Taylor Sheridan & Jim Lampley: A friendship story rooted over this passion
People know that if the phone rings late at night in the Lampley residence, the voice on the other end is Taylor Sheridan. And the conversation is not ending quickly.
As one of the more decorated voices in sports television, Jim Lampley has acquired many unexpected friendships. Becoming a good friend with the guy who created Yellowstone, Landman and a slew of other hit TV shows and motion pictures was not on Lampley’s to-do list.
“Organically and accidentally,” Lampley said recently in a phone interview. “Like the way everything else in life that takes place — It Happened.”
Even at 76, Lampley has not lost his ability to turn a phrase, especially the one for what he is most known, which happens to be title of his new book, “IT HAPPENED! A Uniquely Lucky Life in Sports Television.”
The current resident of Chapel Hill, N.C., is actually returning to the ring. He is scheduled to call his first play-by-play of a fight since Dec. 2018 for the Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, Rolly Romero and Jose Ramirez card on Friday, May 2 from Times Square. The three day event will feature fights in New York City, Saudi Arabia on Saturday, and Las Vegas on Sunday.
It stands to reason Lampley is a part of this.
How Lampley formed his friendship with Sheridan
Having appeared in motion pictures before, Lampley considered many Hollywood-types his friends, including director Antoine Fuqua. Lampley had a small part in Fugua’s 2016 movie, “Southpaw.”
In September of 2023, Lampley was headed to Las Vegas for the Canelo Alvarez/Jermell Charlo fight, and asked Fuqua if he wanted to have dinner after the match. Fights like that draw Hollywood’s A-listers, and Fuqua invited Lampley to join him for a big dinner before the main event.
Lampley said yes. He wanted to meet actress Nicole Kidman.
“There were 16 to 18 people, and there was a chair reserved for me sitting next to Taylor,” Lampley said. “I was aware of who he was, and his preeminence as a TV writer. I was surprised and excited to sit next to him.”
Lampley is well accustomed to talking to fans of all ages and stages who love sharing their experiences of recounting a famous fight, or a famous call.
After a pleasant meet and greet, Lampley quickly figured out why he was seated next to Sheridan. The most prolific writer of hit TV content these days is a junkie for Lampley’s sport of choice. Sheridan is a boxing fanboy.
“I could tell from the start of the conservation that he was deeply versed, and that he knew a great deal about me and my career and boxing,” Lampley said. “He proceeded to interview me for the next 90 minutes about boxing.
“Taylor Sheridan showed up ready to interview me about fights and fighters, and his knowledge is encyclopedic.”
Hollywood loves boxing. Because it’s a less expensive way to make a sports movie, and, more than any other sport, boxing will reveal everything about character, or a human being. Sheridan didn’t want to talk boxing movies. He wanted to talk boxing strategy, boxing, boxers, and specific fights on a level that Lampley could easily discuss.
“It was one of the most fun conversations I had ever had meeting someone for the first time,” he said. “It was clear we would be friends.”
Sheridan and Lampley’s Fort Worth connection
The two actually share a few things in common that neither realized until they chatted.
Lampley lives in Chapel Hill where Sheridan was born. They know some of the same people at HBO. Lampley once approached HBO about a potential drama series.
“We laugh about this: He presented ‘Yellowstone’ to HBO and the executives with whom he dealt didn’t see the merit in it,” Lampley said. “I told him, ‘I don’t think you were seeing the right people.’”
The two also share an affinity for Fort Worth, where Sheridan spent some of his youth and currently considers home. Or, one of them.
“I am actually a long-time Fort Worth lover. I was introduced to it the first year I was doing the sidelines for the Texas-Oklahoma football game, in 1974,” Lampley said. “I was taken to Joe T. Garcia’s, and some other meaningful eateries.
“(When they first met), I think I made an error when I said, ‘Going to Hollywood.’ And he instantly said, ‘Jim, I live in Fort Worth. I don’t live in that town. I did everything possible not to go there.’”
Sometime later, the two met again in Las Vegas, and Lampley offered that he was writing a book about his career and life. Sheridan offered to write the foreword.
“I had hoped he would write me a blurb,” he said. “I wasn’t going to push back on it. He wrote it. It showed up on the day of the deadline.”
It should be noted Sheridan actually wrote the foreword; that doesn’t always happen. Often times it’s the author who writes the foreword, and the “famous name” simply signs off on it. For Lampley’s foreword, those are Sheridan’s words.
It was a continuation of nice friendship between two professionals who respect the other, and love boxing. To this day, the two regularly communicate.
“Sometimes I go three weeks without getting a call, but when the phone rings past 11:30,” Lampley said, “everyone in the house knows who it is.”
Good chance that call will go the distance.
This story was originally published May 1, 2025 at 4:47 PM.
