Tom Hammond

For other people named Thomas Hammond, see Thomas Hammond (disambiguation).

Tom Hammond
Born	Thomas Taylor Hammond (1944-05-10) May 10, 1944 (age 80) Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Kentucky
Occupation	Sports commentator
Years active	1984–2021
Employers	RCA (1984–1986) General Electric (1986–2013) Comcast (2013–2018)
Television	NBC Sports (1984–2021)
Spouse	Sheleigh Hammond
Children	3

Thomas Taylor Hammond (born May 10, 1944 ^[1] ) is an American former sports commentator. Hammond began working with NBC Sports in 1984. Hammond covered Thoroughbred Racing on NBC and Notre Dame Football on NBC .

Hammond also served as the play-by-play announcer for NBC's coverage of track and field at the Summer Olympic Games and speed skating events during the 2018 Winter Olympics.

NBC Sports

Horse Racing

While working at WLEX-TV in Lexington, Kentucky, Hammond's tenure at NBC began in 1984, when he was named as a co-host of the inaugural Breeders' Cup alongside Dick Enberg. 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 coverage ^[2] until Mike Tirico took over in 2017. ^[3]

Football

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 analysts Pat Haden or Mike Mayock from 2000-2012. He was also the lead play-by-play man for The AFL on NBC .

From the 1985 NFL season until NBC lost the NFL on NBC after 1997 season, Hammond had a regular slot working regional Sunday games.

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 announcer Al Michaels after the latter signed with NBC. Hammond teamed with Cris Collinsworth 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 and Joe Theismann for the Jets-Bengals Wild Card playoff game in January 2010. ^[4] His final wild card game was Bengals-Texans on January 1, 2012. ^[5]

Hammond and Collinsworth also serve as the announcing team on the Madden NFL 09 video game in 2008 and 2009, ^[6] Madden NFL 10 . ^[7]

Olympics

Hammond also has been very much involved in NBC's Olympic Games coverage. At the Summer Olympics, Hammond served as the chief commentator for track and field, a position for which he debuted at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, where his broadcast partner that year was O. J. Simpson. Hammond has since said that, prior to the O. J. Simpson murder case, he and Simpson were great friends and got along well. Hammond also commentates on other track and field events shown on NBC.

Hammond continued as the lead track and field commentator for the NBC through the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.

At the Winter Olympics, Hammond was the main commentator for figure skating and ice dancing ^[8] from the 2002 Winter Olympics through the 2014 Winter Olympics.

For the 2018 Winter Olympics, Hammond moved to cover Speed Skating in what would be his final Olympic games.

Basketball

Hammond was a play by play announcer for the NBA on NBC for its entire run from 1990 through 2002. In the final years of NBA coverage he often worked a memorable three man booth with Steve "Snapper" Jones and Bill Walton. ^[9]

Regional Sports

SEC Basketball

In 1980, Hammond began regionally broadcasting Southeastern Conference basketball games. He continued with this package with various rights holders including Sports Productions Inc., Lorimar, Jefferson-Pilot, Lincoln Financial and Raycom. Hammond concluded his work on SEC games at the end of the 2008-09 season after which ESPN became the rightsholder. ^[10]

Honors and awards

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. ^[11]

Career timeline

Year	Title	Role	Network
1980–2009	Regional SEC Basketball	Play-by-play	Various
1986–1998	NFL on NBC		NBC
1990–2002	NBA on NBC
1992–2018	NBC Olympics
2000–2012	College Football on NBC
2003–2006	AFL on NBC
2017–2012	NFL on NBC
2007	Thursday Night Football	Play-by-play (fill-in)	NFL Network

References

1. "Thomas T. Hammond". ukalumni.net. University of Kentucky Alumni Association. Retrieved June 1, 2024.
2. "TOM HAMMOND". Archived from the original on August 23, 2013. Tom Hammond hosts NBC's horse racing coverage, including the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes, as well as Summer at Saratoga and Autumn at Keeneland.
3. "2017 Kentucky Derby: Mike Tirico succeeds Tom Hammond". NBC Sports. April 25, 2017. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
4. Raissman, Bob (January 12, 2010). "For NBC, Joe Gibbs, Joe Theismann and Tom Hammond are first & wrong during Jets-Bengals telecast". Articles.nydailynews.com. Archived from the original on May 23, 2012. Retrieved August 19, 2012.
5. https://archive.506sports.com/wiki/2011_NFL_Season
6. "Madden NFL 09 : Madden 2009 - EA Games". Ea.com. November 12, 2009. Retrieved August 19, 2012.
7. Alan, Scott (October 3, 2010). "Madden NFL 10 - Overview". allgame. Retrieved August 19, 2012.
8. "NBC commentators surprised, shocked by judges". ESPN. February 11, 2002. Archived from the original on March 6, 2003. Retrieved August 19, 2012.
9. https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/sports/basketball/061299bkn-sandomir-column.html
10. https://www.kentucky.com/sports/college/kentucky-sports/uk-basketball-men/article43993374.html
11. "Alumni Choose Three Nominees to Board". News.uky.edu. Archived from the original on July 11, 2012. Retrieved August 19, 2012.