by Debbie Little 

I’ve always felt the word unique is used too often when someone actually meant to say rare, special, or distinctive, because unique is indeed a unique word. 

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines unique as: 

1. Being the only one. 

2a. Being without a like or equal. 

b. Distinctively characteristic. 

c. Able to be distinguished from all others of its class or type. 

3. Unusual. 

Larry Lederman was unique as a race caller, and as a human being. 

That’s not saying others couldn’t do things that Lederman did. Other people can call races, do impressions, come up with creatively correct things to say on the spot and be an extremely nice and caring person. 

However, Lederman could do all of that and more while never taking himself too seriously, always feeling appreciative for what he had and never complaining about the difficult hand he was dealt. 

No matter how bad things may have been for him, he always wanted to know how you were doing.

” I had the privilege of knowing Lederman for over 30 years. My husband and I made many trips to Garden State Park and they always included a trip to the announcer’s booth. The first time I met Lederman, he asked me if I wanted to blow his bugle. I told him that was a very personal question. Apparently, visitors to his booth enjoyed hitting the button that blew the bugle. Even though I passed on hitting the button on our first meeting, it became a running joke and moving forward, every time I entered his booth he would say ‘Hey baby, want to blow my bugle? “

~ Debbie Little 

Whereas many announcers search for the right thing to say when a particular horse wins — and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t — knowing what to say was part of Lederman’s DNA. It’s what made him a good stand-up comic and an even better race caller. 

He wanted his calls to be fun because he wanted people to be entertained and have a good time, and, who knows, maybe come back to the track again. But with all his comical shtick, the listener always knew what was going on in the race because that was the most important thing. 

When talking about some of his best calls, he almost sounded surprised at what he came up with and how well it landed. He didn’t plan, he didn’t study and that’s what made him so good. He was spontaneous and had a gift for what he did. 

In 2011, Lederman faced an obstacle that he never saw coming, an inoperable brain tumor. He faced it as he did everything else in his life, with humor and appreciation for whatever time he had left. 

On Thursday (Dec. 6, 2018) Lederman was a guest announcer at The Meadowlands. Even though he had been living with this tumor that had prevented him from flying or even travelling too far in a car, Lederman was everything you could have asked for. 

He was famous for giving baseball scores during his race calls and even though there was no baseball in December, in true Lederman fashion, in the middle of the eighth race, he said: “And this race brings the question: Do the Mets really need Robinson Cano?” 

Needless to say, he was a big hit with The Big M faithful and since it’s believed to have been his last time calling at the track, as any master showman, he left them wanting more. 

The Meadowlands paid tribute to Lederman this weekend following his passing on Tuesday (March 5). On both Friday and Saturday night, there was a moment of silence followed by a tribute from co-hosts Dave Little and Jessica Otten (on Friday) and track announcer Ken Warkentin (on Saturday).

 

During the moment of silence, the track ran Lederman’s photo on screen with an in memoriam that read “We are proud to have called Larry colleague and friend. His ambition, love for the sport, and unmatched ability to entertain will be dearly missed.” 

On a personal note, I had the privilege of knowing Lederman for over 30 years. My husband and I made many trips to Garden State Park and they always included a trip to the announcer’s booth. 

The first time I met Lederman, he asked me if I wanted to blow his bugle. I told him that was a very personal question. Apparently, visitors to his booth enjoyed hitting the button that blew the bugle. Even though I passed on hitting the button on our first meeting, it became a running joke and moving forward, every time I entered his booth he would say ‘Hey baby, want to blow my bugle?’ 

When I first started in this business, I was told by many people that announcers protect their booth because they’re scared that if they let someone else call a race that person will steal their job. That was not who Lederman was. He practically had a revolving door on that booth for people who wanted to call a race. He even asked me if I wanted to call a small field and I declined. 

I also remember when he told my husband and I about doing the race call in the movie A Bronx Tale. He said that Robert DeNiro knew he could do impressions and wanted him to do an impression of NYRA track announcer Fred Capossela. 

Lederman explained to us that he told DeNiro that he could do what he wanted but that Capossela would never have said what was in the script. He said he told DeNiro he’d do it as Capossela but then he’d also do it the way he thought it should be done and DeNiro liked Lederman’s way best. 

He once said he preferred to be known as a good guy more than a good announcer, but he was most certainly both. He was the complete package and he was consistently unique.