I met Jim McKay for the first time at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y., where I was among 100 production assistants and researchers who ABC hired to work the games.
When I introduced myself to McKay, I handed him a package of notes to assist his broadcast. He asked me where I was from, and if this was my first Olympics.
We spent 15 minutes talking, just me and possibly the greatest broadcaster who ever graced the television screen.
But we didn?t talk about sports. We talked about, well, me. He wanted to know what I wanted to do in the television business.
Here?s the advice I remember most from a man who always urged young people to get into the business: Good things will come your way if you always work hard.
McKay, who died at age 86 in his Monkton home on Saturday was Baltimore?s favorite son, but he belonged to the world.
His son, Sean McManus, the president of CBS News and Sports, said his peers and colleagues regularly talk about his dad, the man who brought the world into their homes, often for the first time.
“Because of the profession I?m in, not a day goes by when someone doesn?t stop me and say ?We think of him all the time? and ?We admire him,?” McManus said. “That tells you a lot about the kind of man he was.”
Dick Ebersol, Chairman of NBC Universal Sports & Olympics, worked with McKay at ABC for eight years starting as a 19-year-old researcher, said McKay was the standard.
“He was truly the most respected and admired sportscaster of his generation and defined how the stories of sports can and should be covered,” he said. “While we all know what an absolute titan he was in his chosen field, I will always remember him as an extraordinary human being guided by a strong moral compass. He was the best husband to his wife, an extraordinary father to his own children and for all of us who had the privilege to grow up around him as boys, he helped shape us into men.”
Al Michaels, who worked with McKay at ABC, agreed: “Jim?s the personification of class and style. His enthusiasm permeated every event he covered and thus always made it far more interesting. I always thought of him as my favorite teacher.”
Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer. Check out his blog, Watch this! on www.examiner.com
