Background
Hambrick grew up in Mount Pleasant, Texas.
Hambrick grew up in Mount Pleasant, Texas.
After graduation from Mount Vernon High School in Mount Vernon, Texas in 1963, Hambrick attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he obtained his degree in journalism in 1967.
Hambrick started his career in radio in 1961 while still a sophomore in high school. He then got his start in television at KTBC-television in Austin. Later on, by 1972 Hambrick had moved on to WCAU-television in Philadelphia and served as co-anchor of their evening news programs with John Facenda, better known outside of Philadelphia as the "voice" of NFL Films.
Hambrick"s stay at WCAU lasted only one year.
He later moved onto stops at KDFW-television in Dallas, KABC-television in Los Angeles and TeleVision for YoU in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1977, Hambrick arrived in Cleveland, Ohio, where he became an anchor of the evening newscasts on WJKW-television (now WJW-television).
The next year, he moved to rival WKYC-television, where he served in a similar capacity until 1985. Hambrick then spent next several years away from television news anchoring, though he worked on several business news ventures with National Broadcasting Company through his own production company.
An avid crossword puzzle expert, Hambrick also authored a series of books based on the board game Scrabble, titled Scrabble Brand Grams.
Many of his puzzles have also been printed in sections of various newspapers across the United States. Hambrick ended his self-imposed hiatus in 1992 when he joined KTUL-television in Tulsa as an anchor. Not long after, Hambrick returned to Cleveland and to WKYC-television, for one final anchoring stint from 1993 to 1999.
During his career, he also worked in markets such as Memphis, Atlanta, and Honolulu.
Personal life
Judd Hambrick is the brother of newscasters John Hambrick (deceased) and Mike Hambrick. John co-anchored alongside Judd at KABC-television during 1975-1976, also worked in Cleveland (at WEWS from 1967 to 1975), and had stints at stations in New York City and Miami.
Younger sibling Mike worked in several markets such as Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Washington, District of Columbia Hambrick continues to work in mostly free-lance video news media production.
