Hank Goldberg, a longtime horse racing analyst and NFL reporter and prognosticator for ESPN, died on his birthday Monday at his apartment in Las Vegas, where he had lived since 2018. He was 82.

His sister, Liz Goldberg, said her brother’s death was caused by complications from a yearslong battle with chronic kidney disease.

For decades, starting in the 1970s, the colorful Goldberg ruled the sports talk radio market in Miami, where he earned the nicknames “The Hammer” and “Hammerin’ Hank” for slamming down a gavel on the desk when he disagreed with his co-host.

He was the Miami Dolphins’ radio color analyst from 1978 to 1992 and close friends with legendary Dolphins coach Don Shula and quarterback Bob Griese, among many other prominent sports figures.

When Goldberg broke Shula’s retirement story after the 1995 season, the NFL career wins leader told him, “You finally got rid of me.” Goldberg replied, “Coach, that’s not a story I ever wanted to report.”

Goldberg learned the finer points of sports handicapping from oddsmaker and “The NFL Today” contributor Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder. Goldberg used to ghostwrite Snyder’s syndicated column, which ran in more than 200 newspapers. He also helped prepare material for Snyder’s “The NFL Today” TV segment with the help of late Raiders owner Al Davis.

“I used to call Al Davis every Sunday morning for information,” Goldberg told the Review-Journal this year.

When ESPN2 launched in 1993, Goldberg embarked on a 21-year run at the network, where he appeared on ESPN’s “NFL Countdown” and made NFL picks. Davis was one of his main sources.

“When they hired me at ESPN, I called Al to thank him,” Goldberg said. “And Al paused for a second, and he said, ‘Well, I made (John) Madden. And I made you.’”

During his heyday at ESPN, Goldberg was feted at Caesars Palace during Super Bowl week like Julius Caesar himself. Red Rock Resort sportsbook director Chuck Esposito, the Caesars sportsbook assistant vice president at the time, recalls the scene.

“My friend Hank, who knew everybody and was never at a loss for words, used to come out for every Super Bowl and started doing his Super Bowl segment (for ESPN) live from the sportsbook at Caesars Palace,” Esposito said. “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. We had Cleopatra girls fanning him with the big palms and feeding him grapes, and I said, ‘Hammer, what’s your Super Bowl pick?’

“That’s how big he was when it came to his handicapping and prognostication and hearing what he had to say when he broke down a big game or horse race.”

Goldberg, who also analyzed Triple Crown horse races on “SportsCenter,” also was larger than life to his younger sister, Liz, a longtime TV executive.

“He had a huge life with friends all across the country,” she said. “He would go to Los Angeles and walk into Dan Tana’s (Italian restaurant), and the doors literally opened for him. Everybody was always happy to see him.

“He was very loyal and treated his friends from all walks of life like family.”

Goldberg was born on the Fourth of July — a birthday he shared and celebrated with Davis — in 1940 in Newark, New Jersey. He was introduced to sports by his father, Hy Goldberg, a longtime sports columnist for the Newark Evening News.

In the late 1940s, Hank would accompany his father each year to spring training with the New York Yankees in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Yankees legend Joe DiMaggio took a liking to “Henry,” as he called Hank. The two would play catch and remained friends for the rest of DiMaggio’s life, often golfing together.

Goldberg grew up in South Orange, New Jersey, where he worked as a sports stringer for the South Orange Maplewood News-Record. He also worked as a stringer for The New York Times when he attended New York University.

When he was 17, he fell in love with horse racing. The first time he went to the racetrack, he hit the daily double for $450 at Monmouth Park in New Jersey.

“I came home and gave my father the money and said, ‘I want to buy a car with this.’ He said, ‘Where’d you get that?’ I said, ‘At Monmouth. I hit the double,’” Goldberg said. “He said, ‘Oh, you’re in trouble now.’

“He knew I’d never get over my love for the races. He was right. I just fell in love with racing, and it paid off for me, of course. I wound up covering the Triple Crown for ABC.”

Goldberg attended Duke and graduated from NYU. He began working in advertising in Manhattan during the “Mad Men” era and served in the Army Reserve.

He moved to Miami to sell advertising, but soon started work, in his words, as “The Greek’s Ghost.” He got his first job as a sports talk show host at radio station WIOD in 1978 after a recommendation from legendary talk show host Larry King, who had worked there.

Goldberg also worked as a sports anchor at CBS affiliate WTVJ in Miami from 1983 to 1992 and hosted a sports talk radio show at WQAM from 1993 to 2009. The show was ranked by Sports Illustrated in 2006 as one of the top dozen radio shows in the country.

Goldberg moved from Miami to Las Vegas in 2018, where he appeared on ESPN’s “Daily Wager” sports betting show and worked for CBS Sports HQ and SportsLine.com. He was still working in June, when he analyzed the Belmont Stakes.

“He loved all of his careers, but he was happiest with a microphone in front of him,” Liz Goldberg said. “Nothing made him happier than that microphone.”

He also competed in the Review-Journal’s NFL Challenge handicapping contest against Las Vegas bookmakers and professional handicappers. He won the contest in his first season with a 50-29-6 ATS record (63.2 percent).

While living in Las Vegas, Goldberg also took part in sports betting seminars hosted by Esposito at Station Casinos for the NFL, college basketball and horse racing.

“Being a young guy in the industry and having the Hammer take you under his wing a little bit, I’ll forever be grateful and truly loved him and the time we had together,” Esposito said. “Being able to hear his stories and talk about sports was priceless to me.”

Goldberg is survived by his sister. Details for a public memorial service will be announced at a later date.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.