Posted on 06/07/2008 1:12:31 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
NEW YORK -- Jim McKay, the veteran and eloquent sportscaster thrust into the role of telling Americans about the tragedy at the 1972 Munich Olympics, has died. He was 86.
McKay died Saturday of natural causes at his farm in Monkton, Md. The broadcaster who considered horse racing his favorite sport died only hours before Big Brown attempted to win a Triple Crown at the Belmont Stakes.
"There are not many men who achieved what Jim McKay achieved both professionally and personally," said Sean McManus, McKay's son and the president of CBS News and Sports. "He had a flawless reputation and was a legendary figure in the history of sports television. However, with all his achievements the most important thing in his life was his family."
"Jim McKay was the broadcasting hero of my youth," CBS broadcaster Jim Nantz said. "I hung on to his every word and wrote him letters when I was a kid.
"I feel like one of the greatest joys of my life was having the chance to get to know him as a friend and father figure. There will never be anyone who can match his genuine, heartfelt delivery of a story. His kindness and warmth came through on every telecast. A true reflection of one of the greatest gentlemen the world will ever know."
McKay was host of ABC's influential Wide World of Sports for more than 40 years, starting in 1961. The weekend series introduced viewers to all manner of strange, compelling and far-flung sports events.
McKay also covered 12 Olympics, but none more memorably than the Summer Games in Munich, Germany. He was the anchor when events turned grim with the news that Palestinian terrorists kidnapped 11 Israeli athletes. It was left to McKay to tell Americans when a commando raid to rescue the athletes ended in tragedy.
"They're all gone," McKay said.
He won both a news and sports Emmy Award for his coverage of the Munich Olympics in addition to the prestigious George Polk award.
"In the long run, that's the most memorable single moment of my career," said McKay, an Emmy Award-winning broadcaster who was also in the studio for the United States' "Miracle on Ice" victory over Russia. "I don't know what else would match that."
A veteran of the U.S. Navy in World War II, McKay was the first on-air television broadcaster seen in Baltimore. He worked at CBS Sports briefly, but did his most memorable work at ABC Sports when it dominated the business under leader Roone Arledge.
"He had a remarkable career and a remarkable life," McManus said. "Hardly a day goes by when someone doesn't come up to me and say how much they admired my father."
McKay was the first sportscaster to win an Emmy Award. He won 12, the last in 1988. ABC calculated that McKay traveled some 4½ million miles to work events. He covered more than 100 different sports in 40 countries.
"There are no superlatives that can adequately honor Jim McKay," said George Bodenheimer, president of ESPN and ABC Sports. "He meant so much to so many people. He was a founding father of sports television, one of the most respected commentators in the history of broadcasting and journalism."
Rest in peace. I remember his distinctive voice on ABC’s Wide World Of Sports.
Another of our World War II veterans has passed, as well. We are losing so many every day.
simply the best....now my father can talk sports with someone up there.....
(A tribute to his words while covering the 1972 Munich Olympic tragedy, "They're all gone.")
One of the most bone-chilling things ever said on TV. McKay thought the athletes were saved, then found out they were all massacred.
Rest in peace, Jim.
Rest in Peace, Mr. McKay, and thank you for using your God-given gifts up to their full potential.
He never got in the way of a great sports story....I always felt like he was one of us.
Jim McKay was active in politics, and a committed Democrat.
I respect this, because I never knew it until much later. It used to be no matter what your political proclivities were, you didn’t let them interfere with your relationship with your public. I never had to listen to him making snide jokes about me and my political beliefs.
Contrast him with Olbermann, a sportscaster whose hatred of conservatives brings vileness into everything he does.
Jim McKay on ABC introduced me to many enjoyable sports. I will miss him.
Jim McKay, Curt Gowdy, Chris Schenkel and the like were the class of sports broadcasting when I was a kid.
Yep. He didn’t seem to have some of the signature phrases that others did, but he always “called it” fairly and professionally.
Always be remember for his opening line: “the thrill of victory,....and the agony of defeat.”
Unfortunately today's leftists have to be so much in your face with their politics.
I remember him most as an Olympic announcer. What was not to like. RIP sir.
As a ‘70s sports fan, McKay was part of my everyday life. Even though I don’t give a damn about pro sports anymore, my wonderful memories of McKay’s broadcasts from the fields of my youth will always bring a smile.
Next to the late Cosell, he was the best ever. Rest in Peace.
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