I saw a documentary on the 1972 Munich Tragedy and what happened behind the scenes at ABC while it was going on....Cosell and a young reporter named Peter Jennings were eyewitnessing what was going on relaying back to Roone Arledge who fed the information back to McKay in the studio.
McKay was just amazing, in conveying the emotions, still tear up when I think of those words he said, “They’re all gone.”
And yet the IOC doesn’t want to commemorate what happened.
McKay was just amazing, in conveying the emotions, still tear up when I think of those words he said, “They’re all gone.”
And yet the IOC doesn’t want to commemorate what happened.
Munich '72 is seared into my memory . . . Mark Spitz, Olga Korbut, Matthews and Collett goofing off during the Star Spangled Banner, Dave Wottle forgetting to remove his golf cap during his gold medal ceremony, Frank Shorter winning the Marathon but unaware because of the guy ahead of him (some guy who jumped in at about the last mile) and the crowd booing while Eric Segal was having a cow on the mic, the US vs. USSR men's basketball final . . . but most of all the terrible attack by those pieces of slime that marred the games forever. I recall the memorial service during the 24-hour suspension, the frequent cutting to the Israeli flag at half staff and my thinking that I bet the Arab and Communist countries didn't regret it one bit.
Yes, Jim McKay was unforgettable. And Howard Cosell pulled no punches in describing Black Semptember as "an offshoot of the Palestine Liberation Organization." Of course, as a typical Jewish liberal of the time, he attacked the new Black countries South Africa was setting up as frauds, without realizing the irony of attacking the PLO and condemning South Africa simultaneously.
As I understand it, Jennings was very pro-"palestinian" and was fond of "palestinian" women (being the lover at one point of PLO spokescreature Hannan Ashrawi). I've also heard that until the end of his life he never referred to the monsters who did this as "terrorists" but always as "guerrillas."