Sportscaster Jim McKay

[Chuck Igo]

of Jim McKay, Bill O noted -


> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080607/ap_en_ce/obit_mckay
>
> Jim McKay has died.  He was 86.  Classy guy and the Olympics coverage has 
> never been as good.
>
> Don't know of McKay's history but I have to assume he cut his teeth on the 
> radio.

Turns out as that as much as one might think Jim McKay cut his teeth on tv 
without pictures, he was a newspaperman turned TV guy - skipping the radio 
thing along the way.  Although I do recall some radio sports pieces along 
the way in the 70's and 80's for ABC Radio, not unlike things Howard Cosell 
did.

http://www.abcmedianet.com/shows05/sports/commentators/mckay.shtml

Jim McKay helped to bring home the stark contrasts of athletic acheivements, 
the good and the bad, without ever going over the top.  He was a consumate 
broadcast pro, able to self-regulate his volume versus emphasis.

In sports, like a youth lacrosse festival I attended today, usually lives 
are not on the line based upon the outcome.  In that one, dark moment of our 
contemporary sports history in Munich, lives were on the line - and Mr. 
McKay was able to keep it cohesive and as clear as possible, even with the 
news that the worst of possible outcomes had occured.

The thrill of victory - the agony of defeat.  8 words that are ingrained on 
the psyches of just about anyone over 30, and were intoned by Jim McKay.

- -Chuck Igo