Jim McKay: 1921-2008

Jim McKay, the veteran and eloquent sportscaster thrust into the role of telling Americans about the tragedy at the 1972 Munich Olympics, died Saturday, June 7, 2008, of natural causes at his farm in Monkton, Md. He was 86.

ABC Sports commentator Jim McKay, shown June 23, 1964, was born James Kenneth McManus. A veteran of the U.S. Navy in World War II, he began his broadcasting career in 1947 as the first on-air television broadcaster in Baltimore, Md. He later worked on a CBS variety show in New York before joining ABC Sports. He covered 12 Olympics and was the first sportscaster to win an Emmy Award. He won 12, the last in 1988.

Jim McKay was host of ABC's influential "Wide World of Sports" for more than 40 years, starting in 1961. McKay's career spanned more than half a century. He crisscrossed the globe... bringing the thrill of victory and agony of defeat into America's living rooms. ABC calculated that McKay traveled some 4

Jim McKay's finest hours may have been the 16 straight he broadcast during the Munich Summer Olympics hostage crisis in 1972. He was the anchor when events turned grim with the news that Palestinian terrorists kidnapped 11 Israeli athletes. It was left to McKay to tell Americans when a commando raid to rescue the athletes ended in tragedy. "They're all gone," he said.

ABC sportscaster Jim McKay is shown in 1984. On June 10, 2008, relatives, friends and colleagues remembered McKay, born James Kenneth McManus, as a man who, despite his globe-trotting TV persona, longed for the simple pleasures of home and the company of his wife, Margaret; his son, Sean; his daughter, Mary Edwina; and his three grandchildren.

CBS News and Sports President Sean McManus give the thumbs up sign after telling a story about his father, Jim McKay, during a funeral mass for the veteran sportscaster, Tuesday, June 10, 2008, at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore. McKay died June 6 at age 86.

Jim McKay's wife Margaret comforts her grandson, James Fontelieu, during a memorial service for the veteran sportscaster, Tuesday, June 10, 2008, at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore. "He taught me how to drive a car and how to drive a golf ball," Fontelieu, McKay's oldest grandson, said through tears. "He was my best friend."

Former ABC sports commentator and world driving champion Jackie Stewart delivers remarks during a memorial service for veteran sportscaster Jim McKay, Tuesday, June 10, 2008, at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore. Stewart said: "He was the first man I spoke to when I got in the car -- the first man I spoke to when I got out of the car."

CBS sportscaster Jim Nantz delivers remarks during a memorial service for veteran sportscaster Jim McKay, Tuesday, June 10, 2008, at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore. Said Nantz: "To millions of Americans, Mr. McKay was a poet; he was a storyteller; he was a modern-day explorer. He would take us all over the world, introducing us to people and to sport with his usual out-of-breath enthusiasm."

The body of veteran sportscaster Jim McKay is led out of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen Tuesday, June 10, 2008, in Baltimore. About 200 people filled the pews of the cavernous cathedral for the funeral of McKay, the venerable host of ABC's "Wide World of Sports" who died on June 7 at his Maryland farm. He was 86.

Sportscasters Al Michaels, left, and Jackie Stewart talk following a funeral mass for colleague Jim McKay, Tuesday, June 10, 2008, in Baltimore. McKay, who mentored and inspired many of today's broadcasters, died June 6 at age 86.