With an understated grace and eloquence, McKay brought the world of sports, "The Wide World of Sports" to be precise, to viewers who had been primarily weaned on baseball and football. He was the first to tell the personal story of athletes, piquing our interest in the cliff diver in Mexico or the race car driver from England.
And when the sporting world experienced its most horrific moment, the 1972 Israeli massacre at the Munich Olympics, it was McKay who guided us through the ordeal with impeccable clarity and restraint.
Legendary sportscaster Jim McKay dies
It's tempting to call him an example of a bygone age of sportscasting, but I think that McKay's qualities were really timeless. There are very few sportscasters in any era who truly can be said to also be journalists. Al Michaels and Bob Costas are two that come to mind in the present, but the truth is that a truly intellectual approach to covering sports is a rare thing.
He'll be missed - every time I watch sports on ABC, I'll bet.
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