Rest in Peace, Jim McKay.

Most people know him as the ABC sportscaster known for hosting the longrunning “Wide World of Sports” series, and for being the prime voice of the Olympic Games while they were covered by ABC.

We here at the USRT tend to see things a little differently, on terms that we know best. Hence the title of this post.

McKay was the first widely traveled sportscaster in history as his career began to rise as the use of television broadcasts via satellites became common. Week in and week out, one would tune into “Wide World of Sports” to see McKay broadcasting from some part of the world covering just about any sport in existence from just about anywhere on the planet. Whether it be an Olympic Games in Austria, being one of the first sportscasters let into Communist China, or covering a mainstream event like the Indy 500 it would be a real treat to find out exactly where on Earth McKay would be that week.

McKay traveled about five million miles in the quest to bring sports from around the globe home to the average person who would never get to see such places or in some cases, such sports. And did so with an enormous amount of class and dignity. In the words of Jeremy Schaap “Unfailingly, he treated the barrel jumpers and cliff divers and bicycle polo players with the same respect he afforded Mario Andretti and Mark Spitz and Bill Shoemaker. ”

And he was, and always will be for folks of my generation and up the defining voice of the Olympic Games, as it seemed like he was there calling every big event that occured on a quadrennial basis. And his finest moment as a broadcaster took place in 1972 with his eloquent handling of the horrible hostage tragedy at Munich.

Thank You, Jim. Happy travels where ever you may be now.

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