Tom Llamas’ 11-WORD Phone Call STUNS After Taking Over for Lester Holt on NBC Nightly News.
BEHIND THE SCENES: The Unexpected Message That Has Everyone Talking.
What Did He Say—And Who Was On the Other End? The Surprising Truth Awaits

After Tom Llamas was named the replacement for Lester Holt on NBC’s Nightly News, the 45-year-old called someone important to him to relay the news

Tom Llamas made an important phone call after becoming anchor of Nightly News(Image: Scott Gries/NBCUniversal via Get)
Tom Llamas was named the Nightly News anchor after Lester Holt stepped down, and he had to call the person who made him what he is today.

The new news anchor of NBC’s Nightly News was announced to take over for Holt in March of this year. Holt announced he was stepping down from his role on Nightly News a month prior.

Llamas became the first Latino journalist to host the weeknight edition of Nightly News. He is also the anchor of Top Story and NBC News Now, both on the NBC network. After receiving the job, Llamas called Jesuit Father Guillermo García-Tuñón, the rector and president of Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in Miami, Florida, where Llamas attended high school.

“Tom is very devoted to the school and engaged,” García-Tuñón said in a chat with America Magazine.

Tom Llamas’ first call was to the rector of his high school(Image: Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)
“As soon as he found out he was named the successor to Lester Holt and named the new chair of ‘NBC Nightly News,’ the first phone call he made was to Belen. He wanted me to know because he said ‘so much of what I am today is because of Belen,’ and I was very humbled to know that,” he said.

Llamas himself confirmed his love for his school in an email interview with the magazine. “I’d say Belen really set me on my career path. It was a tough school academically, and it was also super competitive — in class, in sports, in clubs — you name it,” he said.

“That environment pushed me to always do my best,” he added. Llamas followed up the phone call with a visit to the school, according to García-Tuñón. He then had a “fireside chat” and a meet and greet with the student body.

After the newscaster attended Belen, he went to Loyola University New Orleans in Louisiana and earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism and another degree in drama and speech.

Holt gave his blessing to the 45-year-old replacement, telling Llamas, “There will be more demands than you’ve ever experienced. You have to protect your time and prioritize what truly matters. That advice has already proven true.”