Retired Indianapolis Colts play-by-play man Bob Lamey: 'The Heart and soul of the team'

Jordan Guskey | IndyStar

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INDIANAPOLIS -- Bob Lamey announced his retirement Sunday after 31 years as the Indianapolis Colts' play-by-play announcer, but his voice will be with fans forever.

"Intercepted by Jackson! We're going to the Super Bowl! We're going to the Super Bowl!" Lamey said, speaking for Colts fans everywhere, when Marlin Jackson intercepted Tom Brady and clinched the Colts' berth in the Super Bowl after the 2006 season.

Lamey was the "Voice of the Colts" for all but three seasons (1992-94) since their arrival in Indianapolis in 1984. Matt Taylor, the Colts' radio host and preseason sideline reporter, will fill the role in an interim basis, beginning with Monday's game against the Ravens. Taylor has also been the Colts' gamely sideline reporter for radio and pre-game show host since 2013.

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“It’s time,” Lamey said in a news release from the team. “Great things and great people. I cannot thank Colts fans enough for their support through the years. I also owe the world to the Irsay family, particularly Jimmy. I’ve never worked for a better person or a ‘got-your-back’ boss like him. I will always bleed blue.”

A legend.



Thank you for lending us your voice these past 35 years, Bob. pic.twitter.com/RHRTADT1Yi — Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) August 19, 2018

Colts owner and CEO Jim Irsay said in the same release that Lamey is a legend whose name is synonymous with the organization.

“With his historic calls, familiar sayings and passion for football, he became part of the fabric of this entire community," Irsay said. "No one has been more ‘Indianapolis’ than Bob Lamey. Even more so, he was very much a part of our team family, and he’s as dear to us as anyone who has ever worn the Horseshoe.”

Bob Lamey is the best..there’s no other way to describe him. A full encyclopedia of information at all times. Loved the @Colts and Indianapolis like no other human I’ve ever met. We’ll all miss your work, but cheers to your retirement boss. I’m lucky to call you a friend. ✊🏻🍻 — Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) August 19, 2018

Mark Boyle, the Indiana Pacers' longtime radio play-by-play man, said Lamey's passion was his calling card.

"He was the same every Sunday in that he was totally into it," said Boyle, who was surprised by Lamey's announcement. "He was fully invested in the Colts and you didn’t even need to hear the score, when you turned on the broadcast you knew if they were winning or losing just by his voice, his inflections. He could have gone the whole broadcast without ever giving the score you would have known exactly whether the Colts were winning or losing.”

It's why Boyle believes fans related to Lamey so well. As much as a professional of his stature could be, Lamey was a fan with a microphone.

He felt what the fans felt at all times.

Pat Boylan, who is finishing his first year as the full-time play-by-play broadcaster for the WNBA's Indiana Fever, remembers fondly the opportunity he had to eat lunch with Lamey in the summer of 2008. At the time, Boylan was still in high school. A kid who followed the Colts and was eager to learn from a legend who occupied a job only 31 others had.

"When I was growing up there was a triangle of three people that I listened to that I really admired, and that I think helped shape me and made me want to get into this business," said Boylan, who called the lunch surreal. "That was Mark Boyle, Chris Denari and Bob Lamey."

Boylan admired how descriptive Lamey's calls were, and said Lamey was someone who had the ability to call a game so well listeners didn't need to have a television in front of them. The excitement he brought and palpable care for how the Colts performed were all fans needed.

While best known now for his work with the Colts, Lamey previously served as the play-by-play voice of the Indianapolis Racers hockey team — he was widely known as "Hockey Bob" — from 1974-77, the Indiana Pacers from 1977-84 and was part of the broadcast team for the Indianapolis 500. He also worked for 23 years for WIBC Radio in Indianapolis, the last 15 as sports director. Lamey joined the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame as a part of the 2008 class.

Lamey was born in Chester, Penn., grew up in Victoria, Texas, graduated from Texas Christian University and earned a Masters Degree from Ohio University. Prior to coming to Indianapolis, Lamey was the voice of the ABA's Carolina Cougars and sports director of WSOC-TV in Charlotte, N.C. He also broadcast Charlotte Checkers hockey from 1964-68.

Don Fischer, the 45-year veteran of Indiana University football and men's basketball broadcasts, has known Lamey since he became the voice of the Racers. A friend and fan of Lamey's, Fischer said he wasn't sure why Lamey retired now but thought Lamey would stay with the Colts a year or two more before this day would come.

How long Lamey broadcast and how well he did, Fischer said, is a testament to Lamey's connection with the Colts fan base. Fans can make or break a broadcaster just like they can a team.

"For anybody that has done a particular team for any length of time, those fans identify with the guy who's doing the games," Fischer said.

Both Fischer and Denari, the television play-by-play man for the Pacers, can't help but think back to the Colts' Super Bowl season as possibly Lamey's most memorable. Denari once worked with Lamey on the Colts' radio network, and saw him as a gregarious guy who always showed up prepared so he wouldn't let the fans down.

The Colts won't be the same without him.

"You’d have to think over the last 30-plus years he was the heart and soul of the team," Denari said. "As much as we think about Peyton Manning and Reggie Wayne and all the great players that have played for the Indianapolis Colts, he was sort of the fabric and the heart and soul of the team."

“I have had a great deal of fun for 35 years, and it’s time."



The 'Voice of the Colts' Bob Lamey is retiring: https://t.co/sOf8k0cYNb pic.twitter.com/4FIeduQ98a — Indianapolis Colts (@Colts) August 19, 2018

Follow IndyStar sports reporter Jordan Guskey on Twitter at @JordanGuskey or email him at jguskey@gannett.com.