Lee Hamilton

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Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton is an American sportscaster and radio talk show host based in San Diego, California. He is currently heard in the afternoon drive slot at XEPRS-AM, known on-air as "XX 1090 Sports Radio". [1]

Hamilton is also a host on XM Radio's MLB Home Plate channel. He began calling play-by-play for the NFL on Compass Media Networks in 2009.

Hamilton had been the afternoon drive-time host on KLSD, "XTRA Sports 1360" in San Diego, from its launch in November 2007 until September 3, 2008, when his contract with parent company Clear Channel Communications expired and both sides chose not to renew it.

The expiration also ended a job he had at KLAC in Los Angeles.

Before that, he served 17 years at XETRA-AM "XTRA Sports 690", a station that was operated by the current American operator of XEPRS, John Lynch.

His real name is Paul Mahan.

Years in Southern California

From 1986 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 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

Before the Chargers, Hamilton was announcer for the football and basketball programs at Arizona State University and a talk-show host in Phoenix for news/talk/sports station KTAR. His show, "620 Sportsline", was a four-hour show similar in format to the show he would host in Southern California. During his tenure at KTAR, Hamilton engaged in a long-running feud with then-Arizona Republic columnist Tom Fitzpatrick, whom he dubbed "Trashcan Tom Fitzpatrick." Fitzpatrick countered with blasting Hamilton in his column for being self-important and being all style and no substance. The main reason he gave for leaving KTAR was a chance to do play-by-play for the Chargers, since Phoenix didn't have an NFL team at the time.

Even earlier, in the mid-1970s, he was play-by-play voice of the Mohawk Valley Comets - Clinton, New York, Utica, New York of the North American Hockey League, Cleveland Crusaders of the World Hockey Association, and hosted an evening sports talk radio show on Akron, Ohio talk station WHLO.

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 play-by-play announcer for San Diego Chargers on radio from 1986 to 1997, one of the longest tenures of any play-by-play announcer in the team's history. Hamilton replaced Ted Leitner, whom Hamilton referred to as "Teddy Lightweight." Leitner eventually replaced Hamilton in 1997 when XTRA Sports lost the broadcasting rights to KFMB, but not before Hacksaw went on an on-air tirade during his last game as Chargers' announcer. (In an ironic twist, Hamilton and Leitner became broadcast partners in 2007 as KOGO assumed the broadcast rights to San Diego State Aztecs football games. Hamilton is normally a color commentator, but switched to play-by-play for a few early season games when Leitner called San Diego Padres games on XEPRS-AM.)

In 2001, he resigned as the play by play announcer for the Minnesota Vikings after just one pre-season game. It came after a reporter for a weekly African-American newspaper in Minneapolis who is also the father of current Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald exposed racist and sexist comments that Hamilton sometimes used on his talk shows. Hamilton was going to replace long time Vikings announcer Dan Rowe. The job would go to Terry Stembridge, Jr.

As a Chargers announcer, Hamilton would criticize the referee's calls against the Chargers; on one occasion, Hamilton screamed at the refs to throw the flag, dammit!, calling for pass interference against the defender on a long pass play.

Among the games he called was Super Bowl XXIX in January 1995, the only such appearance in team history. His partners were Jim Laslavic and Pat Curran. Another broadcasting partner was Chet Forte, who was too ill to continue during the Chargers' run to the Super Bowl.

Other assignments

Other play-by-play assignments include the USC Trojans football team, the Seattle Seahawks (1998-1999), the Pac-10 men's basketball tournament, and National Football League games on Sports USA Radio Network.

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.

Nationally syndicated sports talk host Jim Rome used to broadcast on the same station as Hamilton, and often imitates him saying "React to me!", "Show me your lightning bolt!", and "Good night now!" on The Jim Rome Show.

Controversy

Referred to a San Diego media columnist by an anti-gay slur when the writer mentioned his real name in a column. [2]

During the Rae Carruth incident, he asked a caller if ‘…blacks are more likely to abuse their spouses than other races.?’

He called Hideki Irabu, a Japanese pitcher, a ‘fat Jap’. http://www.sportsatrandom.com/2007/08/i-have-black-friends-at-random/

References