GMA's Sam Champion leaves fans in disbelief with hunky throwback — see photo


The ABC News meteorologist has anchored for The Weather Channel, NBC's TODAY and even on Live with Kelly and Ryan over his career


Sam Champion attends Good Morning America's 50th Anniversary Celebration on November 03, 2025 in New York City.© Getty Images
Ahad Sanwari
Ahad SanwariSenior Writer - New York
33 minutes ago
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Sam Champion left fans looking way back with his latest Instagram post.

The ABC News meteorologist, 64, took to his social media page with a throwback from his early days with the network, joined by none other than Lee Goldberg.

Sam honored Lee's 30 years with ABC, when he first started substituting for Sam on WABC-TV and Good Morning America, back in 1996. The former actually joined WABC-TV in 1988.

Lee Goldberg (L) and Sam Champion of ABC visit the New York Stock Exchange on November 1, 2012 in New York City.© Getty Images
Sam Champion shared a throwback from his early ABC days with colleague Lee Goldberg

Sam captioned the photo: "Congratulations @leegoldbergabc7 and @abc7ny ! I can't believe it's been 30 years, Lee!" also quipping: "Please no more math."

"Always had fun with you and always proud of your hard work. WOW! I do indeed remember those days you first arrived in the newsroom... (now even in the old building!)."

In the snap, while Lee wore a brown suit with a patterned tie, the GMA anchor opted for a more casual fit, wearing a black sweater that highlighted his muscular physique with light blue jeans, sporting dirty blonde hair.

Sam Champion and Lee Goldberg pose for a photo while working together with WABC-TV 30 years ago, in 1996, shared on Instagram© Instagram
"Always had fun with you and always proud of your hard work."

"My guys," his co-anchor Lara Spencer commented with a heart emoji, with Tory Johnson adding: "Hotties." One fan wrote: "Look at these 2 fly guys!!" with another also saying: "Look at these 2 gorgeous baby boys!! We are fortunate to have you good looking brilliant men to give us the weather scoop!"

ABC7NY also celebrated Lee's milestone anniversary with a then-and-now photo of his, from his first broadcast to his most recent, captioning it on Instagram: "Congratulations to WABC-TV chief meteorologist @leegoldbergabc7, who joined the Eyewitness News team on July 29, 1996, 30 years ago today!"

"Lee, we thank you so much for sharing your talent, passion and dedication for weather with our viewers for 30 eventful years. Here's to many more!"

View post on Instagram
 

Lee, 53, first began his career with WTVH-TV in Syracuse, New York, staying there for two years before he moved to New York City and began his tenure with WABC-TV in July 1996. He started as their weekend forecaster but has since been named their Chief Meteorologist, and also serves as Senior Meteorologist for ABC News as a whole.

Sam, meanwhile, started first anchoring for Good Morning America nearly 20 years after he began with WABC-TV, first taking on the role in 2004. In 2006, he joined ABC News itself, but announced his departure in 2013 to take on a senior broadcasting and managing role with The Weather Channel, joining the likes of Jim Cantore and Al Roker. Ginger Zee succeeded him on ABC.

"This will always be home, but to run to a place that is changing the way we do weather forecasts, and to be around complete weather geeks like me, it's an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," he said on GMA at the time.

(Original Caption) Sam Champion.© Getty Images
Sam joined WABC-TV back in 1988, and was promoted to GMA's weather anchor in 2004

During that time, he'd briefly also report for NBC's TODAY and Live with Kelly and Ryan. But in 2016, Sam and The Weather Channel decided not to renew their contract, with the former permanently returning to ABC and GMA in 2016, where he has remained since.

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