‘It Happened’ – Jim Lampley’s new book covers his wide world of sports

Jim Lampley the veteran sportscaster turned author during his book signing and appearance at Warwick s in La Jolla Photo by Gayle Lynn Falkenthal After working for years as a Hall of Fame sportscaster and the voice of the world s greatest events including nearly every major sport and Olympic Games you would expect the new book by former Del Mar resident Jim Lampley to be chock-full of stories about the world-class athletes and celebrities he encountered Lampley s book It Happened A Uniquely Lucky Life in Sports Television doesn t disappoint as he follows the evolution of sports television from his unique perspective There s plenty of namedropping history-making events and never-before-told stories from the world of sports but during Lampley s appearance for a book signing in front of an enthusiastic full house Wednesday at Warwick s Books in La Jolla he emphasized the importance of being honest about both achievements and failures He called them my mistakes my misjudgments the things that went wrong while reflecting on the influence of the key relationships in his life and the lessons that resonate with him in the current era I knew the book would not be nearly as thought-provoking if I wasn t honest commented Lampley Long ago I learned in sports broadcasting and later in news broadcasting that the truth is way more stimulating than any kind of fiction Hosted by Southern California sports broadcaster Scott Kaplan also Lampley s longtime friend the author talked about his approach to writing the book The cover of Jim Lampley s new book disclosed in April Photo courtesy of Simon Schuster I wrote the book stream of consciousness I didn t have an outline I would write a certain amount every day until I felt like I had reported a story And then I would go to bed that night and lie with my head on the pillow and think Okay what is it that I need to write about the upcoming day He finished the book in about three months It was published on April While it is an autobiography it ties Lampley s experiences together through the numerous people who shaped his life from his mother and his late brother to his mentors enemies friends and broadcast partners and the multiple athletes whose accomplishments he chronicled Early in his career Lampley crossed paths at the Rome Olympics in with a man who would greatly influence his life and career the young gold medal-winning heavyweight Cassius Clay soon known to the world as Muhammad Ali Other influential figures included tennis greats Arthur Ashe and Billie Jean King whom Lampley jokes he still hears in his head offering life lessons to him and the late former heavyweight champion entrepreneur minister and actor George Foreman who worked alongside Lampley as a boxing commentator with HBO George Foreman was a special wise astonishing human being which brings us to a strange fact He died two weeks before the publication of the book The first thing you read in the book is about the -year-old me watching the -year-old him win his gold medal in Mexico City The blurb on the back of the book that he wrote is possibly the last inhabitants act of his life Foreman died on March in Houston at age The book is in numerous tactics stimulated and inspired by George For him to die two weeks before it was published I m surprised knowing me that I m not weeping in front of you admitted Lampley It may have been tougher for Lampley to decide what to leave out of the book after witnessing or being part of so a great number of history-making events a large number of of which transcended athletic competition into popular tradition Becoming the first live reporter on the sideline of a nationally televised college football event Following in the footsteps of Jim McKay as host on ABC s Wide World of Sports and Howard Cosell as halftime host for ABC s Monday Night Football Partnering with ABC CBS NBC Turner and HBO Ascending to become host of HBO s Wimbledon weekday telecasts Reaching icon status as the -year face and voice of HBO World Championship Boxing In the modern day Lampley is still best known for bringing his view from ringside at the world s biggest prizefights for HBO Boxing For years he covered the greater part famous names during boxing s heyday in the United States Ali and Foreman Mike Tyson Ray Leonard Oscar De La Hoya Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao Lampley isn t quite done yet Although HBO Boxing closed up shop on Dec Lampley returned to the microphone for a boxing card on May set in Times Square He declared he expects to offer more boxing commentary in the near future And he s already thinking about a second book covering the multiple stories yet to be stated