Born May 2, 1940 in San Francisco, CA. Tompkins began his broadcasting career in San Francisco in 1965. After stints in New York City doing television and radio for NBC, he returned to the west coast in 1978.
In 1980 he left for upstart cable channel HBO, taking over for Hall of Fame broadcaster Don Dunphy as blow-by-blow man on World Championship Boxing alongside Larry Merchant and Sugar Ray Leonard. While at HBO he was the author of many legendary ringside calls for such bouts as Marvelous Marvin Hagler vs. Roberto Duran, Larry Holmes vs. Gerry Cooney, Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Alexis Arguello vs. Aaron Pryor I and Mike Tyson vs. Trevor Berbick. Following his time at HBO, he spent many years calling action on ESPN’s Top Rank Boxing series (1988-1995), Fox Sports Sunday Night Fights (1995-2009) and, since 2012, has been blow-by-blow announcer for ShoBox: The New Generation on SHOWTIME.
A four-time Emmy Award winner, he was the recipient of the 1992 Sam Taub Award for “Excellence in Broadcast Journalism” from the Boxing Writers Association of America. He also appeared in ROCKY IV as a ringside commentator.
Born: May 2, 1940
Induction: 2017
Barry Tompkins
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