Lee Hamilton (sports)
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Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton is an American
Born as Paul Mahon, he grew up in Northport, NY on Long Island. Hamilton is also a host on
Hamilton had been the afternoon drive-time host on
Prior to 2007, he worked 17 years at
In July 2014, Hamilton left XEPRS-AM but continues daily sports commentary and connects with fans on his website "Lee Hacksaw Hamilton.com".[2]
Years in Southern California
From 1987 to 2005, he hosted a daily four-hour talk show on those stations. In July 2005, he lost the show as part of a restructuring as KLAC de-emphasized sports talk in favor of "man talk." He was replaced by Matt "Money" Smith and Joe Grande, both of whom once read sports news as part as morning shows on music stations (respectively, KROQ-FM and KPWR), as well as former UCLA Bruins quarterback Wayne Cook. Hamilton still had a daily segment at the start of the show until 2006.
Before Southern California
In the mid-1970s, Hamilton was the
Hamilton was announcer for the
while still at KTAR, before Phoenix was chosen for an NFL franchise.Play-by-play work
Hamilton has also been a noted play-by-play host for the San Diego Chargers, Seattle Seahawks, USC Trojans, Minnesota Vikings, and San Diego State Aztecs.
Hamilton was the radio play-by-play announcer for the Chargers from 1986 to 1997. Hamilton replaced Ted Leitner, who later replaced Hamilton in 1997 when XTRA Sports lost the broadcasting rights to KFMB. (Hamilton and Leitner became broadcast partners in 2007 as KOGO assumed the broadcast rights to San Diego State Aztecs football games. Hamilton was normally the color commentator, but switched to play-by-play for a few early-season games when Leitner called San Diego Padres games on XEPRS-AM.) Prior to that he called USC Trojans football from 1997 to 2000 alongside Paul McDonald.
Hamilton called the game for Super Bowl XXIX in January 1995 where the Chargers, in their only appearance, were defeated by the San Francisco 49ers. His partners were Jim Laslavic and Pat Curran. Broadcasting team partner Chet Forte became ill and was unable to continue during the Chargers' run to the Super Bowl.
Other assignments
Other play-by-play assignments include the
Catchphrases
Hamilton is best known for his pet phrases: "Show me your lightning bolt!", and "I am bleeping brilliant!" and, "You use the line or you lose the line," his argumentative attitude toward some callers, and "I've won awards, I have a national reputation, I've built a sportstalk empire". He also uses the phrase "Bring your A Game, don't be lame!" on occasion.
On one occasion at a regular weekly live show at a restaurant in Mission Valley, he ended a brief interview with a patron at the host restaurant who was a fireman “down it firefighter”.
Nationally syndicated sports talk host Jim Rome used to broadcast on the same station as Hamilton, and often imitated him saying "React to me!", "Show me your lightning bolt!", and "Good night now!" on The Jim Rome Show.[4]
References
- ^ "Report: Articles by Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton". SanDiego.com. 13 October 2010. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
- ^ "Lee 'Hacksaw' Hamilton Exits The Mighty 1090/San Diego". AllAccess,com. August 1, 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2014.
- ^ Wilkinson, Bud (July 28, 1987). "Lee Hamilton quits KTAR sports-talk job". Arizona Republic. Phoenix, Arizona. p. C7. Archived from the original on July 22, 2022. Retrieved July 22, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Jim Rome Impression of Hacksaw". YouTube. Retrieved 7 October 2014.[dead YouTube link]