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Jim Lampley’s memoir is out, and it really did happen.
We had the official launch party last night at the Chapel Hill Country Club for Lampley’s new book IT HAPPENED. And for the thousands of listeners and readers who weren’t there, allow me to tell you how it did happen.
Jim and I were at Carolina together in the early 1970s, me as a J-school major at the old Howell Hall and Jim in RTVMP under Wesley Wallace at Swain Hall.
I got a job at the Atlanta Constitution while Jim entered grad school. When I returned about a year later, I told WCHL owner Jim Heavner about a young radio guy in Atlanta named Beau Bock . . . who did an innovative call-in show and commentary – innovative for those days.
I said to Heavner, “You should really do that on CHL.”
He stroked his chin as he often did and replied, “Yes, we should, and I know exactly who should do it.”
“Who? Who?” I said anxiously, hoping it was me.
“Lampley!” Heavner said. I skulked away, and Jim did it with the unmistakable voice and delivery the world was about to discover.
About a year later, Lamp got his job of a lifetime when ABC Sports hired him as the first college football sideline reporter. We were all excited when we watched him introduce the 1974 UCLA-Tennessee opener in that yellow ABC blazer.
Before Lamp left town, I saw Heavner and asked with another slight agenda, “Who’s going to do it now?”
“Okay, okay,” he said, rubbing his chin again, “you can do it, but nobody can do it like he did.”
Side note, I have been doing it for 25 years with a 25 year-break, and I guess I’ve done about 7,000 commentaries, all ending with See Ya! I made $5 a show after Jim went to work at ABC for, like, $80,000 a year.
We stayed in touch for 45 years, and when he and Debra moved back to Chapel Hill, we started having occasional lunches. I mostly listened while Jim told stories of his truly amazing broadcast career in about every sport, including 30 years as the Face and Voice of HBO championship boxing.
“Jim, you really need to write a book,” I said.
“I’m a sportscaster, not a writer,” he said.
“No, Jim, you’re a great storyteller, and I’ll help you write it.”
It took about a year to convince him before he finally said, “Okay, let’s do it.”
He dove into it like Mark Spitz in the 100-meter free and started cranking out stories on his old Apple Notes software, which was about as old as we were.
But IT HAPPENED, and that’s why we were all there last night. So thank you all for hearing or reading.
Love you, Lamp, and congratulations on your first book, which is an incomparable journey through your life and own Wide World of Sports.
chapelboroaudio.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/2025/04%20-%20April/23/Art%27s%20Notebook%20042325%20-%20FINAL.mp3 Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.
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