Synopsis
The veteran sportscaster known as the anchorman of ABC-TV's "Wide World of Sports" and eleven Olympics recounts the greatest sporting events of his career and his own achievements
Reviews
YA-In this entertaining overview of his life and career, McKay shares his personal views and memories of the many notable events he witnessed, thus adding a human touch to the facts. From his first assignment as a reporter for the Baltimore Evening Sun, he progressed to TV, first with his own show, The Real McKay, then eventually on to Wide World of Sports. This book is a sampling of his experiences; highlights include glimpses of successful golfers, the Triple Crown horserace, and a series of comments on the many Olympic Games he has covered, including the tragedy in Munich in 1972. Readers learn a great deal about the rigors of travel for a sportscaster, and see McKay's love of sports and broadcasting.
Catherine Charvat, King's Park Library, Burke, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Longtime host of ABC-TV's Wide World of Sports, McKay has been reporting sports for 50 years and in this anecdotal autobiography conveys to readers "the joy of victory and the agony of defeat." Born Jim McManus in Philadelphia, he enjoyed a happy childhood surrounded by loving relatives. After duty in the Navy in WWII, he got a job as a police reporter on the Baltimore Evening Sun, which soon acquired a TV station where McManus became an on-air personality covering everything from wrestling to religion. It was in Baltimore that he met his wife, Margaret, and soon Manhattan beckoned with a variety show on CBS-TV called The Real McKay, forcing McManus to change his name. Soon he was acting in a courtroom drama called The Verdict Is Yours, but was dissatisfied with his career. It was at this point he suffered a nervous breakdown. He is candid in discussing this as well as his difficult recovery. In 1961, at the behest of Roone Arledge, he moved to ABC-TV to anchor Wide World of Sports, originally scheduled to be only a summer replacement show. McKay discusses the many Olympics he has covered and rates his top events, with number one being the victory of the U.S. Olympic hockey team over the Russians in 1980. He also rates his favorite golfers, jockeys, race horses and racing car drivers. His minute-by-minute replay of the tragic events at the 1972 Olympics in Munich where Israeli athletes were slaughtered by Arab terrorists is the most gripping chapter in the book. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Broadcaster McKay tells his story in a voice grown familiar from 30 years of ABCs Wide World of Sports and 11 Olympic Games: unfailingly charming, friendly, noncombative. McKay grew up in Philadelphia and began his career as a police reporter for the Baltimore Evening Sun, doing the odd radio or television spot. His 11-year stint with CBS in New York covering sports eventsfrom roller derbies to horse raceswasnt altogether happy; indeed, the period culminated with a good old-fashioned nervous breakdown in 1960. While covering the 1961 Masters Tournament, he got a call from ABCs Roone Arledge asking if he would be interested in hosting a summer replacement show covering a number of sports not normally seen on TV. The show became the Wide World of Sports, still going strong. McKay decries the fact that the show would eventually become dominated by boxinga sport he detestsand by the likes of daredevil Evel Knievel. But it is for his hosting of 11 summer and winter Olympic Games that McKay is best remembered, especially for his extraordinary coverage of the 1972 games at Munich when the Black September terrorists murdered 11 Israeli athletes. Theyre all gone, he intoned wearily, creating one of the saddest, most memorable moments in broadcast history. McKay devotes space to each of the Olympics he reported, from the 1960 Rome Olympics to the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. There are few surprises among the heroes he chooses to remember: Peggy Fleming, Bob Beamon, Bill Toomey, Franz Klammer, Bruce Jenner, Nadia Comaneci, Eric Heiden, Bill Johnson, etc. And his McKay Rating for the Best Golf Pro (Jack Nicklaus), Best Jockey (Bill Shoemaker), Best Race Car Driver (Jackie Stewart), and so on, wont raise many arguments. But its nice to read his thoughts on them. A pleasant walk down memory lane with a genuinely decent man. (16 pages photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Who can ever forget McKay's somber broadcast of the Munich Massacre, when the Israeli team was murdered at the 1972 Olympics? It was this terrible event that helped establish McKay's solid reputation for news and sports reporting. The irony is that McKay candidly admits to promoting the positive side of sports. Here, McKay tells of his 50-year career, taking a look at the variety of sporting events he's covered, including golf, tennis, horse racing, stock-car racing, skiing, and more. Above all, this is an inside look at network television by one of the guiding lights of ABC's Wide World of Sports. Recommended.?Paul M. Kaplan, Lake Villa District Lib., Ill.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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