Bob Lamey abruptly announced his retirement yesterday from his role as the radio play-by-play voice of the Indianapolis Colts. It is a job he had held since the team moved from Baltimore in 1984. Now details about why the move happened so quickly have come out and they are not good for Lamey.
Colts games are broadcast on Emmis Communications’ sports station 107.5/1070 the Fan and Emmis country station 97.1 Hank FM. An employee of the company reported that Lamey had used a racial epithet in front of her while in the broadcast booth. The employee spoke to local NBC affiliate WTHR-TV, but asked not to be identified.
The employee says Lamey used a racial slur off the air, in a conversation after a radio interview last Tuesday at Colts Camp. She says he was telling a story about when he worked at IMS, sharing what someone else said at the track. “He had asked me if the mics were off and I said, ‘Yeah, I turned everything off. You’re fine,’” the employee recalled. “Bob Lamey’s describing this person saying he was asked in an interview, ‘Do you think anyone’s holding back their speed at IMS during quals? Do you think anyone’s holding back?’ And that person had replied ‘there aren’t any ‘blank’ in this race.”
She says Lamey didn’t say “blank” in retelling that story, and used a racial slur. “He said the ‘N-word,’ yeah. He thought it was OK to use that type of language at work. He was like, ‘Oh I’m so so sorry. I’m so sorry if you’re offended by this. I didn’t mean to offend anyone’ and I was like ‘I’m black and I wouldn’t ever say that word’ and sort of just told him how it hurt me and how I don’t think he should say it ever, even if he’s telling a story,” the radio employee said. “Then once he saw my face and realized he had messed up he had started really like profusely apologizing saying ‘Please don’t tell anybody.’ When I left he said it again, ‘Please don’t tell anybody. Don’t mention this to anyone’. I think he was apologizing so much because he knows it’s wrong and he knows that people lose their jobs for that.
According to the TV station, Emmis HR informed the Colts of the report. They brought it up with Lamey in a closed door meeting. He retired the next day.
The Indianapolis Colts told WTHR that they do not publicly comment on personnel matters. Lamey’s attorney issued a statement acknowledging that his client did use inappropriate language.
It should be noted that Bob does want to acknowledge that while repeating a story while off-the-air last week to a friend at a local radio station, he used an inappropriate word that had been used in the story. Bob immediately apologized to the people involved for the comment and would hope that this error in judgment would not tarnish his long-held reputation in the sports community where he has been known as an accurate and passionate reporter.
The employee that reported Lamey told WTHR that she chose to go to the media because she felt that the Colts were excusing Lamey’s behavior by allowing him to retire instead of firing him.
