What Is Jim Lampley's Net Worth?
Jim Lampley is an American sportscaster, news anchor, movie producer, and restaurant owner who has a net worth of $20 million. Jim Lampley earned his net worth as a popular sportscaster and anchor and is most well known as a sportscaster for HBO Boxing and as an anchor for many Olympic games.
Early Life
Jim Lampley was born on April 8, 1949, in Hendersonville, North Carolina. He was raised in both Hendersonville and Miami, Florida. His father died when Jim was just five years old, so his mother took it upon herself to introduce him to many sports. He graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1971 with a degree in English.
Lampley embarked on his broadcasting career in 1974 when ABC chose him, along with Don Tollefson, in what they called a talent hunt. It is true that he entered ABC thanks to his youthful looks, but it was his talent that made him cover such events as baseball games, the 1986-87 Indianapolis 500, several Olympics, and the program "Wide World of Sports." Next, he landed a broadcasting job at CBS from 1987 through 1992, when Jim moved to NBC.
HBO Career
It was with HBO that Jim Lampley rose to international stardom. His work on "HBO World Championship Boxing," "Boxing After Dark," and the HBO pay-per-view telecast had him calling some of boxing's most famous moments as a blow-by-blow announcer. Lampley called Julio Cesar Chavez knocking out Meldrick Taylor in "Thunder Meets Lightning" and James "Buster" Douglas' upset of Mike Tyson for the World Heavyweight championship.
Other notable highlights of his career included the first Riddick Bowe/Andrew Golota fight at Madison Square Garden, where a riot occurred after "The Foul Pole's" disqualification for low blows, and his famous "It happened… it happened!" call of George Foreman's comeback victory over then-heavyweight champion Michael Moorer.
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Awards & Accolades
Lampley won the Sam Taub Award for excellence in boxing broadcasting journalism in 1992. He also earned three Emmy awards for his participation in the HBO series "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel." Jim was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame class in 2015.
Personal Life
Jim was married to former Channel 2 co-anchor Bree Walker from 1990 to 1999, and the couple had a son together, Aaron James Lampley. Jim and his current wife, Debra, live in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and their combined family includes five daughters, two sons, and nine grandchildren.
Lampley is the former owner of two Utah restaurants, both called the Lakota Restaurant and Bar. Jim also had a movie production company, Crystal Spring Productions, that produced a handful of movies, including "Welcome to Hollywood." Now known as Atticus Entertainment, the production company produced the HBO documentary series "On Freddie Roach" from 2012 to 2013. Since 2012, it has produced "The Fight Game with Jim Lampley."
Jim has been credited with several minor roles as an announcer in films and has portrayed himself in movies such as "Southpaw," "Rocky Balboa," and "Creed." Television appearances include "MacGyver," the Andy Samberg HBO mockumentary "7 Days in Hell," and "Eastbound & Down."
