Sportscaster Jim McKay, 86
Posted: Saturday, June 7th, 2008 2:11 pmJim McKay elegantly covered competitions from badminton to barrel jumping. Yet he may best be remembered for that grim day at the Munich Olympics when he broke the news with three simple words: “They’re all gone.”
The groundbreaking sportscaster died Saturday of natural causes at his farm in Monkton, Md. He was 86.
McKay was the one who spanned the globe to bring television viewers the constant variety of sports on ABC’s influential “Wide World of Sports,” where he told of “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.”
A far different kind of agony awaited in 1972 when word came down in Munich that Palestinian terrorists had kidnapped 11 Israeli athletes. McKay was summoned from a day off, hurriedly putting clothes over a bathing suit to anchor ABC’s coverage of the drama as the games stood still. …
The New York Yankees paused to remember McKay before their game Saturday. He died hours before Big Brown attempted to earn a Triple Crown at the Belmont Stakes in McKay’s favorite sport of all, horse racing. … Read full obituary
