A few years back, I visited nationally known sportscaster Tom Hammond at his Lexington home to write a story about him and former University of Kentucky basketball star Larry Conley.

Hammond and Conley had worked together for years broadcasting basketball games, and a statewide magazine wanted a cover story on their careers. It worked out for all of us.

Last month, when I saw Hammond working at the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland, it reminded me of what role the racetrack played in his rise to legendary stature in sports broadcasting.

“I’ve worked every Breeders’ Cup since 1984 for NBC, 28 out of the last 32,” he said. “ESPN had the contract the other four years.”

The return to Lexington was special.

“This is its roots,” he said of the Breeders’ Cup. “Central Kentucky horseman John Gaines thought up the concept and enlisted the support of fellow horsemen, so it was in Lexington that the whole idea originated.”

Hammond said the conventional wisdom had been that Keeneland was too small to host the Breeders’ Cup. “But $5 million worth of enhancements and a lot of planning made it possible,” he said. “Given my history with Keeneland and the Breeders’ Cup, the whole experience had great meaning for me.”

Hammond was a so-so basketball and football player at Lexington Lafayette High School, and he realized early on his future had to begin in the classroom. Enrolling at UK, he concentrated on getting a degree in animal science. Summers were spent working at racetracks such as Saratoga in New York and Belmont in Baltimore and doing pedigree research for noted horseman Tom Gentry, all the while learning more about horses and racetracks. Nowhere did his budding resume show any broadcast journalism classes.

“I became a broadcaster by accident. My first love was horses,” Hammond said.

A friend asked him to fill in one day at a local radio station, WVLK, by reading Keeneland race results.

“I had no idea I wanted to be a broadcaster,” he said. “I was sort of shy, but that opportunity turned out to be a big break.”

The break turned into a 15-minute, six-day-a-week gig with a $35 weekly paycheck.

Not long after that, Hammond moved to a Lexington TV station, where he was a one-man sports department, shooting film, editing, writing copy and reporting.

Hammond caught another break when he was asked to accompany NBC sportscaster Dick Enberg to see Secretariat at Claiborne Farm in nearby Paris.

“My ticket to network was horse racing,” he said. “The first Breeders’ Cup I did was in 1984. They needed someone who could help fill four hours of time, so I worked with Enberg as the horse expert.”

His animal science degree, experience in horse auctions and promotion work at Keeneland all helped him reach another level of his profession.

A few years earlier, TVS had started a prime-time Southeastern Conference basketball package, and Hammond wanted to be their play-by-play guy.

“I really wanted to do this,” he said. “Joe B. (Hall), Lee Rose, Dan Issel, C.M. Newton and Larry Hopkins all recommended me. I got the job and initially worked with Joe Dean (Joe Dean Sr. of “string music” fame).”

It was with TVS that Hammond and Conley’s path crossed again. Conley, as a junior, was a star on the Ashland High School squad that won the state title in 1961 while losing only once during a 31-1 season. And the so-so Hammond played on the Lafayette team, the only one to beat Ashland that year.

“I’ve reminded him of that several times over the years,” Hammond said with a laugh.

Hammond and Conley at one time were considered one of the best broadcast teams in America.

From high school sports, to WVLK radio, to WLEX-TV, to the Keeneland sales, to working with Host Communications and the Keeneland broadcast, Hammond kept moving up the professional ladder.

“Tom’s a national sports figure,” Jim Host said. “The people at NBC think the highest of him, and so does everyone who ever meets him. He’s never let his ego get in the way. He’s just like he was when he worked at WLEX in that he has never changed in how he treats people.”

Hammond and Conley have the distinction of being involved in the first basketball game where the referees used their TV monitor to review the replay to decide which players were involved in a scuffle. The game was in the 1983 NCAA Tournament in Dayton between Morehead and North Carolina AT&T.

“The officials were criticized for their actions,” Hammond said. “We praised them for doing it and wanting to get the call right.”

Hammond has become one of the most versatile sportscasters in the history of television. Working with NBC, he has broadcast the Orange Bowl, NFL, NBA, Notre Dame football and, of course, horse racing’s Triple Crown. However, it’s the Olympics that have probably put Hammond’s face and voice in more homes than any other sporting event. “I have worked 11 Olympics, Summer and Winter, dating back to Seoul, South Korea, in 1988,” he said.

He has made viewers feel comfortable in his description of basketball, diving, track and field, gymnastics and figure skating, without being overpowering and trying to upstage the event he is covering.

Never forgetting his broadcasting roots, Hammond is quick to pay homage to the likes of Cawood Ledford, Enberg, Claude Sullivan and J.B. Falconer, all of whom recognized the hidden talents of Hammond in his early years.

While there are few sportscasters with the range of experience of Hammond, it comes as a surprise that he has never broadcast tennis or golf. “I’ve had the opportunity, but turned it down,” he said.

Hammond figures he has flown more than 6 million miles, and with an NBC contract that runs through 2016, he’ll be adding to it with a gig at the Rio Olympics next summer.

In the meantime, he’ll also continue to enjoy his 1,000-bottle wine collection at his Lexington home.

“I became interested in wine in the 1980s,” he said. “I had a wine cellar built in my basement, and the acquisition of the wine is almost as enjoyable as drinking it.”

There’s no excuse. Get up, get out and get going!

— Gary West’s column runs monthly in the Daily News. He can be reached by emailing west1488@twc.com.