Thomas Taylor Hammond (born May 10, 1944) is an American sportscaster. Hammond is primarily known for his work with

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its d ...

from 1984 to the present. Hammond is one of the network's staple on-air presenters, along with

Bob Costas Robert Quinlan Costas (born March 22, 1952) is an American sportscaster who is known for his long tenure with NBC Sports, from 1980 through 2019. He has received 28 Emmy awards for his work and was the prime-time host of 12 Olympic Games from 19 ...

and Dan Hicks. Hammond is best known for his coverage of

Thoroughbred Racing on NBC ''Thoroughbred Racing on NBC'' is the ''de facto'' title for a series of horse races events whose broadcasts are produced by NBC Sports, the sports division of the NBC television network in the United States. Race coverage is currently helmed by ...

, coverage of

Notre Dame Football on NBC ''Notre Dame Football on NBC'' is an American presentation of college football games involving the Notre Dame Fighting Irish that are produced by NBC Sports, the sports division of the NBC television network in the United States. NBC Sports ha ...

from 1992 to 2012 and his coverage of the

NFL on NBC The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

from 1985 to 2011. Hammond also served as the play-by-play announcer for NBC's coverage of

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

at each

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

from 1992 to 2016. He also announced the speed skating events during the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Early career

Hammond earned a B.S. in animal science in 1967 from the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

, specializing in equine genetics and following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Thomas Poe Cooper, a former dean of the UK College of Agriculture and a former Acting President of UK. He began his career with Lexington radio station WVLK, where he was news and sports director. In 1970 and for the next 10 years, he was sports director for WLEX-TV. In 1980, he was named a play-by-play announcer for

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

basketball games. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, he served as a sales announcer at the Keeneland Thoroughbred Sales and at thoroughbred horse sales in 16 other states. He is recognized as a specialist and national expert on thoroughbred pedigrees. Hammond was the lead play-by-play commentator for

men's basketball broadcasts by TVS (1980–1983), SPI/Lorimar (1984–1986) and Raycom Sports (formerly

Lincoln Financial Sports Lincoln Financial Media was a subsidiary of Lincoln National Corporation that owned radio stations in the United States. The division was formed in 2006 following the company's acquisition of Jefferson-Pilot's television and radio operations, wh ...

and

Jefferson Pilot Sports Raycom Sports is an American producer of sports television programs. It is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and owned and operated by Gray Television. It was founded in 1979 by husband and wife, Rick and Dee Ray. In the 1980s, Raycom ...

) from 1987 until 2009. Hammond had known his

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and t ...

on the Lincoln Financial broadcasts,

Larry Conley George Larry Conley (born January 22, 1944) is an American retired professional basketball player. A 6'3" guard, Conley played college basketball at the University of Kentucky under coach Adolph Rupp. During the 1965–66 season, Conley was a st ...

, since junior high school.

NBC Sports

Hammond's tenure at NBC began in 1984, when he was named as a co-host of the inaugural

Breeders' Cup The Breeders' Cup World Championships is an annual series of Grade I Thoroughbred horse races, operated by Breeders' Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982. From its inception in 1984 through 2006, it was a single-day event; starting in 2007, ...

alongside

Dick Enberg Richard Alan Enberg (January 9, 1935 – December 21, 2017) was an American sportscaster. Over the course of an approximately 60-year career, he provided play-by-play of various sports for several radio and television networks, including N ...

. It was supposed to be a one-shot deal for Hammond, but network execs were so impressed, he ended up getting a long-term contract. He was the main host of the network's

thoroughbred racing Thoroughbred racing is a sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter known as National Hunt racing i ...

coverage until Mike Tirico took over in 2017. Hammond's duties at NBC expanded to covering many other sports. He was the network's play-by-play voice for its coverage of Notre Dame football alongside analyst Mike Mayock. He was also the lead play-by-play man for ''

The AFL on NBC The ''AFL on NBC'' is the branding used for broadcasts of Arena Football League (1987–2008), Arena Football League (AFL) games produced by NBC Sports, the sports division of the NBC television network in the United States, that aired from the ...

''. Hammond also has been very much involved in NBC's

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

coverage. At the

, Hammond served as the chief commentator for

, a position for which he debuted at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, where his broadcast partner that year was O. J. Simpson. Hammond has since said that, prior to the

O. J. Simpson murder case ''The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson'' was a criminal trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court starting in 1994, in which O. J. Simpson, a former National Football League (NFL) player, broadcaster and actor, was ...

, he and Simpson were great friends and got along well. Hammond also commentates on other track and field events shown on NBC. At the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

, Hammond is the main commentator for

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

and

ice dancing Ice dance (sometimes referred to as ice dancing) is a discipline of figure skating that historically draws from ballroom dancing. It joined the World Figure Skating Championships in 1952, and became a Winter Olympic Games medal sport in 1976. A ...

. Hammond is sort of unique in that, unlike most of his NBC Sports colleagues, he does not live in or around the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

area, opting to stay in his hometown of Lexington, a decision he made during his early days at NBC. Hammond isn't alone in this choice; despite being a New York native himself, Costas lives in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, Missouri. Hammond was considered the leading play-by-play candidate when NBC won the bidding for Sunday night NFL coverage beginning with the 2006 season, but ended up losing out to former

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

announcer

Al Michaels Alan Richard Michaels (born November 12, 1944) is an American television sportscaster currently working as the play-by-play announcer for '' Thursday Night Football'' on Prime Video and in an emeritus role for NBC Sports. He has worked on n ...

after the latter signed with NBC. Hammond teamed with

Cris Collinsworth Anthony Cris Collinsworth (born January 27, 1959) is an American sports broadcaster and former professional American football player. Collinsworth was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons (1981-1988), all with ...

to call the secondary Saturday Wild Card playoff game for NBC each year, including Chiefs-Colts in January 2007, Redskins-Seahawks in 2008, and Falcons-Cardinals in 2009, but teamed with

Joe Gibbs Joe Jackson Gibbs (born November 25, 1940) is an American auto racing team owner and former professional football coach. In football, he was head coach for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) from 1981 to 1992, and ...

and

Joe Theismann Joseph Robert Theismann (born September 9, 1949) is an American former professional football player, sports commentator, corporate speaker and restaurateur. He rose to fame playing quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) and Canad ...

for the Jets-Bengals Wild Card playoff game in January 2010, as Cris Collinsworth partnered with Al Michaels in the 2009 season due to the retirement of

John Madden John Earl Madden (April 10, 1936 – December 28, 2021) was an American football coach and sports commentator in the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978, who he led to eight pla ...

after the 2008 season. Hammond also filled in for

Bryant Gumbel Bryant Charles Gumbel (born September 29, 1948) is an American television journalist and sportscaster, best known for his 15 years as co-host of NBC's '' Today''. He is the younger brother of sportscaster Greg Gumbel. Since 1995, he has hosted ...

as play-by-play announcer on the

NFL Network NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League (NFL) and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and NF ...

's December 13, 2007 game featuring the Denver Broncos and Houston Texans on ''Thursday Night Football'', once more teaming with Collinsworth. Hammond and Collinsworth also serve as the announcing team on the ''

Madden NFL ''Madden NFL'' (known as ''John Madden Football'' until 1993) is an American football video game series developed by EA Tiburon for EA Sports. It is named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden and sold more than 130 m ...

'' video game in 2009 and 2010. and ''

Madden NFL 10 ''Madden NFL 10'' is an American football video game based on the National Football League that was published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. The 21st installment of the ''Madden NFL'' series, it is the first game to feature two players o ...

''. The game is notable for how he mispronounced the name of then-Oakland Raiders cornerback

Nnamdi Asomugha Nnamdi Asomugha ( ; born July 6, 1981) is an American actor, producer and former football cornerback. He played college football for the University of California, Berkeley, and was drafted in the first round of the 2003 NFL Draft by the Oakland ...

. Hammond's work at NBC also included play-by-play commentary for '' The NBA on NBC'' and '' The NFL on NBC''. He called

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...

, the WNBA, the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game ...

and college basketball.

Health

By the early 2000s, Hammond's health had deteriorated. On March 24, 2001, less than two months before NBC was supposed to broadcast the Kentucky Derby for the very first time, he underwent an operation for diverticulitis, a disease that affects the colon. During the surgery, a portion of Hammond's colon was removed. However, even with the short amount of time between the Derby and his operation, Hammond managed to get healthy enough to make his dream of broadcasting his home state's most famous sporting event become a reality on May 5, 2001. In October 2002, he underwent open-heart surgery, missing the Breeders' Cup that year.

took Hammond's place at the hosting desk. It was the only Breeders' Cup Hammond was not a part of until 2006, when ESPN had their first year of coverage.

Personal life

Hammond and his wife, Sheilagh, have three grown children, sons David and Christopher and daughter Ashley. David has followed in his father's footsteps, becoming a radio commentator for

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

's basketball and football teams and working as a play-by-play announcer for ''The AFL on NBC''.

Honors and awards

Hammond has been awarded horse race broadcasting's top honor, the Eclipse Award (Media category), in 1984 and 1996. He was awarded an Emmy Award for coverage of the 1992 Breeder's Cup. He also won Emmys for sports broadcasting in 1988 (men's and women's basketball), 1992 (Olympics coverage of track and field and diving), and 1996 (Olympics Track and Field). He was the first recipient of the annual Outstanding Kentuckian Award given by the A.B. Chandler Foundation, is a charter member of the Lafayette High School Hall of Fame and has been inducted into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame, University of Kentucky Hall of Distinguished Alumni and Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame. Inducted into the KY Pro Football HOF in 2006.

Career timeline

*1967–1970:

WVLK (AM) WVLK (590 kHz) is an AM radio station serving the Lexington, Kentucky area with a news/ talk format. This station is under ownership of Cumulus Media. The station's studios are located inside Kincaid Towers in downtown Lexington, and its transmi ...

sports director *1970–1980: WLEX-TV sports director *1980–1983: SEC men's basketball play-by-play,

TVS Television Network The TVS Television Network, or TVS for short, was a syndicator of American sports programming. It was one of the several "occasional" national television networks that sprang up in the early-to-mid-1960s to take advantage of the establishment ...

*1984–1986: SEC men's basketball play-by-play,

Lorimar Sports Network The Lorimar Sports Network, or LSN, was an American ''ad hoc'' television network providing syndicated college football and basketball. It was based at Lorimar's original headquarters in Culver City, California, with an additional office in Dalla ...

*1984–2016: Reporter and host, ''

'' *1985–1998: ''

College Basketball on NBC ''College Basketball on NBC Sports'' is the de facto branding used for broadcasts of NCAA Division I men's college basketball games produced by NBC Sports, the sports division of the NBC television network in the United States. The NBC network b ...

'' play-by-play *1985–1997, 2006–2011: ''

'' play-by-play *1987–2009: SEC men's basketball play-by-play, Raycom Sports *1992–1997, 2000–2012: ''

'' play-by-play *1992–2001: ''

NBA on NBC The ''NBA on NBC'' is the branding used for presentations of National Basketball Association (NBA) games produced by the NBC television network in the United States. NBC held broadcast rights from 1955 to 1962 and again from 1990 (when it obtai ...

'' play-by-play *1992–2018: ''

Olympics on NBC The broadcasts of ''Summer'' and ''Winter Olympic Games'' produced by ''NBC Sports'' are shown on the various platforms of NBCUniversal in the United States, including the NBC broadcast network, NBC Sports app, NBCOlympics.com, Peacock, Spanish l ...

'' (track & field, figure skating & speed skating)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hammond, Tom 1944 births Living people American horse racing announcers American television sports announcers ArenaBowl broadcasters Arena football announcers College basketball announcers in the United States Figure skating commentators Gymnastics broadcasters Miami Dolphins announcers National Basketball Association broadcasters National Football League announcers Notre Dame Fighting Irish football announcers Olympic Games broadcasters Sportspeople from Lexington, Kentucky Syracuse Orange football announcers Track and field broadcasters University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment alumni Women's National Basketball Association announcers