Obit: Jim McKay--Wide World of Sports

Subject: BS: Obit: Jim McKay--Wide World of Sports
From: catspaw49
Date: 07 Jun 08 - 11:41 AM

Yeah, I know a lot of you could give a crap less and this isn't a sports site, but for what its worth.........
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Sad News - Jim McKay: Jim McKay, 86, a longtime television sports journalist, has died of natural causes in Maryland, according to a statement from the McKay family. McKay is best known for hosting "ABC's Wide World of Sports" and 12 Olympic Games. McKay won numerous awards for journalism, including the George Polk Memorial Award and two Emmys -- one for his sports coverage, the other for his news reporting -- for his work at the 1972 Munich Olympics, which were tragically affected by the Black September terrorists' attack on the Israeli athletes in the Olympic Village. In 1988, McKay was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. In 1968, McKay won the first of his 13 Emmy Awards, becoming the first sports commentator to receive that honor. McKay was the first American network sports commentator to visit mainland China. In 1991, he visited Cuba to interview Fidel Castro. McKay was with "ABC's Wide World of Sports" since its inception in April 1961. Jim McManus (McKay's real name) was born in Philadelphia on September 24, 1921, and moved to Baltimore when he was 15.(ESPN.com)(6-7-2008)
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Jim McKay and the WWoS program changed a lot of the provinciality of sports in the US. As a sports reporter he did a good job and always seemed to have his audience in mind. He was the common man who loved sports and often asked the questions other common men would have asked. Wide World itself took us to some great and not-so-great events but at its heart always opened our eyes that there might be more than baseball and football and basketball. Hell, if nothing else the phrase "The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat" has become a part of the language.

I can also vividly remember the 1972 Munich Olympics and Jim McKay being pressed into service to cover more than any light duty sports guy had ever seen.......and he did a very fine job in a tough situation. As the day went up and down and back and forth he became excited and concerned and sad and hopeful as the changing events went on just as we did at home. He was as always, the common man on the scene.

He ended late that night saying, "They're all gone," and now he is as well. Thanks for a life well lived and a job well done.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: Jim McKay--Wide World of Sports
From: Sorcha
Date: 07 Jun 08 - 12:03 PM

Sad, I enjoyed his comenntary a lot. Was it his voice for the 'agony of defeat'? No matter how many times I watched the opening segment of Wide World, I never got used to seeing that one clip of the ski jumper wrecking.

Subject: RE: BS: Obit: Jim McKay--Wide World of Sports
From: katlaughing
Date: 07 Jun 08 - 03:31 PM

I remember him! Sad to hear of his passing and I am glad you started this thread, Pat. Thanks.

Subject: RE: Obit: Jim McKay--Wide World of Sports
From: Greg B
Date: 07 Jun 08 - 09:46 PM

I think from the age of 5 years or so, my grand-dad and I (with
whom I spent every Saturday, because my parents very wisely
realized that a day a week with a jack-of-all-trades who could
do anything with his hands was time worth spending) would come
in from the day's projects and watch Wide World of Sports before
dinner.

Back then, they covered stuff nobody else did... skiing, track,
hurling, aerobatics, cliff-diving: You just never knew what you'd see
from week to week.

There were other "agonies of defeat" before the ski-jumper--- such
as the pole-vaulter who screws the pooch and ends up in a face-plant.

ABC's main-line sports went into that slot as well--- I think there
was more than one Cassius Clay fight shown on it, to say nothing
of Howard Cosell's interviews (and even fisticuffs) with Muhammed
Ali, always with the WWS trademark.