Don La Greca regrets not fighting for his name on ‘The Michael Kay Show’: ‘I should have threatened to walk’

For over two decades, Don La Greca was 50% of The Michael Kay Show on ESPN Radio in New York, but zero percent of its name.

As important as La Greca was to The Michael Kay Show, and for as many calls questioning why he wasn’t recognized in the title, the station never even thought to give him the Stugotz treatment by tacking his name on to the end. Instead, La Greca was the co-host every listener knew about, but newcomers were surprised to learn of his importance.

La Greca joined his former ESPN New York colleague Brandon Tierney on his YouTube show, BT Unleashed this week, where he was asked about not having his name on the show. And La Greca admitted it’s something he wishes he fought harder for.

“One of the biggest regrets,” La Greca told Tierney. “I brought it up, but I should have been more aggressive about it. I really felt like I got jerked around a lot. Because I would go to management and they’d go ‘yeah, that’s a good point Don. We should do something about it.’ And then nothing would ever get done about it. I’d go to Michael and he would say, ‘my hands are tied, they don’t want to change the name of the show.’  And it just never happened, and I should have been more aggressive. I should have put my foot down.”

La Greca noted he was very happy to be part of the show, they were having success and he didn’t want to cause any friction by making it about him. For the most part, it seems La Greca was able to look past what others may have considered a slight. But at their 20th anniversary show in 2022, a live event at The Palladium in Times Square, Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo made an appearance where he interviewed La Greca, Kay, and Peter Rosenberg on the stage. And Russo called out that he didn’t realize La Greca was such a big part of the show until that night.

“He was on when we’re on,” La Greca said to excuse Russo’s gaffe. “He doesn’t listen to the show consistently. Anybody that listened to the show knew how significant I was on that show. But on the outside looking in, it was The Michael Kay Show.

La Greca may have been brought onto the show as a sidekick nearly a quarter-century ago. But for 95% of The Michael Kay Show’s tenure in afternoon drive, La Greca wasn’t an update anchor, he wasn’t a sidekick, he was a co-host. He doesn’t blame Kay at all for not getting his name on the show. In fact, La Greca gave Kay all the credit for fighting to continue giving him a bigger voice on the show when early program directors sought to make a change. But for as much as his omission from the show title was joked and talked about on-air, it must have been a bit of a shot to the ego, especially in an ego-driven business.

“I blame myself. I should have demanded it,” La Greca admitted. “I should have threatened to walk. I should have fought harder for it. I guess it’s easier to say now because I’ve moved on, and in the moment I probably lacked the confidence…but looking back on it, it’s one of the regrets.”