We want to celebrate Jim Lampley on his book It Happened. He will read and discuss the book during an in-store event at 6:30 pm, Thursday, October 23, 2025. Books are available for preorder. We look forward to seeing you at this free event.
Synopsis:
From HBO’s ringside face and voice of boxing, comes a first-person, blow-by-blow account of the evolution of sports television chock full of famous names, history-making events, and never-before-told stories from the world of sports.
Jim Lampley’s story is a 50-year travelogue of an unlikely career that catalogs the evolution of sports television—from his emergence as the first sideline reporter, through hosting and covering 14 Olympics, to working with all major sports networks.
It Happened! charts Jim’s notable career, with highlights including:
Becoming the first live reporter on the sideline of a nationally televised college football game
Following in the footsteps of Jim McKay as host on ABC’s Wide World of Sports and Howard Cosell as halftime host for ABC’s Monday Night Football
Partnering with ABC, CBS, NBC, Turner, and HBO
Ascending to host of HBO’s Wimbledon weekday telecasts
Reaching “icon” status as the 30-year face and voice of HBO World Championship Boxing
Learn how Jim’s brilliance as an announcer and his revolutionary nature led to innovations in sportscasting, three sports Emmys, and induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Personal anecdotes and hard-earned lessons combine as Jim digs deep and shares celebrity stories from the upper echelons of superstar athletes and Hollywood hotshots, but also offers an introspective look at his personal life and trials.
Author Bio:
Jim Lampley is a Hall of Fame sportscaster with 50 years of on-site experience at numerous live sports events that include college and NFL football and ABC’s Wide World of Sports, inside NBA and MLB locker rooms, Wimbledon, Ryder Cup PGA Golf, and 14 Olympics. For 30 years, he was the face and voice of HBO World Championship boxing, including anecdotes and interactions with the most famous fighters of his era (Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Ray Leonard and George Foreman) and the biggest boxing matches up to and including the “Billion Dollar Bout” between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao, which had the largest gross income in the history of pay-per-view sports.
Moderator Bio:
Art Chansky is the author of ten sports books, including best-sellers The Dean’s List, Blue Blood, and Game Changers. Chansky was the ghost writer for The Kid Who Couldn’t Dunk, the inspirational children’s book by former All-American point guard Phil Ford. He has written hundreds of columns and feature stories for newspapers and websites in Atlanta, Chapel Hill and Durham, North Carolina.
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