Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton is an Americansportscaster and radio talk show host based in San Diego, California. He was co-host of the "Hacksaw and Hayworth" show on from 6:00am–9:00am Pacific Time Monday through Friday on XEPRS-AM, known on-air as "San Diego's Sports Leader, The Mighty 1090" and he worked alongside producers Bobby Wooldridge and Alex Padilla. Hacksaw is also a regular contributor to SanDiego.com. Born as Paul Mahon, he grew up in Northport, NY on Long Island. Hamilton is also a host on Sirius XM Satellite Radio's MLB Network Radio channel. He began calling play-by-play for the NFL on Compass Media Networks in 2009. Hamilton had been the afternoon drive-time host on KLSD, "XTRA Sports 1360" in San Diego, from its launch in November 2007 until September 3, 2008, when his contract with parent company Clear Channel Communications expired and Clear Channel wanted better ratings so they let him go. The expiration also ended a job he had at KLAC in Los Angeles. Prior to 2007, he worked 17 years at XETRA-AM "XTRA Sports 690", a station that was operated by the current American operator of XEPRS, John Lynch. In July 2014, Hamilton left XEPRS-AM but continues daily sports commentary and connects with fans on his website "Lee Hacksaw Hamilton.com".
Years in Southern California
From 1986 to 2005, he hosted a daily four-hour talk show on those stations. In July 2005, he lost the show as part of a restructuring as KLAC de-emphasized sports talk in favor of "man talk." He was replaced by Matt "Money" Smith and Joe Grande, both of whom once read sports news as part as morning shows on music stations, as well as former UCLA Bruinsquarterback Wayne Cook. Hamilton still had a daily segment at the start of the show until 2006.
Hamilton has also been a noted play-by-play host for the San Diego Chargers, Seattle Seahawks, USC Trojans, Minnesota Vikings, and San Diego State Aztecs. Hamilton was the radio play-by-play announcer for the Chargers from 1986 to 1997, which is currently the longest tenure for a play-by-play announcer in the team's history. Hamilton replaced Ted Leitner, who later replaced Hamilton in 1997 when XTRA Sports lost the broadcasting rights to KFMB. Hamilton called the game for Super Bowl XXIX in January 1995 where the Chargers, in their only appearance, were defeated by the San Francisco 49ers. His partners were Jim Laslavic and Pat Curran. Broadcasting team partner Chet Forte became ill and was unable to continue during the Chargers' run to the Super Bowl.
Hamilton is best known for his pet phrases: "Show me your lightning bolt!", and "I am bleeping brilliant!" and, "You use the line or you lose the line," his argumentative attitude toward some callers, and "I've won awards, I have a national reputation, I've built a sportstalk empire". He also uses the phrase "Bring your A Game, don't be lame!" on occasion. Nationally syndicated sports talk host Jim Rome used to broadcast on the same station as Hamilton, and often imitated him saying "React to me!", "Show me your lightning bolt!", and "Good night now!" on The Jim Rome Show.
