Tom Hammond
American former sports commentator for NBC Sports.
Last updated
Thomas Taylor Hammond (born May 10, 1944) is an American former sports commentator who began working with NBC Sports in 1984. He is best known for his coverage of Thoroughbred Racing on NBC and Notre Dame Football on NBC, and also served as a play-by-play announcer for NBC's coverage of track and field at the Summer Olympic Games, speed skating events during the 2018 Winter Olympics, and as a long-time play-by-play voice of the NFL on NBC.
NBC Sports
Hammond's tenure at NBC began in 1984 while he was working at WLEX-TV in Lexington, Kentucky, when he was named co-host of the inaugural Breeders' Cup alongside Dick Enberg. Originally intended as a one-shot assignment, network executives were impressed and offered him a long-term contract. He served as the main host of NBC's thoroughbred racing coverage until Mike Tirico took over in 2017. Hammond's duties expanded to include being the network's play-by-play voice for Notre Dame football alongside analysts Pat Haden or Mike Mayock from 2000 to 2012, and he was also the lead play-by-play man for The AFL on NBC.
Football
From the 1985 NFL season until NBC lost the NFL on NBC after the 1997 season, Hammond had a regular slot working regional Sunday games. When NBC won the bidding for Sunday night NFL coverage beginning with the 2006 season, Hammond was considered the leading play-by-play candidate but lost 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, and teamed with Joe Gibbs and Joe Theismann for the Jets-Bengals Wild Card playoff game in January 2010.
Olympics
His final wild card game was Bengals-Texans on January 7, 2012. Hammond and Collinsworth also served as the announcing team on the Madden NFL 09 and Madden NFL 10 video games in 2008 and 2009. At the Summer Olympics, Hammond debuted as chief commentator for track and field at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, where his broadcast partner was O. J. Simpson. He continued as the lead track and field commentator through the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.
At the Winter Olympics, Hammond was the main commentator for figure skating and ice dancing from the 2002 Winter Olympics through the 2014 Winter Olympics. For the 2018 Winter Olympics, he moved to cover speed skating in what would be his final Olympic games.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where did Tom Hammond study?
Tom Hammond studied at University of Kentucky.
When was Tom Hammond active?
Tom Hammond was active from 1984 to 2021.
More in NBC Sports
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Tom Hammond (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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