Hank Goldberg

The CBS Sports HQ and SportsLine prognosticator died on his 82nd birthday in Las Vegas.

He first learned of his condition in 2015 while living in Florida, immediately started dialysis and got on the waiting list for a transplant in that state. On a Friday during the NFL playoffs in January 2020, Goldberg went to see his doctor for a routine check-up. So, two months after the Supreme Court decision, the 78-year-old Goldberg uprooted his life in Miami, a city he called home for 52 years, to move to Las Vegas in search of work. During horse racing's Triple Crown season, he offered his handicapping analysis for the "Rich Eisen Show," whose namesake worked closely with Goldberg in the early days of ESPN2. And he often appeared as an expert panelist on NFL and horse racing seminars at his go-to casino, Sunset Station, just five miles from his apartment in Henderson, Nevada. The biggest score of his life came with the help of a contact. Goldberg lived a Forrest Gump-like existence, intersecting with some of the most notable figures in sports and pop culture. "He was always really comfortable with the camera," said Mark Gross, who was a producer at ESPN2 at the time and is now senior vice president of production and remote events for ESPN. "He never tried to be somebody that he wasn't: 'I've got to get my radio voice on now. Goldberg also served as ESPN2's NFL insider and provided scoops from sources he cultivated while working for Snyder and doing his radio show in Miami. One of his key contacts was then-Raiders owner Al Davis, with whom Goldberg would speak with every Friday during football season. Goldberg went from a local legend to a national personality in 1993 when he joined ESPN Radio and ESPN2 (and later ESPN) in their infancies. A twenty-something Goldberg moved to Miami in 1966 and worked in advertising while also helping the Dolphins public relations department with busy work such as setting up the press box, driving people to and from the airport and organizing spotters for the television broadcast. And that was when he was in a good mood. Like his son, Hy had a prominent forehead and wide build, but he was the anti-Hammer, a reserved man with an easy-going and calm personality.

Sports handicapping expert Hank Goldberg died Monday on his 82nd birthday after a lengthy battle with kidney disease.

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Hank Goldberg, longtime ESPN NFL reporter and handicapping expert known as Hammering Hank, died Monday.

His final appearance on ESPN was in May, in a phone interview from the Kentucky Derby. Goldberg began his career in the 1970s as an assistant to handicapper Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder. He went on to become the Miami Dolphins’ radio color analyst. With ESPN for two decades, Goldberg was .500 or better in 15 of 17 NFL seasons while predicting games, according to the network.

Hank Goldberg, who appeared on ESPN for more than 20 years as an NFL reporter and sports handicapper, passed away at his home in Las Vegas.

He last appeared on ESPN in May, doing a phone interview from the Kentucky Derby. Goldberg, who turned 82 on Monday, had been undergoing treatment for chronic kidney disease in recent years, ESPN reported. Hank Goldberg, longtime sports handicapper and ESPN reporter, dies at age 82

Hank Goldberg, a longtime ESPN NFL reporter and handicapper who was a fixture on the South Florida sports radio airwaves, died Monday on his 82nd birthday, ...

According to ESPN, Goldberg correctly predicted NFL games more than 50 percent of the time during 15 of his 17 seasons with the network. He was also a contributor for ESPN’s horse racing coverage. Goldberg, a ghostwriter for Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder in the 1970s who became known as “Hammering Hank,” had been on dialysis for kidney disease and had his right leg amputated in October, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

The media personality known as “Hammering Hank” passed away at his Las Vegas home.

“He had a huge life with friends all across the country. He also made regular appearances on ESPN Radio, and provided analysis for ESPN’s horse racing coverage. Goldberg established himself on local radio and TV programs in Miami, eventually becoming the radio analyst for the Dolphins, a role he held from 1978 to ’92. Prior to that, he was an assistant for renowned sports handicapper Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder.

Todd Dewey of the Las Vegas Review-Journal is reporting that former Miami Dolphins radio analyst Hank Goldberg passed away today (on his birthday) at the age of ...

Goldberg was the Miami Dolphins’ radio color analyst from 1978 to 1992 working alongside play-by-play man Rick Weaver. He also worked as a sports anchor at WTVJ in South Florida from 1983 to 1992. Goldberg moved to Las Vegas in 2018 and had been doing handicapping work for CBS Sports HQ and SportsLine.com. He hosted a sports talk radio show at WQAM from 1993 to 2009 and in 1993 he began working for ESPN covering the NFL (with the Miami Dolphins as his beat) as well as being their go-to guy for horse racing handicapping.

Hank Goldberg, a longtime horse racing analyst and NFL reporter and prognosticator for ESPN, died on his birthday Monday in Las Vegas, where he had lived ...

“He was a special, one-of-a-kind, sweetheart of a guy. When he was 17, he fell in love with horse racing. “He had a huge life with friends all across the country,” she said. And the horse won.” “We had the centurion guards carry him in on a big chair like Caesar would be carried in on, and they put him down in the book. Then Hank gets there and gets out of his car and walks right to the host stand. “We got a winning ticket from Gulfstream racetrack in Florida, and we dropped it in his coffin at the service so we could send him out a winner.” He also analyzed Triple Crown horse races on “SportsCenter.” “We were kind of like brothers,” he said. “Hank, Mike and I were pallbearers at Jimmy the Greek’s funeral, and we had this plan to send the Greek out a winner. He also helped prepare material for Snyder’s “The NFL Today” TV segment. He was 82.

Hank Goldberg, a longtime sports announcer in Miami who rose to national fame as a handicapper and reporter for horse racing and professional football on ...

While in Florida, he became close friends with such important television contributors as director Bob Fishman and producer Mike Pearl, both in the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame.\r\n\r\nGoldberg subsequently was hired by ESPN for NFL coverage, appearing regularly on the flagship show “SportsCenter,” and he developed sources with every team. He worked on racing shows, such as the Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup, for ABC and ESPN for more than 20 years.\r\n\r\nAs a more than 40-year resident of Miami, Goldberg became a well-known celebrity there, his cachet coming in handy when he would arrive at Joe’s Stone Crab, where the two-hour wait would magically disappear and Goldberg would barely break stride heading to his table, similar to the pull the late Daily Racing Form columnist Joe Hirsch had there.\r\n\r\nIn the summer, though he lived on the East Coast, Goldberg beginning in the mid-1990s made annual pilgrimages to Del Mar, where he would stay for nearly two weeks, golfing in the mornings and playing the horses in the afternoon. He eventually became a regular drive-time radio host, and also was on local sports television in Miami. He was the radio color commentator of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins for 14 years, through 1992.

He passed away on the same day of his 82nd birthday at his home in Las Vegas. Goldberg had been battling chronic kidney disease these past few years.

He won $1,400 on the bet. He told the Sun Sentinel that he put $200 on Odell Beckham Jr. to score the first touchdown in the latest Super Bowl. He was right. ESPN, his former employer, paid tribute to the former Miami-reporting legend with a heartfelt video.

MIAMI - South Florida wasn't always a five team professional sports region. Until the late 1980s, there was only one team, the Miami Dolphins.

He was a media star at a time when it was much more difficult to become one. He was a sports-talk trendsetter, often calling people out that most wouldn't have the chops to. Goldberg was a trailblazer in the business, highlighted by his often abrasive, entertaining sports talk style.

Hank Goldberg worked a number of jobs in sports media in his career, including the Miami Dolphins radio broadcast from 1978-92.