AP
June 8, 2008
Jim McKay, the eloquent sportscaster who was thrust into the role of telling Americans of tragedy at the 1972 Munich Olympics, died yesterday at 87.
McKay died of natural causes at his farm in Monkton, Md.
He was host of ABC's influential "Wide World of Sports" for more than 40 years, starting in 1961.
McKay voiced the opening, in which viewers were reminded of the show's mission ("spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sports") and what lay ahead ("the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat").
McKay also covered 12 Olympics, but none more memorably than the Summer Games in Munich, Germany. He was the anchor when Palestinian terrorists kidnapped 11 Israeli athletes. It was left to McKay to tell Americans that the athletes were slain.
"They're all gone," McKay said.
