Memorial event for David Lamm and his love for sport and people
The former Times-Union columnist and talk radio pioneer was praised for his love of sports and the people who played and coached the games
A radio station tried to set David Lamm up with his son Alex. What happened?
On June 22, at a celebration of David Lamm’s life at JU’s Swisher Gym, many stories were told. One of them was a short-lived radio show with his son
David Lamm was a bulldog. He didn’t let anyone get him down, not even the notoriously prickly Bob Knight and Jacksonville Jaguars coaches Tom Coughlin and Jack Del Rio.
David Lamm loved his craft. He mentored dozens of young journalists in print and broadcast on the First Coast, and Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Bianchi said the highest praise you could get for one of them was to hear Lamm tell them, “Uncle Dave taught you well.”
David Lamm “had a heart as big as his body,” said his son Alex Lamm. Quietly, Lamm’s family adopted a less fortunate family in Jacksonville during the holidays and made sure they received gifts and turkey dinners. Lamm was also a little league coach with the Justina Athletic Association.
In 2002, he founded “Santa Lamb,” which has brought a wonderful Christmas to thousands of children between the ages of 3 and 13.
Gene Frenette: More than his large body, David Lamm’s voice, words had great weight
Lamm’s life was honored with many stories big and small, as well as plenty of laughter and tears, at Jacksonville University’s Historic Swisher Gym on Saturday as the former Times-Union sports editor and columnist and pioneering talk radio and television host was remembered before more than 150 people, 28 days after his death at age 78.
Lamm called on young journalists to take a stand
“He was a one-of-a-kind individual,” said former Jacksonville Suns owner Pedro Bragan, one of the speakers paying tribute to the son of a North Carolina mailman who left an indelible mark on all First Coast sports media. “We may never see someone like him again.”
Bianchi said his desire to become a sportswriter began when he attended the University of Florida and gathered all the newspapers in the state to read their stories.
In “Lamm,” Bianchi said, he found the mixture of knowledge, humor, irreverence, honesty and fearlessness that were his trademarks when he wrote for the Times-Union from 1977 to 1984.
“I wanted to be like David Lamm,” said Bianchi, who held Lamm’s position in Jacksonville for five years before moving to Orlando in 2000. “He told me you have to take a stand. You can’t stand in the middle of the road. There are only dead skunks in the middle of the road.”
Lamm is called “the OG” of sports talk radio
After a series of television and radio appearances from 1984 to 1999, Lamm was part of the first all-sports format on Clear Channel’s WFXJ and then on 1010-XL from 1999 to 2009.
Jack O’Brien, who supervised Lamm at Clear Channel and 1010, corrected the running joke that radio announcers “have a face for the radio.”
“David had a body for radio,” O’Brien said. “But it was fascinating to watch him do a show. He would come in five minutes before the show started with just the newspaper under his arm. When we started there was no Internet, but he had everything here (tapping his head) and he would do two hours straight without stopping, without looking at notes or anything. I have never seen anyone better to this day.”
Joe Cowart, who had a radio show with Lamm on WFXJ before both ended up at 1010-XL, called Lamm the “OG (Original Gangster)” of Jacksonville sports talk radio, building on what Jay Solomon built and teaming up with Frank Frangie and Cowart to show that an all-sports format would work.
“He proved to people that this is a format that appeals to people and lasts all day,” Cowart said.
Lamm enjoyed golf and time with friends
Lamb enjoyed playing golf, going to the dog track, sampling Miller Lite, and hanging out with friends whenever possible all on the same day.
Don Mathis said he and Lamm once joked that they would take turns faking their deaths and then stand in the back of the room to see who would come to the memorial service.
“I’m not sure I would attract that many people,” he said.
Mathis said Lamm once told him he was his best friend “because we didn’t talk about sports. We talked about everything else.”
Mathis said any day with Lamm, on the golf course or in Hidden Hills’ Troon Room, where the men’s grill was located, was a lot of fun.
“Playing golf with David was more fun than anything else in my life,” he said.
The day Lamb Bob Knight backed out
Barry Milligan, who worked with Lamm on local cable television shows in the late 1980s, including the first nationally televised sports magazine show, recalled Lamm arranging an interview with Knight, the former Indiana coach who had come to Jacksonville to lead a seminar at Wolfson High School.
When Lamm and Milligan (the videographer) approached Knight as planned, they were ignored. Lamm gave Knight 20 minutes and then told Milligan to follow him and start recording.
When Lamm pointed out to Knight that they had made an appointment, he was met with a tirade that ended with the words: “You media people think you rule the world.”
When Knight finished, Lamm said, “Thank you. We have everything we need.”
When Knight realized that Milligan had filmed the entire incident, he apologized.
“Then he sat down and gave an absolutely wonderful interview,” Milligan said.
Coaches sought Lamm’s advice
Lamm was such an influential media personality that former University of Florida coach Charley Pell met Lamm at the old Thunderbird Hotel in 1980 to ask him how to start a Jacksonville Gator Club – which soon became UF’s largest fan club.
On the day Pell’s successor, Galen Hall, was dismissed in 1989, he allowed a member of the media to come to his house to discuss the events and his future.
It was David Lamm.
Lamm and Milligan completed so many events, miles and venues that Lamm’s wife “Boo” (the two were married for 58 years) complained that Lamm didn’t give Milligan much out of life.
“You’re ruining this young man,” Milligan said Boo Lamm told her husband. “He’s such a nice young man and you’re going to ruin him.”
Cowart said during SEC Media Days, former Gator coach Steve Spurrier walked past a dozen stations on radio row and singled out Lamm to come on the show. Former FSU coach Bobby Bowden never passed up an opportunity to do a show with Lamm.
And Lamm became such a rock star with fans that Cowart remembers walking through the tailgating areas at Doak Campbell Stadium and fans bringing Lamm to their parties for Crown Royal shows.
“They were begging Dave to do a Crown show,” Cowart said. “That’s how big he was. And it’s thanks to people like (Lamm) who got on the radio and proved it worked, and the format just took off in its first six months.”
Lamb, a lamppost and New York City
Lamm’s son Alex and his sister Peggy Griffin of Rocky Mount, NC, spoke for the family.
“He always said he was very lucky to be able to make a living doing something he loved,” his sister said.
In a tearful and heartfelt tribute to his father, Alex Lamm talked about the time he played for his father in Little League and then, in high school, was embarrassed when his father would come up to him after games and give him a big kiss on the cheek.
The two made countless trips to Gainesville, Tallahassee, Atlanta, Birmingham and Charlotte to attend football games, golf tournaments and NASCAR races. They also went to the British Open in St. Andrews, Scotland and to the annual NASCAR banquet in New York.
“I have enough memories to last forever,” he said.
Alex Lamm also told the story of his father’s only hole-in-one, on the fifth hole at Hidden Hills. Lamm had mixed feelings because it was a 150-yard shot and at the time he was using an 11-wood from that distance.
“He wasn’t sure if he wanted people to know that he had to use an 11-wood,” he said.
Alex Lamm left the audience with one final story that was typical of Uncle Dave. As the two walked through the streets of Manhattan on a beautiful winter night, Alex Lamm saw his father begin to swing around a lamppost and sing “New York, New York.”
“He always made me proud to be his son,” Lamm said.
In addition to his wife, sister and son Alex, Lamm leaves behind a son, Tom, five grandchildren and a brother, Roger. The family has asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to santalamm.org.
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