David Lamm, who helped launch sports radio in Jacksonville, died at the end of last week at the age of 78. Lamm started as a sports writer at the Florida Times-Union, later became a columnist and then sports editor. He would later spend many years on the air on radio and television.
Lamm, affectionately known as Lamm-Chops, was a beloved figure in the Jacksonville community. In 2002 he started the David Lamm Foundation and created ‘Santa Lamm,’ a Christmas drive to provide children gift cards to go shopping during the holidays.
His son, Alex posted on his Facebook account, “It’s with immeasurable sadness to let my FB community know of my Pops passing today. Many in this community were friends or knew him. Will announce memorial plans sometime soon. RIP Pops.”
In a story posted by News4 in Jacksonville, 1010XL’s Frank Frangie, who worked with Lamm in print and radio said, “David Lamm was an icon. David Lamm was a pioneer. There is no sports radio in Jacksonville without David Lamm, and I mean that very sincerely. Jay Solomon and David Lamm were the pioneers and I got to be the tag along back in the day. And it was one of the great honors of my career. We will miss David Lamm. How authentic. How real. How he said what he believed. How he entertained. It’s a sad day in Jacksonville, the great David Lamm gone today.”
In 2019, Lamm sat down with former WJKS-TV anchor Mike Lyons for an interview. Lamm said in part, “I’m the luckiest guy on the face of the earth. I never planned for this, but I’ve had a wonderful career. I’ve spent my life covering sports, talking about sports, writing about sports. I’ve been to multiple Super Bowls and World Series and Final Fours and US Opens and Masters. I’ve traveled places, certainly this country, that I would never have traveled to, most people don’t. … so when I look back on it I’m going ‘you lucky son of a gun,’” Lamm told Lyons. “How many people fall into something, and it turns out to be the love of their life. They didn’t even know it at the time.”
Lamm is survived by his wife, Ellen, and sons Tom and Alex.
Many of Lamm’s friends and former colleagues weighed in on his passing through posts on their social media accounts:
