There are men and women of a certain age in America for whom Jim McKay is synonymous with sports broadcasting. I am a man of that age.
He was a poet in a field in which many aspire to poetry, and few succeed.
He popularized many sports which theretofore gained little attention.
His humane coverage of the hostage-taking of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games did perhaps more than anything to legitimize sports reporters as legitimate in his profession.
His "thrill of victory, agony of defeat" introduction of ABC's Wide World of Sports will be the defining sports introduction of his age, perhaps the defining introduction of his age.
Jim McKay, RIP.
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