ABC Sports' Emmy-winning exec producer Jack O'Hara, his wife
and their 13-year old daughter were aboard TWA Flight 800 that
crashed off Long Island. O'Hara was on his last assignment for
the network, overseeing coverage of the final weekend of this
year's Tour de France. He had resigned on Wednesday. O'Hara
leaves behind twin sons, Brian and Matthew (INSIDE MEDIA, 7/19).
O'Hara was named Exec Producer of ABC Sports in April '91 and
supervised "Monday Night Football," "Wide World of Sports," the
World Series and other events. He joined ABC in '83. ABC Chair
Bob Iger: "We lost a trusted friend" (Raissman & Simmons, N.Y.
DAILY NEWS, 7/19). ABC Sports Dir of Media Relations Mark
Mandel: "It's a surreal atmosphere at ABC Sports and at the
network. No one believes it actually happened. It's been a
nightmare" (Bill Fleischman, PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 7/19). ABC
Sports President Dennis Swanson: "He was honest, fair, a good
man, such a quality human being who represented himself and his
company very, very well" (Rudy Martzke, USA TODAY, 7/19). N.Y.
POST columnist Phil Mushnick called O'Hara "a rare breed of TV
person: a man without an angle. ... He smiled easily, naturally,
without effort, and you liked him instantly, without effort"
(N.Y. POST, 7/19).
