Pioneering sportscaster McKay dies at 86
Jim McKay elegantly covered competitions from badminton to barrel jumping. Yet he may best be remembered for that grim day at the Munich Olympics when he broke the news with three simple words: “They’re all gone.”
NEW YORK (AP) — Jim McKay elegantly covered competitions from badminton to barrel jumping. Yet he may best be remembered for that grim day at the Munich Olympics when he broke the news with three simple words: “They’re all gone.”
The groundbreaking sportscaster died Saturday of natural causes at his farm in Monkton, Md. He was 86.
McKay was the one who spanned the globe to bring television viewers the constant variety of sports on ABC’s influential “Wide World of Sports,” where he told of “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.”
It was “Wide World of Sports” that built ABC Sports into a powerhouse after its debut in 1961. The age before ESPN and a constant video loop of highlights was simpler then, and viewers tuned in to see what new kind of competition McKay could find. ABC estimated McKay traveled 4½ million miles on assignment for “Wide World,” covering 40 countries.
Tags: jim, mckay, sports, broadcaster
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