ABC Icon Jim McKay dies at 86

[RicoGregg]

ABC announced his passing early Saturday morning. The announcement said his death came following "a long illness".

In addition to his legendary Olympics coverage, McKay hosted "ABC's Wide World of Sports" for decades.

He was suddenly thrust into the role of a news anchor, providing marathon coverage of the hostage taking of Israeli athletes and subsequent massacre by Palestinian terrorists.

He informed much of the world that the hostages died by saying "That's it. They're gone."

McKay was the father of CBS News & Sports president Sean McManus.

 

[Stanislav]

The full quote:

"...our greatest hopes and our worst fears are seldom realized. Our worst fears have been realized tonight. They’ve now said that there were eleven hostages; two were killed in their rooms yesterday morning, nine were killed at the airport tonight. They’re all gone."

I've probably seen that clip 50 or 60 times (the first when it aired live), and it still sends a chill down my spine. If it does not do likewise for anyone seeing his face and hearing the haunting, plaintive tone in his voice, then they need to seriously question their humanity.

R.I.P., Jim. Thanks for the rodeos and cliff diving and all the other oddball things on WWOS that you entertained me with in my youth, and for your very sensitive reporting of a terrible tragedy.

 

[Ultimajock]

...an interesting point to consider is that, just before McKay's announcement, I was listening to Radio Nederland's English-language afternoon shortwave broadcast from Holland to North America and they stated that the hostages at the airport were actually saved...

 

[RicoGregg]

Stanislav's correction is right on the mark.

There was never a better sports anchor than Jim McKay. He got a well-deserved Emmy for his coverage from Munich. His anchoring of the Lake Placid Winter Games in 1980 was incredible. It's hard to find any fault in anything he did.

I think it would be most appropriate if ABC, the IOC, or perhaps the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (the Emmys) found something to name after him.

 

[bpatrick]

I can't add to what everyone has said about
McKay's coverage of the tragedy in Munich; he
was as professional as you could possibly want.

But on a lighter note I got a laugh Sunday; my
dad and I were watching the St. Jude golf tournament
on CBS, and they did a retrospective on McKay's career,
including a clip of him and (I believe) Arnold Palmer at
the Masters from around 1960. My dad turned to me
and said, "I didn't know ABC ever carried the Masters."
I had to explain that they didn't, that CBS is the only
major broadcast network to carry it (since 1956), and
that McKay was at CBS at the time and was also hosting
the daytime courtroom show "The Verdict Is Yours."
Roone Arledge hired McKay for ABC in 1961 and the rest,
as they say, is history.

It has occurred to me that, in the last 15 years, ABC has
lost McKay, Howard Cosell, Chris Schenkel, Bill Flemming,
and (I guess you could count him since he did AFL football
in the early '60s plus "The American Sportsman") Curt Gowdy.
Keith Jackson is still there but he's 80 years old, and I don't
know if they're even using Frank Gifford. The most familiar
face I recognized during the Belmont coverage Saturday was
Brent Musburger; since I don't watch ESPN much I scarcely
recognized anyone except Kenny Mayne.

I think ABC ought to relinquish its claim that it is "recognized
around the world as the leader in sports television." Not only
has it lost so many superstar announcers, it hardly pursues
big events anymore.