1987 – Jim McKay
Born James Kenneth McManus, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on September
24, 1921, sportscasting legend Jim Mckay won 13 Emmys during his
outstanding career. He is best remembered for his coverage of the
Olympic Games, and as host of “Wide World of Sports.” Mckay’s career
began as a police reporter for the Baltimore Evening Sun, in 1946,
before he moved to the newspapers new television station, WMAR-TV, in
1947. Mckay was the stations first on-air personality, and his voice was
the first one ever heard on television in Baltimore. In 1950, Mckay
left Baltimore to join CBS, in New York, and over the next decade he
worked for WCBS-TV and CBS as a weatherman, public affairs moderator,
game show host, and sportscaster. His sports coverage included the
Masters Golf Tournament, Ivy League Football, and doing sports reports
for the “Morning Show.” Then in 1960, Mckay covered his first Olympics
when he covered the Rome Summer Olympics. In 1961, Mckay was offered a
position at ABC as the host of a new show called “Wide World of Sports,”
he went on to host the show for 25 years. At ABC, Mckay continued to
cover the Olympic Games, during his career he covered 10, culminating
with coverage of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Among his
most famous Olympic broadcasts, was his continuous 16 hour coverage of
the terrorist attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics. For his coverage of
this event he won two Emmy Awards. Mckay died in 2008. He was inducted
into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame on April
7, 1987.