guy,

919

53:46 ,894 --> 00:53:49,665

you're kind of, you know, as like you

said, as long as you're not a threat.

920

53:49 ,845 --> 00:53:52,555

You know, as long as you're not

somebody that may take somebody's

921

53:52 ,555 --> 00:53:55,945

job or they perceive it as such,

it's, it's a wonderful place to

922

53:55 ,955 --> 00:53:59,155

be because of the learning, this

osmotically soaking up the stuff.

923

53:59 The Boxing Era

53:59 ,195 --> 00:54:02,744

Now, I mean, carrying that forward

though, if you move forward in the boxing

924

54:02 ,744 --> 00:54:08,165

realm, it seems like boxing back, uh,

eighties, even part of the nineties,

925

54:08 ,384 --> 00:54:10,485

that was more marquee like events.

926

54:10 ,505 --> 00:54:12,215

Like it was, they're always big events.

927

54:12 ,215 --> 00:54:15,475

Don't get me wrong, but it seemed

to be a little more mainstream

928

54:15 ,565 --> 00:54:17,635

because I was growing up, like

you had Sugar Ray Leonard,

929

54:17 ,635 --> 00:54:19,135

everybody knew who the boxers were.

930

54:19 ,310 --> 00:54:23,030

You know, now it's, it's, it felt a

little bit different, especially with

931

54:23 ,070 --> 00:54:25,750

the Tyson fight that they just did.

932

54:25 ,750 --> 00:54:27,590

It felt a little circusy.

933

54:27 ,670 --> 00:54:28,669

What are your thoughts on that?

934

54:28 ,670 --> 00:54:30,909

I'm just kind of curious because

you've, you've been up front and

935

54:30 ,909 --> 00:54:33,010

center with boxing for so long.

936

54:33 ,140 --> 00:54:34,570

In the 1920s,

937

54:35 ,200 --> 00:54:38,149

Jim Lampley: there were

three or four sports.

938

54:38 ,495 --> 00:54:42,595

in American culture, which

actually had audience following

939

54:42 ,625 --> 00:54:44,235

and about which people cared.

940

54:44 ,815 --> 00:54:54,684

Uh, college football, horse

racing, baseball, and boxing.

941

54:55 ,125 --> 00:54:58,805

Maybe to a greater degree

boxing than any of the others.

942

54:58 ,875 --> 00:55:04,725

Um, John L. Sullivan was the single

biggest media star in the culture

943

55:05 ,055 --> 00:55:06,885

before the turn of the century.

944

55:07 ,165 --> 00:55:08,005

Jack Dempsey.

945

55:08 ,285 --> 00:55:10,035

was the Roaring Twenties.

946

55:10 ,045 --> 00:55:11,735

He embodied the Roaring Twenties.

947

55:12 ,135 --> 00:55:16,045

Uh, and, and so, boxing was a huge sport.

948

55:16 ,395 --> 00:55:21,655

The very first television sports

event that my mother ever sat me down

949

55:21 ,655 --> 00:55:27,460

to watch after my father died when I

was six years old in Hendersonville.

950

55:27 ,460 --> 00:55:29,265

She took me to a party

at a friend's house.

951

55:29 ,635 --> 00:55:32,515

Sat me down in front of

a little television set.

952

55:32 ,805 --> 00:55:37,365

on a TV dinner tray, uh, in a

spare bedroom and said, sit here.

953

55:37 ,765 --> 00:55:41,355

Uh, this is what you would be doing

if your father was still alive.

954

55:42 ,015 --> 00:55:44,785

You're going to watch

Gillette Friday Night Fights.

955

55:44 ,855 --> 00:55:48,144

It's Sugar Ray Robinson versus

Boba Oleson for the middleweight

956

55:48 ,145 --> 00:55:49,825

championship of the world.

957

55:50 ,404 --> 00:55:55,614

And, um, again, if your father were

alive, this is what you'd be doing.

958

55:55 ,614 --> 00:55:59,255

And oh, by the way, you're going

to enjoy Sugar Ray Robinson.

959

55:59 ,255 --> 00:56:00,685

He dances while he fights.

960

56:01 ,365 --> 00:56:02,335

And so.

961

56:02 ,875 --> 00:56:06,865

Again, the first televised sports event

I ever watched was a boxing match.

962

56:06 ,905 --> 00:56:11,565

And I, uh, from that point forward,

age six, grew up watching the

963

56:11 ,565 --> 00:56:15,095

Friday night fights somewhat

religiously every Friday night.

964

56:15 ,525 --> 00:56:20,564

Uh, when my mother ultimately moved us to

Miami, there were boxing matches in Miami.

965

56:21 ,155 --> 00:56:27,465

The first one I ever went to

was Cassius Clay versus Sonny

966

56:27 ,465 --> 00:56:32,065

Liston really for the heavyweight

championship, February 25, 1964.

967

56:32 ,385 --> 00:56:36,375

And that night at my first live

boxing match, I witnessed what

968

56:36 ,375 --> 00:56:40,805

was up to that moment, the biggest

upset in the history of boxing.

969

56:42 ,124 --> 00:56:46,475

26 years later in Tokyo, when

Buster Douglas knocked out

970

56:46 ,485 --> 00:56:48,375

Mike Tyson, I would call.

971

56:48 ,985 --> 00:56:53,635

For the American audience, the fight

which supplanted Clay versus Liston as the

972

56:53 ,635 --> 00:56:56,005

biggest upset in the history of boxing.

973

56:56 ,435 --> 00:56:58,225

My, my book is titled.

974

56:58 ,415 --> 00:57:02,254

It happened because those are the

words that came out of my mouth the

975

57:02 ,254 --> 00:57:05,655

night that George Foreman knocked

out Michael Moore to become the

976

57:05 ,655 --> 00:57:07,995

heavyweight champion at age 45.

977

57:08 ,375 --> 00:57:12,945

oldest ever heavyweight champion, but

I was originally assigned to boxing

978

57:13 ,515 --> 00:57:20,665

after 13 years at ABC sports in 1987

by an incoming new chief executive,

979

57:20 ,955 --> 00:57:24,604

the guy who replaced Rune Arledge

as the head of the sports division.

980

57:24 ,915 --> 00:57:26,465

And he assigned me to boxing.

981

57:26 ,700 --> 00:57:27,460

to get rid of me.

982

57:27 ,630 --> 00:57:28,160

Oh, really?

983

57:28 ,170 --> 00:57:33,010

He thought, yeah, he was certain that

I would be a bad fit, that I would be a

984

57:33 ,010 --> 00:57:37,570

bad fit, both in terms of my own exposure

to the sport, because I looked to him

985

57:37 ,570 --> 00:57:41,010

like a preppy Eastern white kid who

wouldn't have anything to do with it.

986

57:41 ,380 --> 00:57:46,630

Uh, and, and also because of how the

sport would react to and resist me.

987

57:46 ,900 --> 00:57:51,600

So he wanted to get rid of me, wanted

me to walk away from my contract at ABC

988

57:51 ,600 --> 00:57:53,680

sports and his vehicle for doing that.

989

57:54 ,070 --> 00:57:56,060

was to assign me to boxing.

990

57:56 ,470 --> 00:58:03,250

He did not realize that the sports

division that he was now running had

991

58:03 ,260 --> 00:58:09,599

just a few weeks before signed a get

acquainted look see contract with a

992

58:09 ,599 --> 00:58:13,679

19 year old heavyweight from upstate

New York whose name was Mike Tyson.

993

58:14 ,520 --> 00:58:18,125

The very first fight I ever

called On network television.

994

58:18 ,185 --> 00:58:23,555

A, B, C sports was Mike Tyson versus

Jesse Ferguson, uh, which was one of

995

58:23 ,555 --> 00:58:29,125

Tyson's formative experiences on his

way to becoming heavyweight champion.

996

58:29 ,480 --> 00:58:30,070

Mike Tyson.

997

58:30 ,380 --> 00:58:38,380

So, from the beginning, I knew that,

uh, boxing was not going to destroy my

998

58:38 ,380 --> 00:58:42,390

resume or get rid of me as a sportscaster.

999

58:42 ,559 --> 00:58:47,279

It was going to be a path to

more work and more exposure.

Speaker:1000

58:47 ,280 --> 00:58:49,448

Yeah, it's more, it's

like a fertile ground for

Speaker:1001

58:49 ,448 --> 00:58:49,546

Marc Preston: you.

Speaker:1002

58:49 ,546 --> 00:58:49,841

I wound up

Speaker:1003

58:49 ,841 --> 00:58:51,210

Jim Lampley: at HBO.

Speaker:1004

58:51 ,790 --> 00:58:54,360

Okay, so he managed to get me to leave.

Speaker:1005

58:54 ,685 --> 00:59:01,795

ABC, but he did it via a method that

gave me a ticket to what was now the

Speaker:1006

59:01 ,795 --> 00:59:08,395

most artistically respected and prominent

television network in the world, HBO.

Speaker:1007

59:08 ,455 --> 00:59:10,195

That was not what he had in mind.

Speaker:1008

59:10 ,460 --> 00:59:10,940

But that's what

Speaker:1009

59:10 ,950 --> 00:59:11,260

Marc Preston: happened.

Speaker:1010

59:11 Memorable Sports Moments

59:11 ,590 --> 00:59:14,470

I was not a great sports reporter,

but I did a little bit of it.

Speaker:1011

59:14 ,490 --> 00:59:18,640

But one of the things I found is that I

really enjoyed, uh, after a while, you

Speaker:1012

59:18 ,640 --> 00:59:19,850

know, you get to be in the press box.

Speaker:1013

59:19 ,850 --> 00:59:23,590

You get the, uh, the seemingly

aspirationally where people, I'd love

Speaker:1014

59:23 ,590 --> 00:59:24,769

to be in the press box and watch.

Speaker:1015

59:24 ,810 --> 00:59:26,599

There are a lot of things like baseball.

Speaker:1016

59:26 ,599 --> 00:59:28,379

I like being in the stands to me.

Speaker:1017

59:28 ,379 --> 00:59:29,740

I like to be there enjoying it.

Speaker:1018

59:29 ,740 --> 00:59:31,500

Like everybody, it's meant to be enjoyed.

Speaker:1019

59:31 ,500 --> 00:59:31,910

If you will.

Speaker:1020

59:31 ,990 --> 00:59:34,050

Was there ever anything

that you ever watched?

Speaker:1021

59:34 ,050 --> 00:59:34,810

And you're like, you know what?

Speaker:1022

59:34 ,900 --> 00:59:37,070

I love doing this, but I'd

love just to take a moment.

Speaker:1023

59:37 ,070 --> 00:59:38,069

Just be a spectator.

Speaker:1024

59:38 ,145 --> 00:59:40,535

You know, in this moment, I don't

know if that makes sense at all,

Speaker:1025

59:40 ,535 --> 00:59:43,795

because of course, when you're

covering something, you know, you got

Speaker:1026

59:43 ,795 --> 00:59:47,375

additional responsibilities, obviously,

besides just enjoying the game or

Speaker:1027

59:47 ,375 --> 00:59:48,835

the, you know, match or whatever.

Speaker:1028

59:49 ,535 --> 00:59:52,595

Was there ever anything you're

like, you just found yourself being

Speaker:1029

59:52 ,595 --> 00:59:57,434

more of a spectator than a reporter

because it was the gravity of the

Speaker:1030

59:57 ,455 --> 00:59:58,925

moment or something like that?

Speaker:1031

59:59 ,035 --> 00:59:59,475

Jim Lampley: Oh yeah.

Speaker:1032

59:59 ,555 --> 01:00:01,055

Many, many, many, lots of them.

Speaker:1033

1:00:01 ,535 --> 01:00:03,955

Um, the very first.

Speaker:1034

1:00:04 ,025 --> 01:00:10,845

The first Olympic event I ever went to

was, uh, the first event at the 1976

Speaker:1035

1:00:10 ,875 --> 01:00:16,695

Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria,

100 miles down the road from Munich,

Speaker:1036

1:00:16 ,915 --> 01:00:22,475

where the last previous Olympics,

the 72 Summer Olympics, had been

Speaker:1037

1:00:22 ,684 --> 01:00:27,815

interrupted and, and, uh, corrupted

by the captivity of the Israeli.

Speaker:1038

1:00:28 ,270 --> 01:00:36,700

Athletes, but on the first day of the

first Olympics, I was covering as a

Speaker:1039

1:00:36 ,700 --> 01:00:42,609

broadcaster, as a feature reporter,

I was sent to, um, Patricofo mountain

Speaker:1040

1:00:42 ,609 --> 01:00:44,410

and Innsbruck for the downhill.

Speaker:1041

1:00:45 ,129 --> 01:00:47,830

I had never seen a downhill ski race.

Speaker:1042

1:00:48 ,429 --> 01:00:54,020

And, um, the, the race was regarded

as a competition between the

Speaker:1043

1:00:54 ,020 --> 01:00:58,470

number one Austrian downhiller,

Franz Klammer, and the number one

Speaker:1044

1:00:58 ,470 --> 01:01:01,049

Swiss downhiller, Bernhard Rossi.

Speaker:1045

1:01:01 ,350 --> 01:01:05,400

And I was doing a feature piece on

the economic implications of the

Speaker:1046

1:01:05 ,400 --> 01:01:10,190

downhill because Americans were not

equipped to understand how it was

Speaker:1047

1:01:10 ,200 --> 01:01:17,989

that a competition between two amateur

athletes could be worth tens of millions

Speaker:1048

1:01:17 ,990 --> 01:01:24,390

of dollars to whichever country was

the host country of the guy who won.

Speaker:1049

1:01:24 ,680 --> 01:01:30,845

In other words, If Franz Klamer

won, that meant ski packages, boots,

Speaker:1050

1:01:30 ,915 --> 01:01:35,195

goggles, gloves, et cetera, et

cetera, from Austria would be sold.

Speaker:1051

1:01:35 ,654 --> 01:01:40,265

But if Russi won, that meant that all that

equipment from Switzerland would be sold.

Speaker:1052

1:01:40 ,505 --> 01:01:45,485

So this was a competition between

two quote amateur athletes, which

Speaker:1053

1:01:45 ,595 --> 01:01:50,465

reflected tens of millions of

dollars of economic competition.

Speaker:1054

1:01:50 ,465 --> 01:01:51,715

I was fascinated by that.

Speaker:1055

1:01:52 ,095 --> 01:01:54,795

And, uh, I was on the hill.

Speaker:1056

1:01:55 ,095 --> 01:02:00,765

that day for Clommer's downhill

run, which is pretty much generally

Speaker:1057

1:02:00 ,765 --> 01:02:07,025

regarded as the most memorable

alpine skiing event of all time.

Speaker:1058

1:02:07 ,425 --> 01:02:09,095

Uh, and I was just a spectator.

Speaker:1059

1:02:09 ,135 --> 01:02:15,115

I, uh, that day, I had a lot of

those kinds of, uh, experiences

Speaker:1060

1:02:15 ,125 --> 01:02:17,415

and yeah, there was never a moment.

Speaker:1061

1:02:18 ,445 --> 01:02:22,875

In my sports broadcasting

career when the spectator in

Speaker:1062

1:02:22 ,875 --> 01:02:25,885

me was not a part of it, right?

Speaker:1063

1:02:25 ,885 --> 01:02:29,234

I mean, you know, even when I'm

calling a fight, I'm a spectator.

Speaker:1064

1:02:29 ,585 --> 01:02:34,214

Uh, even when I'm sitting in the studio

hosting Olympics, I'm a spectator.

Speaker:1065

1:02:34 ,495 --> 01:02:41,415

I did seven interviews in Montreal

in 1976 with Bruce Jenner.

Speaker:1066

1:02:41 ,800 --> 01:02:44,330

On his way to winning the catalog.

Speaker:1067

1:02:44 ,930 --> 01:02:51,359

So, uh, I had, I had enough time and,

uh, exposure and intimate contact.

Speaker:1068

1:02:51 ,965 --> 01:02:57,505

With bruce jenner that at one point

he said to me You know, we're on

Speaker:1069

1:02:57 ,505 --> 01:03:00,584

camera so often here people are

going to think there's something

Speaker:1070

1:03:00 ,584 --> 01:03:04,595

going on Imagine thinking of that now

Speaker:1071

1:03:06 ,415 --> 01:03:10,335

Marc Preston: Well You know, he remained

well, you know, it's it's it's so

Speaker:1072

1:03:10 ,355 --> 01:03:13,785

wonderful You've had all these experiences

you've been to all these events different

Speaker:1073

1:03:13 ,785 --> 01:03:19,375

kinds of sports and you you know had a

very colorful Full career, but was there

Speaker:1074

1:03:19 ,405 --> 01:03:22,845

anything that you didn't have a chance

to see that you're like, I really wanted

Speaker:1075

1:03:22 ,845 --> 01:03:27,924

to see that game, that match, that,

you know, that fight was something you

Speaker:1076

1:03:27 ,924 --> 01:03:29,755

ever didn't get a chance to go to that.

Speaker:1077

1:03:29 ,755 --> 01:03:32,115

You really like, I wish

you could have seen that.

Speaker:1078

1:03:32 ,235 --> 01:03:35,814

Jim Lampley: Well, I covered Wimbledon 12

times, but I've never been to the French

Speaker:1079

1:03:35 ,814 --> 01:03:42,314

open and, and that's an entirely different

competitive and cultural experience.

Speaker:1080

1:03:42 ,664 --> 01:03:50,430

Um, Yeah, there were, uh, there were

things that I missed out on, but you

Speaker:1081

1:03:50 ,430 --> 01:03:54,570

couldn't possibly complain either

to yourself or anybody else because

Speaker:1082

1:03:55 ,240 --> 01:03:57,340

my, my entire career was a gift.

Speaker:1083

1:03:57 ,700 --> 01:04:02,070

It wasn't something that happened

via conventional circumstances.

Speaker:1084

1:04:02 ,089 --> 01:04:07,660

And if ever they had known exactly

who it was they were interviewing at

Speaker:1085

1:04:07 ,660 --> 01:04:14,230

ABC sports, if ever they had known

that I had a George Myra jersey in my

Speaker:1086

1:04:14 ,230 --> 01:04:15,740

closet, they wouldn't have sent me.

Speaker:1087

1:04:16 ,175 --> 01:04:18,875

to interview him for the audition.

Speaker:1088

1:04:18 ,985 --> 01:04:27,445

If ever they had known that I had grown

up in Hendersonville, North Carolina, four

Speaker:1089

1:04:27 ,445 --> 01:04:30,304

or five doors away from Arledge's parents.

Speaker:1090

1:04:30 ,890 --> 01:04:35,210

in Laurel Park and that his mother

and my mother were in the same

Speaker:1091

1:04:35 ,210 --> 01:04:37,780

bridge club, I would never have

been interviewed to begin with.

Speaker:1092

1:04:38 ,240 --> 01:04:43,490

So there were all sorts of behind the

screen secrets that they didn't know about

Speaker:1093

1:04:43 ,490 --> 01:04:46,520

me, which could have prevented all of it.

Speaker:1094

1:04:46 ,805 --> 01:04:47,945

From ever happening.

Speaker:1095

1:04:55 The Seven Questions

1:04:55 ,095 --> 01:04:57,185

Marc Preston: Now, before we get

going, I just said, I do something

Speaker:1096

1:04:57 ,475 --> 01:04:58,824

I call my seven questions.

Speaker:1097

1:04:58 ,824 --> 01:05:00,185

Just a last bit of fun.

Speaker:1098

1:05:00 ,615 --> 01:05:03,815

First question I always ask everybody,

cause I always talk food at least once.

Speaker:1099

1:05:04 ,015 --> 01:05:07,025

If you could isolate, what is

your favorite comfort food?

Speaker:1100

1:05:07 ,125 --> 01:05:09,464

Uh, you've had a bad

day or even a great day.

Speaker:1101

1:05:09 ,664 --> 01:05:14,644

Something like this just lands, you

know, irrespective of how healthy it is.

Speaker:1102

1:05:14 ,694 --> 01:05:15,764

You know, your favorite comfort food.

Speaker:1103

1:05:16 ,965 --> 01:05:17,365

Pizza

Speaker:1104

1:05:18 ,675 --> 01:05:21,895

Jim Lampley: and you know some of that

probably has to do with it's the most

Speaker:1105

1:05:21 ,895 --> 01:05:28,074

convenient food and if you've worked

in television, you've been in edit

Speaker:1106

1:05:28 ,074 --> 01:05:33,140

bays, you've been in control rooms,

you've been in Um, all of the kinds

Speaker:1107

1:05:33 ,140 --> 01:05:38,620

of facilities in which people work on

television, uh, the food is going to

Speaker:1108

1:05:38 ,620 --> 01:05:40,140

be something you can hold in your hand,

Speaker:1109

1:05:40 ,340 --> 01:05:42,260

Marc Preston: something, not something,

not something you don't eat with a

Speaker:1110

1:05:42 ,260 --> 01:05:45,820

spoon and it's liquid, uh, cause that,

that the engineers will yell at you.

Speaker:1111

1:05:46 ,440 --> 01:05:46,460

Yeah.

Speaker:1112

1:05:46 ,659 --> 01:05:48,599

So yeah, my comfort food is pizza.

Speaker:1113

1:05:48 ,800 --> 01:05:49,400

A hundred percent.

Speaker:1114

1:05:49 ,439 --> 01:05:49,579

Jim Lampley: Uh,

Speaker:1115

1:05:49 ,590 --> 01:05:50,973

Marc Preston: any

particular topping that's

Speaker:1116

1:05:50 ,973 --> 01:05:52,100

Jim Lampley: a top of the list for you?

Speaker:1117

1:05:52 ,760 --> 01:05:57,955

I will eat pepperoni, but I'm, I'm

basically a, uh, Tomato and cheese

Speaker:1118

1:05:57 ,975 --> 01:05:59,785

kind of guy, you know, plain pizza

Speaker:1119

1:05:59 ,805 --> 01:06:00,305

Marc Preston: is

Speaker:1120

1:06:00 ,355 --> 01:06:00,835

Jim Lampley: my favorite.

Speaker:1121

1:06:00 ,835 --> 01:06:01,355

Marc Preston: Very good.

Speaker:1122

1:06:01 ,455 --> 01:06:01,885

Very good.

Speaker:1123

1:06:02 ,175 --> 01:06:05,675

Now, uh, if you were to sit down, have

a coffee and talk story for a few hours,

Speaker:1124

1:06:05 ,715 --> 01:06:09,564

uh, living or not, who would be three

people that you would like to sit down

Speaker:1125

1:06:09 ,564 --> 01:06:14,195

with, uh, at the table and have as part

of this conversation for a few hours?

Speaker:1126

1:06:15 ,075 --> 01:06:15,944

Muhammad Ali.

Speaker:1127

1:06:17 ,025 --> 01:06:17,805

Jim Lampley: And I did.

Speaker:1128

1:06:17 ,955 --> 01:06:18,145

Marc Preston: I

Speaker:1129

1:06:18 ,145 --> 01:06:23,405

Jim Lampley: did meet him and I did

become friendly with him and he babysat

Speaker:1130

1:06:23 ,405 --> 01:06:28,495

my daughter, uh, one whole day at a

U. S. Boxing Writers Association lunch

Speaker:1131

1:06:28 ,495 --> 01:06:31,135

in New York, or dinner in New York.

Speaker:1132

1:06:31 ,785 --> 01:06:39,774

Uh, so Muhammad Ali would be number

one and way above almost anybody else.

Speaker:1133

1:06:40 ,264 --> 01:06:45,615

Um, somebody that I would want

to sit down and talk with.

Speaker:1134

1:06:47 ,955 --> 01:06:52,925

You know, the bottom line is I did talk

to just about everyone I ever wanted to.

Speaker:1135

1:06:52 ,925 --> 01:07:00,595

I mean, I, okay, if I could have

another 12 hours with Arthur Ashe,

Speaker:1136

1:07:00 ,685 --> 01:07:04,514

Billie Jean King, and Martina

Navratilova, if I could repeat that.

Speaker:1137

1:07:05 ,035 --> 01:07:11,205

And I, and I, you know, covered

Wimbledon on HBO, um, for 12 years.

Speaker:1138

1:07:11 ,205 --> 01:07:16,755

And that meant many, many summer days

spent in the announce booth with, uh,

Speaker:1139

1:07:16 ,795 --> 01:07:19,285

Arthur and Billy Jean and Martina.

Speaker:1140

1:07:19 ,895 --> 01:07:25,015

And they are three of the

most cosmic individual human

Speaker:1141

1:07:25 ,015 --> 01:07:26,105

beings you could ever meet.

Speaker:1142

1:07:26 ,305 --> 01:07:32,234

Yeah, that would be, that would probably

be the thing I would most want to repeat

Speaker:1143

1:07:32 ,285 --> 01:07:34,895

and have back is time with those people.

Speaker:1144

1:07:35 ,344 --> 01:07:42,055

Uh, because each of the three is in

a class by himself or herself for

Speaker:1145

1:07:42 ,665 --> 01:07:47,984

intelligence, dignity, broad mindedness,

understanding of what, uh, their

Speaker:1146

1:07:47 ,985 --> 01:07:49,975

sport and their world is all about.

Speaker:1147

1:07:50 ,015 --> 01:07:50,835

I can still.

Speaker:1148

1:07:51 ,490 --> 01:07:56,710

Every day of my life, I can hear

Billy Jean saying to me, Jim,

Speaker:1149

1:07:58 ,270 --> 01:08:01,969

the only ball that matters is

the next one coming over the net.

Speaker:1150

1:08:02 ,320 --> 01:08:03,580

The last one didn't matter.

Speaker:1151

1:08:04 ,130 --> 01:08:06,210

The one that's coming

up next doesn't matter.

Speaker:1152

1:08:06 ,310 --> 01:08:08,529

This ball coming over the net right now.

Speaker:1153

1:08:08 ,999 --> 01:08:11,350

That's the only thing that matters.

Speaker:1154

1:08:12 ,840 --> 01:08:19,190

I choke up when I think about it because

It meant so much to me to learn lessons

Speaker:1155

1:08:19 ,190 --> 01:08:21,320

like that from a person like that,

Speaker:1156

1:08:21 ,590 --> 01:08:24,399

Marc Preston: and I can't

say enough about it.

Speaker:1157

1:08:24 ,399 --> 01:08:26,790

It's sort of a way through tennis

of explaining you got to live in

Speaker:1158

1:08:26 ,800 --> 01:08:30,049

the moment, you know, you got to be

here right now to be a participant.

Speaker:1159

1:08:30 ,420 --> 01:08:33,609

Each one of those individuals

socially contributed so much

Speaker:1160

1:08:33 ,609 --> 01:08:34,910

as well, beyond the sport.

Speaker:1161

1:08:35 ,620 --> 01:08:36,229

That's my reason.

Speaker:1162

1:08:36 ,669 --> 01:08:38,519

Jim Lampley: That's,

that's, that's why I care.

Speaker:1163

1:08:38 ,569 --> 01:08:41,429

I mean, I, I care about the whole society.

Speaker:1164

1:08:41 ,429 --> 01:08:42,699

I care about news events.

Speaker:1165

1:08:42 ,699 --> 01:08:43,269

I cared about.

Speaker:1166

1:08:43 ,685 --> 01:08:45,325

You know, everything that matters.

Speaker:1167

1:08:45 ,345 --> 01:08:47,025

My mother taught me to be that way.

Speaker:1168

1:08:47 ,245 --> 01:08:49,805

So the athletes who most appealed

to me, who did I mention?

Speaker:1169

1:08:50 ,095 --> 01:08:53,815

Muhammad Ali, Billie Jean King,

Martina Navratilova, Arthur Ashe.

Speaker:1170

1:08:54 ,004 --> 01:08:59,564

Every one of them has a socio political

impact that sets them apart from others.

Speaker:1171

1:08:59 ,894 --> 01:09:03,245

Marc Preston: The, the impact each

one had is, you know, uh, Martina

Speaker:1172

1:09:03 ,345 --> 01:09:04,865

Navratilova, not one to hold back either.

Speaker:1173

1:09:04 ,905 --> 01:09:08,815

You know, she, I kind of liked the way

she would, Martina Navratilova and, um,

Speaker:1174

1:09:09 ,200 --> 01:09:11,120

Who is the big rivalry in the eighties?

Speaker:1175

1:09:11 ,150 --> 01:09:13,510

Uh, she, Oh gosh, Chris Everett.

Speaker:1176

1:09:13 ,530 --> 01:09:14,010

There we go.

Speaker:1177

1:09:14 ,010 --> 01:09:14,190

Yeah.

Speaker:1178

1:09:14 ,810 --> 01:09:17,990

My, my, are you aware of

the recent circumstances?

Speaker:1179

1:09:18 ,000 --> 01:09:18,830

No, no.

Speaker:1180

1:09:19 ,220 --> 01:09:21,839

Jim Lampley: I don't know where we

stand right now, but as of a couple

Speaker:1181

1:09:21 ,839 --> 01:09:27,080

of months ago, they both had cancer

and they were each other's, they were

Speaker:1182

1:09:27 ,100 --> 01:09:29,059

each other's late night phone partner.

Speaker:1183

1:09:30 ,039 --> 01:09:30,499

Okay.

Speaker:1184

1:09:31 ,030 --> 01:09:36,420

Martina and Chris, both

battling cancer, both.

Speaker:1185

1:09:36 ,985 --> 01:09:41,835

Going to bed only after having

one last conversation at the

Speaker:1186

1:09:41 ,835 --> 01:09:43,655

end of the day with each other.

Speaker:1187

1:09:44 ,085 --> 01:09:48,255

Now, I don't know all the

numbers correctly, but they

Speaker:1188

1:09:48 ,255 --> 01:09:51,775

played 78 grand slam matches.

Speaker:1189

1:09:52 ,035 --> 01:09:54,565

They each won the same number.

Speaker:1190

1:09:54 ,974 --> 01:09:57,704

They won the same number of.

Speaker:1191

1:09:58 ,165 --> 01:10:01,495

overall, uh, Grand Slam championships.

Speaker:1192

1:10:01 ,495 --> 01:10:05,745

Basically, they both were number one,

pretty much the same number of times.

Speaker:1193

1:10:05 ,935 --> 01:10:12,594

So it is statistically unquestionably

the greatest individual rivalry in the

Speaker:1194

1:10:12 ,594 --> 01:10:16,954

history and for them both to be sharing.

Speaker:1195

1:10:17 ,200 --> 01:10:21,560

This experience now, obviously I tear up.

Speaker:1196

1:10:22 ,180 --> 01:10:25,360

Marc Preston: Yeah, they were, I remember

watching tennis with my grandmother.

Speaker:1197

1:10:25 ,360 --> 01:10:28,400

We always used to come, I live

on South Padre Island, Texas now.

Speaker:1198

1:10:28 ,470 --> 01:10:32,229

And, uh, and we used to come down

here, uh, uh, our family did.

Speaker:1199

1:10:32 ,280 --> 01:10:35,349

And I would remember Wimbledon

always happened, you know, in summer.

Speaker:1200

1:10:35 ,349 --> 01:10:38,730

We would, my grandmother and I would

watch every day, we'd watch Wimbledon.

Speaker:1201

1:10:38 ,730 --> 01:10:41,510

And she just, you know, uh,

loved Chris Edward Lloyd.

Speaker:1202

1:10:41 ,780 --> 01:10:42,480

She just loved her.

Speaker:1203

1:10:42 ,570 --> 01:10:45,850

You wanted to see them play together

yet are against each other, you know.

Speaker:1204

1:10:46 ,100 --> 01:10:50,370

Now, if, if we were to go back when

you were a young man, uh, who was

Speaker:1205

1:10:50 ,370 --> 01:10:53,160

your first celebrity crush as a kid?

Speaker:1206

1:10:54 ,270 --> 01:10:56,049

Is her name Sally Field?

Speaker:1207

1:10:56 ,049 --> 01:10:56,810

Sally Field.

Speaker:1208

1:10:56 ,810 --> 01:10:57,080

Yeah.

Speaker:1209

1:10:58 ,360 --> 01:10:58,930

Oh gosh.

Speaker:1210

1:11:00 ,335 --> 01:11:01,915

She played Gidget, right?

Speaker:1211

1:11:01 ,995 --> 01:11:04,155

She was in the TV show Gidget, wasn't she?

Speaker:1212

1:11:04 ,215 --> 01:11:07,155

Yeah, that was because

there was a movie and, uh.

Speaker:1213

1:11:07 ,245 --> 01:11:10,045

There was a movie, which

was Sandra Dee, I believe.

Speaker:1214

1:11:10 ,125 --> 01:11:12,335

But Sally Field played Gidget on TV.

Speaker:1215

1:11:12 ,355 --> 01:11:13,285

Jim Lampley: Of course, I later met her.

Speaker:1216

1:11:13 ,475 --> 01:11:13,714

Oh, really?

Speaker:1217

1:11:13 ,775 --> 01:11:14,635

I met her and told her.

Speaker:1218

1:11:14 ,855 --> 01:11:15,754

She had been my celebrity

Speaker:1219

1:11:15 ,754 --> 01:11:16,114

Marc Preston: crush.

Speaker:1220

1:11:16 ,185 --> 01:11:18,765

When I was a little kid, I, when

I saw, uh, Smokey and the Bandit,

Speaker:1221

1:11:18 ,774 --> 01:11:21,675

I was like, Oh, she was kind of

my first, first, like a little bit

Speaker:1222

1:11:21 ,675 --> 01:11:23,125

older, that and Living Newton John.

Speaker:1223

1:11:23 ,245 --> 01:11:25,505

being a little kid, first

older lady crush, but they were

Speaker:1224

1:11:25 ,505 --> 01:11:26,775

probably only in their thirties.

Speaker:1225

1:11:27 ,215 --> 01:11:28,405

The last couple of questions here.

Speaker:1226

1:11:28 ,445 --> 01:11:31,634

Um, now if you're going to be forced to

live on an exotic Island, somewhere you

Speaker:1227

1:11:31 ,635 --> 01:11:32,955

really want to be, you want to be on this.

Speaker:1228

1:11:32 ,965 --> 01:11:35,894

It's, it's beautiful place, but you're

going to be there for a full year.

Speaker:1229

1:11:35 ,935 --> 01:11:38,864

There's no streaming, no

internet, uh, for music.

Speaker:1230

1:11:38 ,875 --> 01:11:40,334

You're going to have to bring one CD.

Speaker:1231

1:11:40 ,394 --> 01:11:43,564

You can do something you can listen to

over and over again and bring one DVD.

Speaker:1232

1:11:44 ,080 --> 01:11:46,260

of a movie you can watch

over and over again.

Speaker:1233

1:11:46 ,330 --> 01:11:48,330

It can be, I mean, it can

be a box set, if you will.

Speaker:1234

1:11:48 ,690 --> 01:11:51,530

Uh, what would that CD and what

would that DVD be that you could

Speaker:1235

1:11:51 ,530 --> 01:11:53,199

listen to and watch all year long?

Speaker:1236

1:11:54 ,030 --> 01:11:55,020

Jim Lampley: Wow, that's tough.

Speaker:1237

1:11:55 ,350 --> 01:12:04,330

I mean, I have broad and varied and, um,

you know, I think, uh, rich music tastes.

Speaker:1238

1:12:05 ,020 --> 01:12:10,960

If I'm going to listen to one CD

all year round, what would that be?

Speaker:1239

1:12:11 ,510 --> 01:12:14,060

So, Bob Dylan.

Speaker:1240

1:12:14 ,730 --> 01:12:17,520

Either bringing it all back home or.

Speaker:1241

1:12:18 ,310 --> 01:12:23,340

Uh, the next album, which had like

a Rolling Stone name of the album

Speaker:1242

1:12:23 ,340 --> 01:12:28,400

is not leaping up to me right now,

but, uh, just heard the, some of the

Speaker:1243

1:12:28 ,400 --> 01:12:30,110

music again, obviously when I went

Speaker:1244

1:12:30 ,110 --> 01:12:33,730

Marc Preston: to see, uh, the movie,

oh, I, I still wanna see the movie.

Speaker:1245

1:12:33 ,730 --> 01:12:36,400

I, I, you know, he's having

kind, we haven't seen, I

Speaker:1246

1:12:36 ,400 --> 01:12:37,450

have not, you've gotta go see

Speaker:1247

1:12:37 ,870 --> 01:12:38,320

Jim Lampley: Unknown.

Speaker:1248

1:12:38 ,350 --> 01:12:42,685

It's a, it's a very good movie

and it's a. Uh, tremendous

Speaker:1249

1:12:42 ,725 --> 01:12:45,235

characterization by Timothee Chalamet.

Speaker:1250

1:12:45 ,245 --> 01:12:47,865

So, yeah, I'll take a Dylan album with me.

Speaker:1251

1:12:47 ,925 --> 01:12:48,325

All right.

Speaker:1252

1:12:48 ,355 --> 01:12:53,985

And, uh, the movie which I've already

watched over and over and over and

Speaker:1253

1:12:54 ,535 --> 01:13:00,840

which I could watch Well, I'm going

to name three, which is cheating,

Speaker:1254

1:13:00 ,940 --> 01:13:06,180

but I've probably watched to kill

a mockingbird 50 times already.

Speaker:1255

1:13:06 ,730 --> 01:13:11,869

Uh, I've pretty much memorized to

kill a mockingbird, but it never fails

Speaker:1256

1:13:11 ,869 --> 01:13:16,199

to, um, satisfy me and enrich me.

Speaker:1257

1:13:16 ,599 --> 01:13:21,625

Um, So if you're going to go in that

direction, then you should probably

Speaker:1258

1:13:21 ,885 --> 01:13:27,744

acknowledge that you want to rewatch and

should rewatch, many times, Citizen Kane.

Speaker:1259

1:13:27 ,865 --> 01:13:28,365

Oh, yeah.

Speaker:1260

1:13:28 ,454 --> 01:13:31,615

Uh, I'll start with To Kill a

Mockingbird and Citizen Kane.

Speaker:1261

1:13:32 ,295 --> 01:13:38,065

And, uh, the, uh, the

movie within the past year.

Speaker:1262

1:13:38 ,400 --> 01:13:43,780

About the, uh, the world

war two bomb project.

Speaker:1263

1:13:43 ,780 --> 01:13:44,785

Yeah.

Speaker:1264

1:13:44 ,785 --> 01:13:48,880

So those three Oppenheimer

Speaker:1265

1:13:48 ,960 --> 01:13:50,920

Marc Preston: citizen Kane

to kill a mockingbird.

Speaker:1266

1:13:51 ,260 --> 01:13:51,829

Very good.

Speaker:1267

1:13:51 ,840 --> 01:13:55,079

You know, with streaming, you can find

just about anything at any given time.

Speaker:1268

1:13:55 ,080 --> 01:13:57,900

And it's like, I need to start kind

of diving into some older movies.

Speaker:1269

1:13:57 ,965 --> 01:14:01,965

You know, uh, I have to keep up with

so much new stuff though, but, um,

Speaker:1270

1:14:03 ,175 --> 01:14:07,165

20 times, not 20, but I've watched

a good, a good, good few times, you

Speaker:1271

1:14:07 ,165 --> 01:14:13,235

know, it's all, it's, it's very, uh,

it never loses its relevance, you know,

Speaker:1272

1:14:13 ,505 --> 01:14:16,055

Jim Lampley: never loses its

relevance, never loses its charm.

Speaker:1273

1:14:16 ,654 --> 01:14:21,155

Uh, and, and, you know, being an

emotional person as I am, never

Speaker:1274

1:14:21 ,155 --> 01:14:25,414

loses the eight or 10 places where

I tear up before I hear the line.

Speaker:1275

1:14:26 ,060 --> 01:14:29,890

Like Ms. Scout, stand up,

your father's passing.

Speaker:1276

1:14:30 ,050 --> 01:14:33,130

I have a granddaughter named Scout.

Speaker:1277

1:14:33 ,260 --> 01:14:33,810

Really?

Speaker:1278

1:14:33 ,860 --> 01:14:34,110

Okay.

Speaker:1279

1:14:34 ,110 --> 01:14:39,919

And yeah, she's named Scout because

her mother saw To Kill a Mockingbird

Speaker:1280

1:14:39 ,920 --> 01:14:41,580

maybe 10 times when she was a kid.

Speaker:1281

1:14:43 ,305 --> 01:14:45,645

Marc Preston: So that, so that's,

that's such a, that's a sweet

Speaker:1282

1:14:45 ,645 --> 01:14:47,905

connection that they live near y'all.

Speaker:1283

1:14:47 ,905 --> 01:14:50,275

Jim Lampley: That, uh, that

daughter lives here in Chapel Hill.

Speaker:1284

1:14:50 ,375 --> 01:14:50,905

Marc Preston: Okay.

Speaker:1285

1:14:51 ,475 --> 01:14:53,555

So you have easy access to

your granddaughter there.

Speaker:1286

1:14:53 ,835 --> 01:14:56,594

Jim Lampley: That granddaughter,

uh, I think Deborah and I

Speaker:1287

1:14:56 ,605 --> 01:14:59,175

have seven grandchildren who

now live here in Chapel Hill.

Speaker:1288

1:14:59 ,374 --> 01:14:59,784

Really?

Speaker:1289

1:14:59 ,884 --> 01:15:02,825

But people followed us, people

followed us across the country.

Speaker:1290

1:15:03 ,185 --> 01:15:05,855

Two of her daughters followed

her across the country.

Speaker:1291

1:15:06 ,265 --> 01:15:06,975

Um.

Speaker:1292

1:15:07 ,330 --> 01:15:10,730

One of my daughters followed

me across the country.

Speaker:1293

1:15:10 ,830 --> 01:15:14,720

They, uh, all now live

here in Chapel Hill.

Speaker:1294

1:15:15 ,100 --> 01:15:15,699

Pretty thrilling.

Speaker:1295

1:15:15 ,820 --> 01:15:18,050

They didn't have any connection

to this place other than

Speaker:1296

1:15:18 ,050 --> 01:15:18,380

Marc Preston: us.

Speaker:1297

1:15:18 ,560 --> 01:15:18,980

Fantastic.

Speaker:1298

1:15:19 ,039 --> 01:15:19,909

Well, that's fantastic.

Speaker:1299

1:15:19 ,910 --> 01:15:23,180

I can only imagine I'm probably

a few years away from that.

Speaker:1300

1:15:23 ,190 --> 01:15:25,380

My oldest is 20, about to be 22.

Speaker:1301

1:15:25 ,760 --> 01:15:27,220

But I'm like, that day will come.

Speaker:1302

1:15:27 ,220 --> 01:15:28,830

I'm going, I wonder what

that's going to be like.

Speaker:1303

1:15:28 ,840 --> 01:15:30,950

That's kind of the next step.

Speaker:1304

1:15:31 ,160 --> 01:15:32,500

Jim Lampley: My oldest daughter is 44.

Speaker:1305

1:15:32 ,650 --> 01:15:37,000

And, and you should probably do A

session with her, although I don't

Speaker:1306

1:15:37 ,000 --> 01:15:38,580

think she would have time to do this.

Speaker:1307

1:15:38 ,600 --> 01:15:46,509

My eldest daughter, um, used to be global

chair of fine art at Sotheby's and now

Speaker:1308

1:15:46 ,510 --> 01:15:52,830

she's running the world's largest gallery

chain, a gallery chain called Gagosian.

Speaker:1309

1:15:53 ,200 --> 01:15:58,640

So by the business standard of.

Speaker:1310

1:15:58 ,860 --> 01:15:59,740

the art world.

Speaker:1311

1:15:59 ,740 --> 01:16:05,140

I believe you're, you're within your

rights to say that my eldest daughter is

Speaker:1312

1:16:05 ,170 --> 01:16:08,130

the number one art Marceter in the world.

Speaker:1313

1:16:08 ,260 --> 01:16:12,420

She's the person you go to if you want

to buy a Picasso for 30 million, or

Speaker:1314

1:16:12 ,970 --> 01:16:17,309

you want to buy a Rocco, or you, you

want to buy some other major artists.

Speaker:1315

1:16:18 ,200 --> 01:16:18,440

Work.

Speaker:1316

1:16:18 ,440 --> 01:16:19,520

She's, well, I, I need to check

Speaker:1317

1:16:19 ,520 --> 01:16:20,870

Marc Preston: my little

coin jar over there.

Speaker:1318

1:16:20 ,870 --> 01:16:21,530

I'm not quite sure.

Speaker:1319

1:16:21 ,530 --> 01:16:23,570

I, I may come up a couple

quarters short, but , right?

Speaker:1320

1:16:23 ,990 --> 01:16:24,710

Yeah, me either.

Speaker:1321

1:16:24 ,710 --> 01:16:24,770

Yeah.

Speaker:1322

1:16:25 ,220 --> 01:16:29,270

Now, um, now if you were to define

stem to stern from the time you woke

Speaker:1323

1:16:29 ,270 --> 01:16:33,110

up to the time you went to sleep, the

component parts of a perfect day for you.

Speaker:1324

1:16:33 ,230 --> 01:16:38,040

If you said, if I had the, if, if you had

these things happen that's gonna line up

Speaker:1325

1:16:38 ,040 --> 01:16:41,490

to be a pretty solid day in your mind,

what would those things be or what would

Speaker:1326

1:16:41 ,490 --> 01:16:43,200

be the component parts of a perfect day?

Speaker:1327

1:16:44 ,740 --> 01:16:48,800

Jim Lampley: So I get up and have.

Speaker:1328

1:16:49 ,530 --> 01:16:56,030

breakfast and coffee with my wife

and one or both of her daughters

Speaker:1329

1:16:56 ,050 --> 01:16:58,020

and some of the grandchildren.

Speaker:1330

1:16:58 ,030 --> 01:16:58,880

That would be great.

Speaker:1331

1:16:59 ,780 --> 01:17:05,230

Um, I go to the Dean Dome here

in Chapel Hill and UNC beats

Speaker:1332

1:17:05 ,230 --> 01:17:06,720

Duke in a basketball game.

Speaker:1333

1:17:07 ,369 --> 01:17:13,780

Uh, I eat pizza at a restaurant

named Mercado, uh, where my favorite

Speaker:1334

1:17:13 ,780 --> 01:17:18,570

pizza, uh, is a thing called a Rosso

pizza that doesn't have cheese on it.

Speaker:1335

1:17:19 ,180 --> 01:17:23,030

Uh, and, uh, I come back and.

Speaker:1336

1:17:23 ,270 --> 01:17:32,280

Build a fire in our fireplace and

gaze out at my, um, carefully well lit

Speaker:1337

1:17:32 ,580 --> 01:17:36,930

six plus acres, um, giant backyard.

Speaker:1338

1:17:37 ,410 --> 01:17:40,960

Uh, you can almost see the lake through

the trees, et cetera, et cetera.

Speaker:1339

1:17:40 ,970 --> 01:17:43,699

All, all those things I now have.

Speaker:1340

1:17:43 ,700 --> 01:17:46,940

And, and so many of my days.

Speaker:1341

1:17:47 ,250 --> 01:17:48,530

Are like perfect days.

Speaker:1342

1:17:48 ,570 --> 01:17:52,460

We don't beat Duke every day, but,

uh, last year we beat them twice.

Speaker:1343

1:17:52 ,460 --> 01:17:56,449

So, uh, those are, those

are perfect days for me.

Speaker:1344

1:17:57 ,089 --> 01:17:58,140

Marc Preston: Very, very nice.

Speaker:1345

1:17:58 ,620 --> 01:18:01,120

Now, the last two questions,

if you weren't doing this for a

Speaker:1346

1:18:01 ,120 --> 01:18:02,359

living, this was not an option.

Speaker:1347

1:18:02 ,360 --> 01:18:04,090

Somebody said, Nope, you can't, you can't.

Speaker:1348

1:18:04 ,450 --> 01:18:06,349

Sports was not going to be your thing.

Speaker:1349

1:18:06 ,469 --> 01:18:08,109

What would have been the number two?

Speaker:1350

1:18:08 ,109 --> 01:18:11,220

What else could you have seen

yourself doing for a living?

Speaker:1351

1:18:11 ,680 --> 01:18:13,210

Jim Lampley: I wanted to be a newscaster.

Speaker:1352

1:18:13 ,700 --> 01:18:16,469

Eventually I did become a newscaster.

Speaker:1353

1:18:16 ,835 --> 01:18:23,415

Um, I would have wanted to, uh,

succeed Walter Cronkite or Peter

Speaker:1354

1:18:23 ,415 --> 01:18:27,735

Jennings or Tom Brokaw or one of

those network television news anchors.

Speaker:1355

1:18:27 ,735 --> 01:18:33,665

Instead, uh, I became primary news

anchor for a network owned and operated

Speaker:1356

1:18:33 ,665 --> 01:18:36,475

station in Los Angeles, KCBS TV.

Speaker:1357

1:18:37 ,015 --> 01:18:43,825

Um, where I covered earthquakes and,

uh, car chases and various other, uh,

Speaker:1358

1:18:43 ,865 --> 01:18:46,980

news stories in the Los Angeles Marcet.

Speaker:1359

1:18:46 ,990 --> 01:18:51,310

So I got my taste of news anchoring.

Speaker:1360

1:18:51 ,330 --> 01:18:56,790

I always thought because I got into

this from a politics base that I was a

Speaker:1361

1:18:56 ,790 --> 01:18:59,529

little bit miscast as a sportscaster.

Speaker:1362

1:18:59 ,570 --> 01:19:02,600

I wasn't being a

sportscaster was the right.

Speaker:1363

1:19:03 ,455 --> 01:19:07,505

Uh, avocation or the right

vocation, I should say for me

Speaker:1364

1:19:07 ,515 --> 01:19:10,165

and the right thing for me to do.

Speaker:1365

1:19:10 ,195 --> 01:19:15,414

But, uh, in my original vision of

what I was going to be as a television

Speaker:1366

1:19:15 ,414 --> 01:19:20,855

broadcaster, uh, I was Walter

Cronkite, David Brinkley, Chet Huntley,

Speaker:1367

1:19:20 ,985 --> 01:19:21,425

Marc Preston: those people.

Speaker:1368

1:19:21 ,725 --> 01:19:23,805

People I wish we had back right now.

Speaker:1369

1:19:27 ,630 --> 01:19:32,450

Jim Lampley: But, but, you know, now we

don't, and I spent five semesters teaching

Speaker:1370

1:19:32 ,459 --> 01:19:37,619

here in Chapel Hill, teaching a course

called, um, Evolution of Storytelling

Speaker:1371

1:19:37 ,619 --> 01:19:39,570

in American Electronic News Media.

Speaker:1372

1:19:40 ,150 --> 01:19:44,139

And I was very purposely teaching a news

media course rather than a sports media

Speaker:1373

1:19:44 ,139 --> 01:19:46,049

course, because it means something.

Speaker:1374

1:19:46 ,270 --> 01:19:46,800

It's important.

Speaker:1375

1:19:46 ,920 --> 01:19:47,250

Yeah.

Speaker:1376

1:19:47 ,580 --> 01:19:53,260

And, um, the more I got to know my

students, the more disenchanted I

Speaker:1377

1:19:53 ,260 --> 01:19:58,120

became with the atmosphere in which I

was trying to teach the kinds of things

Speaker:1378

1:19:58 ,149 --> 01:20:02,899

that Murrow and Cronkite and all of

those great newscasters had created.

Speaker:1379

1:20:03 ,360 --> 01:20:07,770

Uh, and eventually I would come

into class once or twice a week and

Speaker:1380

1:20:07 ,770 --> 01:20:11,870

say, you know, if you wake up in the

morning and you get your first dose

Speaker:1381

1:20:11 ,870 --> 01:20:16,720

of daily news from your preferred

social media feed, whatever it is.

Speaker:1382

1:20:17 ,115 --> 01:20:19,005

You are asking to be colonized.

Speaker:1383

1:20:19 ,045 --> 01:20:21,645

You are asking to be subdivided.

Speaker:1384

1:20:21 ,655 --> 01:20:24,325

You are asking to be misled.

Speaker:1385

1:20:24 ,375 --> 01:20:26,525

You're asking even to be lied to.

Speaker:1386

1:20:26 ,804 --> 01:20:31,015

And this is not the way to consume

news in our current society.

Speaker:1387

1:20:31 ,275 --> 01:20:32,275

They didn't listen to me.

Speaker:1388

1:20:33 ,225 --> 01:20:35,814

And what's the result of that.

Speaker:1389

1:20:36 ,485 --> 01:20:38,155

Well, sitting

Speaker:1390

1:20:38 ,155 --> 01:20:40,435

Marc Preston: in the white house

right now, you know, I remember

Speaker:1391

1:20:40 ,455 --> 01:20:44,515

studying, uh, broadcast journalism

at Texas tech, uh, university.

Speaker:1392

1:20:44 ,565 --> 01:20:49,015

I remember a professor going, you know,

no matter how you try to be unbiased,

Speaker:1393

1:20:49 ,035 --> 01:20:53,224

you have cultural things, you have things

that you can try, work your ass off to

Speaker:1394

1:20:53 ,224 --> 01:20:57,165

be unbiased, but there's some things

that leak through and the, we all live

Speaker:1395

1:20:57 ,165 --> 01:20:58,065

Jim Lampley: within ourselves.

Speaker:1396

1:20:58 ,065 --> 01:21:01,485

We all live in our own personas

and our own bodies, et cetera.

Speaker:1397

1:21:02 ,025 --> 01:21:03,965

We all have our own perceptions.

Speaker:1398

1:21:04 ,005 --> 01:21:10,115

That's why there's professional training

for newscasters is so that you do

Speaker:1399

1:21:10 ,145 --> 01:21:15,544

learn the disciplines by which you

can steal yourself against operating

Speaker:1400

1:21:15 ,545 --> 01:21:18,774

according to your own personal

prejudices that doesn't exist anymore.

Speaker:1401

1:21:18 ,990 --> 01:21:21,230

Marc Preston: There was pride, the

folks I spoke with, there was pride

Speaker:1402

1:21:21 ,230 --> 01:21:25,400

in being agnostic when it came to

just presenting the story, you know,

Speaker:1403

1:21:25 ,400 --> 01:21:27,740

as opposed to a coloration of it.

Speaker:1404

1:21:27 ,780 --> 01:21:32,049

And I think that's, uh, do you ever eat

the chicken fried steak at the Lubbock

Speaker:1405

1:21:32 ,049 --> 01:21:32,319

Jim Lampley: Inn?

Speaker:1406

1:21:32 ,760 --> 01:21:34,520

No, I don't think, no, I did not.

Speaker:1407

1:21:34 ,580 --> 01:21:38,620

Darryl Royal introduced me to the chicken

fried steak at the Lubbock Inn in 1974.

Speaker:1408

1:21:39 ,800 --> 01:21:42,420

Marc Preston: And it was

indeed very good food.

Speaker:1409

1:21:42 ,495 --> 01:21:43,195

You know, it's funny.

Speaker:1410

1:21:43 ,195 --> 01:21:46,345

I, I'm more, I went there in the

university of North Texas and I'm more

Speaker:1411

1:21:46 ,345 --> 01:21:50,105

ascribed to the university of North

Texas because that was, yeah, yep.

Speaker:1412

1:21:50 ,115 --> 01:21:52,535

Denton, just about 45

minutes North of Dallas.

Speaker:1413

1:21:52 ,535 --> 01:21:52,785

Yup.

Speaker:1414

1:21:52 ,884 --> 01:21:54,965

And, uh, Don Henley's hometown.

Speaker:1415

1:21:55 ,085 --> 01:21:56,404

I just learned something today.

Speaker:1416

1:21:56 ,415 --> 01:21:58,585

I, I did not know Don

Henley was from Denton.

Speaker:1417

1:21:58 ,685 --> 01:21:58,875

Kind

Speaker:1418

1:21:58 ,875 --> 01:22:00,235

Jim Lampley: of get the

heart of the matter.

Speaker:1419

1:22:01 ,745 --> 01:22:04,245

Marc Preston: Well, the, the, the last

question I got for you is if you were

Speaker:1420

1:22:04 ,245 --> 01:22:07,185

to go back, if you could jump into

your DeLorean, let's say and traveled

Speaker:1421

1:22:07 ,195 --> 01:22:10,675

back to when you were 16 years old,

You got one piece of advice to give

Speaker:1422

1:22:10 ,675 --> 01:22:12,975

yourself a couple minutes with younger.

Speaker:1423

1:22:12 ,975 --> 01:22:16,055

You either to make that moment a

little bit better, get yourself

Speaker:1424

1:22:16 ,055 --> 01:22:17,485

maybe on a different path.

Speaker:1425

1:22:17 ,915 --> 01:22:19,315

Um, what was it?

Speaker:1426

1:22:19 ,325 --> 01:22:21,305

What would that piece of

advice be to 16 year old?

Speaker:1427

1:22:21 ,305 --> 01:22:21,475

You

Speaker:1428

1:22:23 ,054 --> 01:22:26,224

Jim Lampley: saved the beeraholic

part of you until you have already

Speaker:1429

1:22:26 ,224 --> 01:22:32,745

graduated from college, get something

done before you go and spend hours of

Speaker:1430

1:22:32 ,745 --> 01:22:37,445

every day sitting in the shack buying

35 cent Budweiser beers, and then go

Speaker:1431

1:22:37 ,445 --> 01:22:42,295

to the SAE house at night and lose your

Oldsmobile Cutlass in a poker game.

Speaker:1432

1:22:42 ,375 --> 01:22:48,415

I would, I would try to avoid all

of the misbehaviors that ultimately

Speaker:1433

1:22:48 ,625 --> 01:22:55,165

positioned me as the mortgage loan

clerk at First National Bank of Miami,

Speaker:1434

1:22:55 ,484 --> 01:23:02,755

uh, in 1968, 69 and 70, and, and then

I wouldn't have to start over now.

Speaker:1435

1:23:02 ,765 --> 01:23:08,660

Ultimately I erased all that and I wound

up in graduate school and I. I got to

Speaker:1436

1:23:08 ,680 --> 01:23:11,330

some meaningful professional levels.

Speaker:1437

1:23:11 ,390 --> 01:23:13,650

That's the reason the book is titled.

Speaker:1438

1:23:13 ,650 --> 01:23:18,859

It happened is because it's all so

utterly counterintuitive that, that

Speaker:1439

1:23:18 ,870 --> 01:23:21,050

these things could have happened to me.

Speaker:1440

1:23:21 ,380 --> 01:23:25,560

Um, but they did, but yeah, if I

had one thing to say to myself,

Speaker:1441

1:23:25 ,560 --> 01:23:27,760

it would be, don't take this path.

Speaker:1442

1:23:27 ,880 --> 01:23:29,830

On the other hand, think about it.

Speaker:1443

1:23:30 ,940 --> 01:23:32,030

That is the path.

Speaker:1444

1:23:32 ,375 --> 01:23:34,225

by which I got to where I am.

Speaker:1445

1:23:34 ,775 --> 01:23:39,895

That's the path by which I got to the

point where I have an autobiography

Speaker:1446

1:23:39 ,905 --> 01:23:43,494

that the publisher is excited

about and think is going to sell.

Speaker:1447

1:23:43 ,815 --> 01:23:48,245

That's the path by which I've developed,

um, acquaintances and friendships,

Speaker:1448

1:23:48 ,494 --> 01:23:55,375

um, under which, for instance, my

nightly phone partner now, two or

Speaker:1449

1:23:55 ,375 --> 01:24:01,325

three times a week on the phone, is

America's most celebrated and prolific.

Speaker:1450

1:24:01 ,825 --> 01:24:07,005

Drama writer, another Texan named

Taylor Sheridan, Taylor Sheridan.

Speaker:1451

1:24:07 ,595 --> 01:24:10,175

Taylor Sheridan wrote

the forward for my book.

Speaker:1452

1:24:10 ,265 --> 01:24:10,925

Really?

Speaker:1453

1:24:11 ,825 --> 01:24:14,035

Marc Preston: He is my

current creative crush.

Speaker:1454

1:24:14 ,254 --> 01:24:15,455

I will say that cause he is

Speaker:1455

1:24:15 ,884 --> 01:24:17,435

Jim Lampley: everybody's

current creative crush.

Speaker:1456

1:24:17 ,485 --> 01:24:17,955

He is.

Speaker:1457

1:24:18 ,025 --> 01:24:19,144

And he is a dynamo.

Speaker:1458

1:24:19 ,314 --> 01:24:19,695

Marc Preston: I tell you,

Speaker:1459

1:24:19 ,695 --> 01:24:21,854

Jim Lampley: and he calls me at.

Speaker:1460

1:24:22 ,245 --> 01:24:26,325

10 o'clock his time, 11 o'clock

my time at night, and we spend an

Speaker:1461

1:24:26 ,335 --> 01:24:27,705

hour, hour and a half on the phone.

Speaker:1462

1:24:27 ,705 --> 01:24:33,935

My wife actually moved to another

bedroom because of a phone habit

Speaker:1463

1:24:33 ,975 --> 01:24:37,625

with Taylor Sheridan, and between

you and me, not to be spread around.

Speaker:1464

1:24:37 ,954 --> 01:24:42,805

She now refers to him as My boyfriend,

uh, is your boyfriend calling tonight,

Speaker:1465

1:24:43 ,065 --> 01:24:47,165

but you know, we caught up, we watched

some of Yellowstone, we've watched

Speaker:1466

1:24:47 ,165 --> 01:24:52,345

Landman, we're now watching Lioness,

uh, getting ready for season two.

Speaker:1467

1:24:52 ,555 --> 01:24:53,125

He's amazing.

Speaker:1468

1:24:53 ,495 --> 01:24:54,605

Oh, so you're still in

Speaker:1469

1:24:54 ,605 --> 01:24:55,905

Marc Preston: season one of Lioness?

Speaker:1470

1:24:56 ,134 --> 01:24:59,344

Well, at the end, I've spoke,

last few actors have spoken with,

Speaker:1471

1:24:59 ,344 --> 01:25:01,064

and we, we, we've discussed this.

Speaker:1472

1:25:01 ,104 --> 01:25:03,905

When you see the title, when you see

the credit come up at the end, written

Speaker:1473

1:25:03 ,905 --> 01:25:07,875

by Taylor Sheridan, not a, not a team

of writers written by Taylor Sheridan.

Speaker:1474

1:25:07 ,884 --> 01:25:08,134

He's.

Speaker:1475

1:25:09 ,460 --> 01:25:12,800

And you see all the shows he's

got on, he's not phoning it in.

Speaker:1476

1:25:13 ,030 --> 01:25:17,230

I don't know how he has time

to, uh, write like Landman.

Speaker:1477

1:25:17 ,230 --> 01:25:18,150

My

Speaker:1478

1:25:18 ,150 --> 01:25:22,300

Jim Lampley: friend, the former

CEO of HBO, Richard Pleckler, who

Speaker:1479

1:25:22 ,300 --> 01:25:26,090

was chairman of HBO for many of

the years that I worked there and

Speaker:1480

1:25:26 ,130 --> 01:25:28,630

greenlit all the big dramas at HBO.

Speaker:1481

1:25:29 ,100 --> 01:25:33,160

Richard has said to me two or three

times since he's learned about my

Speaker:1482

1:25:33 ,160 --> 01:25:34,860

acquaintance with Taylor Sheridan.

Speaker:1483

1:25:35 ,130 --> 01:25:37,570

He says, I don't

understand how he does it.

Speaker:1484

1:25:38 ,100 --> 01:25:43,160

I have no idea how one person could

be producing all of that at the level

Speaker:1485

1:25:43 ,160 --> 01:25:45,420

of which he's writing, but he is.

Speaker:1486

1:25:45 ,570 --> 01:25:47,690

I asked him, you'll love it.

Speaker:1487

1:25:48 ,210 --> 01:25:52,499

I asked him, I said, Taylor, did

you know when you got cast in Sons

Speaker:1488

1:25:52 ,500 --> 01:25:57,319

of Anarchy that you really wanted

to be a writer, producer, director?

Speaker:1489

1:25:57 ,320 --> 01:25:58,760

And he said, no, Jim.

Speaker:1490

1:25:59 ,215 --> 01:26:03,725

He said it was the experience of getting

cast in Sons of Anarchy and trying to

Speaker:1491

1:26:03 ,775 --> 01:26:09,025

act my way through all of those horrible

scripts that convinced me I needed to

Speaker:1492

1:26:09 ,025 --> 01:26:10,995

Marc Preston: be a producer, writer.

Speaker:1493

1:26:11 ,035 --> 01:26:14,444

You know, the thing I respect about him,

one of the things I respect the most

Speaker:1494

1:26:14 ,445 --> 01:26:16,865

about him is that he made a commitment.

Speaker:1495

1:26:16 ,894 --> 01:26:17,835

I'm going to do this thing.

Speaker:1496

1:26:17 ,905 --> 01:26:20,905

And boy, he did it, you know,

Speaker:1497

1:26:22 ,265 --> 01:26:25,295

Jim Lampley: when he,

when he told me blithely.

Speaker:1498

1:26:25 ,960 --> 01:26:29,750

You know that he wanted to write

the forward for my book in a bar

Speaker:1499

1:26:29 ,750 --> 01:26:31,870

in Las Vegas after a boxing match.

Speaker:1500

1:26:31 ,940 --> 01:26:32,330

All right.

Speaker:1501

1:26:32 ,670 --> 01:26:36,020

I came back and told my as told

to author Taylor is going to

Speaker:1502

1:26:36 ,020 --> 01:26:37,070

write the forward for the book.

Speaker:1503

1:26:37 ,070 --> 01:26:38,050

He said, are you crazy?

Speaker:1504

1:26:38 ,499 --> 01:26:39,640

Look at all the stuff he's doing.

Speaker:1505

1:26:39 ,650 --> 01:26:43,240

Do you really think Taylor Sheridan is

going to find time within his schedule

Speaker:1506

1:26:43 ,459 --> 01:26:44,790

to write the forward for the book?

Speaker:1507

1:26:44 ,960 --> 01:26:47,670

You fall for Hollywood

BS, et cetera, et cetera.

Speaker:1508

1:26:48 ,070 --> 01:26:51,360

He delivered the forward on exactly

the day that the publisher had,

Speaker:1509

1:26:51 ,480 --> 01:26:54,010

uh, had cited as the deadline.

Speaker:1510

1:26:54 ,265 --> 01:26:58,115

When Taylor says he's going to do

something, he's, he's going to do it.

Speaker:1511

1:26:58 ,195 --> 01:26:59,895

There's no question about it.

Speaker:1512

1:26:59 ,985 --> 01:27:02,435

So, uh, it's an amazing friendship.

Speaker:1513

1:27:02 ,455 --> 01:27:05,505

And by the way, why am I

friends with Taylor Sheridan?

Speaker:1514

1:27:05 ,894 --> 01:27:06,304

Boxing.

Speaker:1515

1:27:06 ,815 --> 01:27:11,754

He is a boxing lover, uh, from

the word go, and he is now.

Speaker:1516

1:27:12 ,005 --> 01:27:15,985

Going into gyms in both New

York and Las Vegas and sparring

Speaker:1517

1:27:15 ,995 --> 01:27:17,395

with professional fighters.

Speaker:1518

1:27:17 ,645 --> 01:27:20,464

And I think you'll see that in

a drama somewhere down the road.

Speaker:1519

1:27:20 ,855 --> 01:27:22,325

Marc Preston: You know, I've

always want to speak with him.

Speaker:1520

1:27:22 ,325 --> 01:27:24,425

I know, I know a couple of

his people and they it's like,

Speaker:1521

1:27:24 ,425 --> 01:27:25,615

he's just so busy right now.

Speaker:1522

1:27:25 ,615 --> 01:27:27,114

And it's like, ah, kill to talk to him.

Speaker:1523

1:27:27 ,565 --> 01:27:31,575

Uh, just because you look at what he's

done, the themes he puts in there.

Speaker:1524

1:27:31 ,575 --> 01:27:35,975

One of the things I noticed is that

all of his shows feature strong women.

Speaker:1525

1:27:36 ,185 --> 01:27:38,495

Which is kind of like one of those

things you don't really notice.

Speaker:1526

1:27:38 ,535 --> 01:27:41,215

And you think about like his shows,

like these women, the whole, like you,

Speaker:1527

1:27:41 ,215 --> 01:27:47,479

you look at the, uh, uh, uh, British

actress, uh, she's 1923, Helen Mirren.

Speaker:1528

1:27:47 ,479 --> 01:27:50,234

I mean, you, you look at she's fantastic.

Speaker:1529

1:27:50 ,235 --> 01:27:51,165

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker:1530

1:27:51 ,335 --> 01:27:51,945

Why do you

Speaker:1531

1:27:51 ,945 --> 01:27:52,635

Jim Lampley: suppose.

Speaker:1532

1:27:52 ,985 --> 01:27:54,355

Taylor has all those strong women.

Speaker:1533

1:27:54 ,555 --> 01:27:58,185

That's one of the things I would love

to ask him because every show How

Speaker:1534

1:27:58 ,185 --> 01:27:59,695

much have I told you about my mother?

Speaker:1535

1:28:00 ,115 --> 01:28:03,754

Oh, do you think I would have had my

career if my mother had not shaped

Speaker:1536

1:28:03 ,754 --> 01:28:08,624

me the way she did my mother My

mother bought season tickets to go

Speaker:1537

1:28:08 ,625 --> 01:28:12,355

to university of miami football games

My mother saw to it that I could

Speaker:1538

1:28:12 ,365 --> 01:28:16,135

have a ticket to go see Cassius clay

versus sunny liston that ticket I

Speaker:1539

1:28:16 ,135 --> 01:28:19,565

think cost 100 which was unbelievable.

Speaker:1540

1:28:19 ,845 --> 01:28:21,124

That's a lot of money back then.

Speaker:1541

1:28:21 ,125 --> 01:28:21,495

Marc Preston: Yeah

Speaker:1542

1:28:22 ,285 --> 01:28:24,100

Jim Lampley: 1960 Four.

Speaker:1543

1:28:24 ,350 --> 01:28:24,810

Okay.

Speaker:1544

1:28:24 ,980 --> 01:28:26,080

It's 1964.

Speaker:1545

1:28:26 ,090 --> 01:28:30,620

So, um, the bottom line is

Taylor's mother was like my mother.

Speaker:1546

1:28:31 ,010 --> 01:28:31,360

All right.

Speaker:1547

1:28:31 ,750 --> 01:28:35,079

It's one of the reasons that we have

commonality and we speak with each other.

Speaker:1548

1:28:35 ,250 --> 01:28:37,779

Marc Preston: I've never heard anybody

else mentioned that, but I just noticed

Speaker:1549

1:28:37 ,780 --> 01:28:41,550

from show to show, basically the

heartbeat of the show really emanates

Speaker:1550

1:28:41 ,560 --> 01:28:46,670

from some kind of strong woman, or

even in, in, uh, the way, uh, Billy

Speaker:1551

1:28:46 ,670 --> 01:28:50,860

Bob Thornton's daughter and landman,

the way she just kind of matures there.

Speaker:1552

1:28:51 ,330 --> 01:28:51,640

There is.

Speaker:1553

1:28:52 ,975 --> 01:28:54,575

How about the Mexican girl on landmine?

Speaker:1554

1:28:54 ,735 --> 01:28:56,335

That's, that's, that's

what I was thinking about.

Speaker:1555

1:28:56 ,335 --> 01:28:56,788

His

Speaker:1556

1:28:56 ,788 --> 01:29:02,234

Jim Lampley: husband gets killed and

winds up in a relationship with the guy

Speaker:1557

1:29:02 ,235 --> 01:29:04,455

who created the accident who killed him.

Speaker:1558

1:29:04 ,834 --> 01:29:07,085

You know, who conceives that character?

Speaker:1559

1:29:07 ,355 --> 01:29:08,045

Marc Preston: Taylor does.

Speaker:1560

1:29:08 ,145 --> 01:29:09,725

It's so wonderful that you've got that.

Speaker:1561

1:29:09 ,755 --> 01:29:13,345

Uh, I think having storytellers,

you have stories, he's got stories.

Speaker:1562

1:29:13 ,345 --> 01:29:16,795

And I think those kinds of people are

so much fun, uh, to just sit down with.

Speaker:1563

1:29:16 ,795 --> 01:29:17,175

We talk

Speaker:1564

1:29:17 ,825 --> 01:29:20,165

Jim Lampley: about boxing and

we talk about storytelling.

Speaker:1565

1:29:20 ,645 --> 01:29:21,065

And.

Speaker:1566

1:29:21 ,665 --> 01:29:22,145

What a thrill.

Speaker:1567

1:29:22 ,485 --> 01:29:28,365

What a thrill that, that after a lifetime

of doing storytelling at one level, I

Speaker:1568

1:29:28 ,385 --> 01:29:31,114

can converse with him and he respects me.

Speaker:1569

1:29:31 ,245 --> 01:29:32,035

It's fabulous.

Speaker:1570

1:29:32 ,355 --> 01:29:34,394

Marc Preston: I think those kinds

of situations, relationships just

Speaker:1571

1:29:34 ,395 --> 01:29:37,774

make you better, make you appreciate

people and time and a place you're

Speaker:1572

1:29:37 ,774 --> 01:29:39,435

in a lot more, I think, but, uh.

Speaker:1573

1:29:39 ,815 --> 01:29:40,655

He's a great man.

Speaker:1574

1:29:41 ,185 --> 01:29:42,795

Jim Lampley: And, and,

and he's a great man.

Speaker:1575

1:29:43 ,090 --> 01:29:44,050

And a great friend.

Speaker:1576

1:29:44 ,200 --> 01:29:47,260

I could, I could not be more

enthusiastic about what has

Speaker:1577

1:29:47 ,260 --> 01:29:50,350

happened between me and that person.

Speaker:1578

1:29:50 ,620 --> 01:29:56,120

And I'm so thrilled for all of his,

um, constant and ongoing successes.

Speaker:1579

1:29:56 ,210 --> 01:29:58,629

Marc Preston: I so appreciate the

time you, you've spent with me.

Speaker:1580

1:29:58 ,629 --> 01:29:59,959

This was so much fun.

Speaker:1581

1:29:59 ,959 --> 01:30:02,850

I really appreciate, I know you're super

busy and I'm excited about the book.

Speaker:1582

1:30:03 ,000 --> 01:30:04,150

What's the release date on that?

Speaker:1583

1:30:04 ,310 --> 01:30:05,900

April 15, but

Speaker:1584

1:30:06 ,200 --> 01:30:11,560

Jim Lampley: you can pre order now

on Um, Amazon or Barnes and Noble

Speaker:1585

1:30:11 ,930 --> 01:30:16,790

and the title of the book is it

happened and the author is Jim Lampley

Speaker:1586

1:30:17 ,000 --> 01:30:18,890

Marc Preston: and it's

the story of my life.

Speaker:1587

1:30:19 ,139 --> 01:30:20,500

And that's a wonderful story.

Speaker:1588

1:30:20 ,500 --> 01:30:23,210

I, I'm looking forward to getting into it.

Speaker:1589

1:30:23 ,280 --> 01:30:25,900

Kind of filling in all the blanks here,

you know, cause we, of course there's

Speaker:1590

1:30:25 ,900 --> 01:30:29,400

only so much we can cover in this time,

but, uh, looking forward to the book

Speaker:1591

1:30:29 ,410 --> 01:30:32,130

coming out and anything I could do

to help you out down the line, please

Speaker:1592

1:30:32 ,170 --> 01:30:33,490

just don't hesitate to reach out.

Speaker:1593

1:30:33 ,490 --> 01:30:35,700

It'd be a, it'd be a tremendous pleasure.

Speaker:1594

1:30:35 ,885 --> 01:30:36,025

My

Speaker:1595

1:30:36 ,025 --> 01:30:36,615

Jim Lampley: privilege.

Speaker:1596

1:30:36 ,695 --> 01:30:36,975

Marc Preston: Thank you

Speaker:1597

1:30:36 ,975 --> 01:30:37,675

Jim Lampley: very much, Marc.

Speaker:1598

1:30:39 ,735 --> 01:30:40,655

Marc Preston: Okay, there you go.

Speaker:1599

1:30:40 ,655 --> 01:30:41,625

Jim Lampley.

Speaker:1600

1:30:41 ,675 --> 01:30:43,295

Oh man, I enjoy talking to him.

Speaker:1601

1:30:43 ,585 --> 01:30:44,834

I love storytellers.

Speaker:1602

1:30:44 ,835 --> 01:30:50,714

I love, uh, sitting down with people who

have a rich well of experience to share.

Speaker:1603

1:30:51 ,095 --> 01:30:56,324

Of course, we don't have enough time to

cover all of the Jim Lampley experience.

Speaker:1604

1:30:56 ,334 --> 01:30:59,184

So that's why there's a book that's

out right now for you to check out.

Speaker:1605

1:30:59 ,485 --> 01:31:01,085

Uh, it comes out on April 15th.

Speaker:1606

1:31:01 ,750 --> 01:31:06,830

The book, it happened, uh, uniquely

lucky life in sports television.

Speaker:1607

1:31:07 ,220 --> 01:31:09,280

Uh, you can get it on pre order right now.

Speaker:1608

1:31:09 ,280 --> 01:31:12,370

So wherever you get your books

from does make a difference.

Speaker:1609

1:31:12 ,409 --> 01:31:16,689

Pre order, I guarantee you is one

book that I am so looking forward

Speaker:1610

1:31:16 ,689 --> 01:31:18,299

to checking out when it comes out.

Speaker:1611

1:31:18 ,729 --> 01:31:20,169

Uh, also, as I mentioned at.

Speaker:1612

1:31:20 ,350 --> 01:31:24,860

At the top of the show, the wonderful

Jordan bridges sent over a link as

Speaker:1613

1:31:24 ,870 --> 01:31:29,550

promised a few episodes ago, a link

to his Spotify playlist, custom

Speaker:1614

1:31:29 ,550 --> 01:31:34,579

crafted just for you and I, uh,

it is, uh, at story and craft pod.

Speaker:1615

1:31:34 ,810 --> 01:31:35,310

com.

Speaker:1616

1:31:35 ,379 --> 01:31:38,559

When you are there,

just go to his episode.

Speaker:1617

1:31:38 ,559 --> 01:31:40,610

It's it's a few episodes down.

Speaker:1618

1:31:40 ,610 --> 01:31:41,600

You'll, you'll see it right there.

Speaker:1619

1:31:41 ,600 --> 01:31:42,390

You'll see his lovely.

Speaker:1620

1:31:42 ,390 --> 01:31:42,520

Put them.

Speaker:1621

1:31:42 ,980 --> 01:31:44,420

His face right there.

Speaker:1622

1:31:44 ,420 --> 01:31:45,270

So click on that.

Speaker:1623

1:31:45 ,270 --> 01:31:48,600

And at the bottom of the episode

description, you will see the link.

Speaker:1624

1:31:48 ,730 --> 01:31:51,690

Also look at the top of the

page because there is a link.

Speaker:1625

1:31:51 ,939 --> 01:31:54,470

Uh, it is called California fire support.

Speaker:1626

1:31:54 ,540 --> 01:31:55,139

Click on it.

Speaker:1627

1:31:55 ,399 --> 01:31:57,760

Uh, you'll be taken to a page

that gives you a few links.

Speaker:1628

1:31:57 ,760 --> 01:31:59,200

Choose whichever one you'd like.

Speaker:1629

1:31:59 ,440 --> 01:32:02,549

Jump in there, help out the

good folks in California who

Speaker:1630

1:32:02 ,549 --> 01:32:04,739

were affected by the wildfires.

Speaker:1631

1:32:04 ,809 --> 01:32:06,179

Thank you again to Jordan Bridges.

Speaker:1632

1:32:06 ,415 --> 01:32:07,555

Thank you very much.

Speaker:1633

1:32:07 ,565 --> 01:32:08,135

Appreciate it.

Speaker:1634

1:32:08 ,205 --> 01:32:10,505

Also, while you're at the

website, storyandcraftpod.

Speaker:1635

1:32:11 ,085 --> 01:32:13,995

com, make sure to pop

over to storyandcraftpod.

Speaker:1636

1:32:14 ,035 --> 01:32:16,295

com slash rate.

Speaker:1637

1:32:16 ,575 --> 01:32:18,615

That way you can rate the

show, leave some stars.

Speaker:1638

1:32:18 ,615 --> 01:32:22,344

It really does a lot to

help folks find the show.

Speaker:1639

1:32:22 ,474 --> 01:32:25,805

You can just jump into your podcast

app, whichever one you're using.

Speaker:1640

1:32:26 ,305 --> 01:32:27,765

You can follow the show.

Speaker:1641

1:32:27 ,835 --> 01:32:31,935

That's a great idea because you get

notified every time we have a new episode.

Speaker:1642

1:32:32 ,115 --> 01:32:33,125

So, there you go.

Speaker:1643

1:32:33 ,585 --> 01:32:35,175

Thank you again to Jim Lampley.

Speaker:1644

1:32:35 ,245 --> 01:32:36,655

So enjoyed talking to him.

Speaker:1645

1:32:36 ,925 --> 01:32:38,075

Looking forward to that book.

Speaker:1646

1:32:38 ,285 --> 01:32:41,415

Looking forward to reading up and

kind of finding out more about the

Speaker:1647

1:32:41 ,495 --> 01:32:43,415

stories he was telling us about today.

Speaker:1648

1:32:43 ,575 --> 01:32:45,944

So, that's all I got for you today.

Speaker:1649

1:32:46 ,214 --> 01:32:49,325

I got the puppy, Ranger, under my feet.

Speaker:1650

1:32:49 ,700 --> 01:32:51,800

Being nice and quiet and relaxed.

Speaker:1651

1:32:51 ,820 --> 01:32:54,190

We're going to go outside

and, uh, do a little walk.

Speaker:1652

1:32:54 ,320 --> 01:32:56,550

And as I always say, thank you so much.

Speaker:1653

1:32:56 ,620 --> 01:32:57,859

I really do appreciate it.

Speaker:1654

1:32:57 ,880 --> 01:33:01,789

Uh, you stopping by making what

I've got going on here, part of

Speaker:1655

1:33:01 ,790 --> 01:33:03,290

whatever you've got going on.

Speaker:1656

1:33:03 ,710 --> 01:33:05,760

So go have yourself a

great rest of the week.

Speaker:1657

1:33:05 ,879 --> 01:33:10,490

And, uh, we'll talk to you in a few

days, right here on story and craft.

Speaker:1658

1:33:11 ,230 --> 01:33:15,130

Announcer: For this episode of Story

Craft, join Marc next week for more

Speaker:1659

1:33:15 ,130 --> 01:33:17,760

conversation, right here on Story Craft.

Speaker:1660

1:33:18 ,230 --> 01:33:22,100

Story Craft is a presentation of

Marc Preston Productions, LLC.

Speaker:1661

1:33:23 ,040 --> 01:33:25,430

Executive Producer is Marc Preston.

Speaker:1662

1:33:25 ,830 --> 01:33:29,855

Associate Producer Is Zachary

Holden, please rate and review

Speaker:1663

1:33:29 ,855 --> 01:33:32,135

story and craft on Apple Podcasts.

Speaker:1664

1:33:32 ,195 --> 01:33:36,395

Don't forget to subscribe to the

show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,

Speaker:1665

1:33:36 ,515 --> 01:33:37,985

or your favorite podcast app.

Speaker:1666

1:33:38 ,345 --> 01:33:41,255

You can subscribe to show

updates, and stay in the know.

Speaker:1667

1:33:41 ,435 --> 01:33:45,545

Just head to story and craft pod.com

and sign up for the newsletter.

Speaker:1668

1:33:46 ,145 --> 01:33:47,045

I'm Emma Dylan.

Speaker:1669

1:33:47 ,285 --> 01:33:48,090

See you next time.

Speaker:1670

1:33:48 ,425 --> 01:33:50,825

And remember, keep telling your story.