Robert Gamere (born November 1, 1939) is an American former sportscaster. He primarily worked in the

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

area and hosted a local

candlepin bowling Candlepin bowling is a variation of bowling that is played primarily in the Canadian Maritime provinces and the New England region of the United States. It is played with a handheld-sized ball and tall, narrow pins that resemble candles, hence ...

show during the 1970s named '' Candlepins for Cash''.

Career

A graduate of the College of the Holy Cross, Gamere started his broadcasting career calling Holy Cross football and basketball games for

WTAG WTAG (580 AM) is a radio station in Worcester, Massachusetts. It is owned by iHeartMedia and airs a news/talk format. WTAG's studios are in Paxton and it broadcasts from a transmitter in Holden, Massachusetts. The transmitter operates at 5 ...

. In 1970 he was hired to succeed

Jerry Coleman Gerald Francis Coleman (September 14, 1924 – January 5, 2014) was a Major League Baseball (MLB) second baseman for the New York Yankees and manager of the San Diego Padres for one year. Coleman was named the rookie of the year in 1949 by Ass ...

on the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

broadcast team. He was chosen out of over 500 applicants for the job. His audition tape was of a

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

game, as he had never called a baseball game before. He was criticized for his overuse of the

catch phrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

"Here it comes, there it goes" to describe a pitch thrown to

home plate A baseball field, also called a ball field or baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term can also be used as a metonym for a baseball park. The term sandlot is sometimes used, although this usually refers ...

and batted anywhere. He was replaced after one season by Bill White. Gamere's career then moved to Boston. From 1973 to 1980 he hosted '' Candlepins for Cash'' on WNAC, as well as calling

ECAC Hockey ECAC Hockey is one of the six conferences that compete in NCAA Division I college ice hockey, ice hockey. The conference used to be affiliated with the Eastern College Athletic Conference, a consortium of over 300 colleges in the eastern United ...

with John Carlson. Carlson called the first and third period with Gamere on color. During the second period, Gamere would be on play by play with Carlson on color. After his dismissal, he moved to

WMRE WMRE (1550 AM) is a sports formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Charles Town, West Virginia, serving Charles Town and Jefferson County, West Virginia. WMRE is owned and operated by iHeartMedia. While the station is licensed to Charles ...

as host of their nightly sports call-in show. In 1984, Gamere began a five-year stint as a sports anchor at

WLVI-TV WLVI (channel 56) is a television station licensed to Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, serving the Boston area as an affiliate of The CW. It is owned by Sunbeam Television alongside WHDH (channel 7), an independent station. WLVI and W ...

. He was fired in 1989 after charges of assault and sexual harassment were brought against him by a Malden man. The charges were eventually dropped, but he was not rehired by Channel 56. That year, he began hosting a weekend midnight to 5:00 a.m. sports talk show on

WRCA WRCA (1330 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Watertown, Massachusetts, and serving the Greater Boston media market. The license is held by the Beasley Media Group, LLC, part of the Beasley Broadcast Group, Inc. WRCA is simulca ...

and a nightly sports show on Channel 25. In 1990, he began a career in

sports betting Sports betting is the activity of predicting sports results and placing a wager on the outcome. The frequency of sports bet upon varies by culture, with the vast majority of bets being placed on association football, American football, basket ...

calling himself "The Great Gamere", hosting an NFL pay-per-view betting show, handicapping, and running a

sports book In the United States, a sportsbook or a race and sports book (sometimes abbreviated as book) is a place where a gambler can wager on various sports competitions, including golf, football, basketball, baseball, ice hockey, soccer, horse racin ...

. From 1994 to 1996, he worked for WNDS, calling

UMass Lowell The University of Massachusetts Lowell (UMass Lowell and UML) is a Public university, public research university in Lowell, Massachusetts, with a satellite campus in Haverhill, Massachusetts. It is the northernmost member of the University of Mas ...

hockey games and horse races from

Rockingham Park Rockingham Park was a horse racing establishment in Salem, New Hampshire, in the United States. First built in 1906, it was used as an area for many to gamble on the weekends. Seabiscuit raced there in 1935 and 1936,''Daily Racing Form'' staff ( ...

. From 1982 to 1989, he was the play by play man for Harvard football on WMRE,

WDLW WDLW (1380 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Lorain, Ohio, and features an oldies format known as "Kool Kat Oldies". Owned by WDLW Radio, Inc., the station serves Lorain County and western parts of Greater Cleveland, and is relayed ...

, and

. Gamere had been sports director at WTAG in the late 1960s and hosted an issue-oriented talk show called "Talk of Town" from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. on weeknights.

Controversy

Fenway attack

On June 15, 1988, Gamere was stabbed four times while walking in the

Fenway Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and Boston Braves (baseball), since 1953, i ...

section of

Sexual harassment allegation

Gamere was fired by television station WLVI-TV in 1989 after charges of assault and sexual harassment were brought against him by a man from Malden, Massachusetts. The charges were later dropped.

Child pornography conviction

On October 23, 2008, Gamere was arrested and arraigned on charges of transporting and possessing

child pornography Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a ...

. According to court documents, the FBI had been investigating Gamere as far back as 2005 when they alleged he e-mailed videos of children having sex with each other and adults. Gamere pleaded not guilty in

US District Court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

in Boston. The '' Boston Herald'' reported on September 5, 2009, that Gamere was expected to plead guilty to child pornography charges. The BostonChannel.com reported on January 19, 2010, that Gamere had been sentenced to five years in prison on child pornography charges. He was released on May 27, 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gamere, Bob 1939 births American horse racing announcers American people convicted of child pornography offenses American sports announcers American television reporters and correspondents Bowling broadcasters College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers College hockey announcers in the United States College of the Holy Cross alumni Harvard Crimson football announcers Holy Cross Crusaders football announcers Living people Major League Baseball broadcasters New York Yankees announcers People from Worcester, Massachusetts Television anchors from Boston