Goodbye Jim Mckay

Some kids idolize athletes, others, idolize actors or musicians, I idolize sportscasters. The sportscaster that I grew up with and idolize is Jim McKay. Jim died this past weekend at his home in Maryland at the age of 86. Jim was the voice of ABC’s Wide World of Sports for the better part of my youth. It was not Saturday without Jim McKay “Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport… the thrill of victory… and the agony of defeat… the human drama of athletic competition.” Do you remember the first sports event on Wide World of Sports when it debuted on April 29, 1961? Answer later. Jim was also the voice of the Olympics during my youth. I remember watching the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and marveling at the way Jim told the story of the athletes for around the world. You know it was a big event when Jim McKay was on the spot. As I grew up I have come to appreciate the work Jim did at the 1972 Olympics in Munich when eight Arab commandos slipped into the Olympic Village, killing two Israeli team members and seized nine others as hostages. Early the next morning, all nine were killed in a shootout between the terrorists and West German police at a military airport. Jim was on air for 12 hours straight updating the American people of the story. The amazing thing is Jim was not the host of ABC’s Olympic coverage; Chris Schenkel was the host of ABC’s Prime Time coverage, and Jim was on an off day when he got the call to anchor the unfonding tragedy.

Thank you Jim for the memories, you will be missed. God speed Mr.. McKay, there isn’t and never will be any one like you.

The week ahead

This weekend is the second major of the Golf year, the “US Open” at Torrey Pines in San Diego. Torrey Pines is the longest course in major championship history. The story is that this is Tiger Woods first tournament since knee surgery. In the first two rounds he will be paired with Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott, which will be very interesting.

The coverage starts on Thursday with ESPN at 1PM to 3PM then NBC takes over until 4PM then ESPN is back for 5PM until 10PM, with the same schedule on Friday. On Saturday NBC has coverage from 4PM to 10PM. On Father’s Day Sunday, it’s on NBC from 3PM to 9PM. Enjoy, Primetime golf should be fun.

The answer to my trivia question is the Drake Relays and the Penn Relays. Jim hosted the show from the Penn Relays. Both are by the way, Track and Field meets.

Talk to you all in a few weeks, I’M off to Las Vegas for a vacation with my dad for Father’s day.

Good night and Good luck.
Jamie