McKay Honored At Funeral With Stories Of On-Air Work, Family
Late sportscaster JIM MCKAY's funeral was held in Baltimore yesterday, and the occasion featured stories about "his on-air work, writing skills and modesty," and "more than anything, the tales pointed toward home and family," according to Richard Sandomir of the N.Y. TIMES. CBS News and Sports President SEAN MCMANUS, McKay's son, said, "Not a man on this Earth loved a woman more than he loved his wife." Former ABC Sports Exec Producer GEOFF MASON eulogized McKay and "what used to be ABC Sports, with a list of dead announcers, producers, directors and executives -- the ABC Sports Alumni Memorial Hall of Fame, he called it." The audience of "several hundred" included Disney President & CEO BOB IGER, NBC Sports & Olympics Chair DICK EBERSOL, NBC's AL MICHAELS and BOB COSTAS, CBS' KATIE COURIC and Orioles Owner PETER ANGELOS (N.Y. TIMES, 6/11). Ushers at the funeral "estimated 500 people attended the service," and BEETHOVEN's "Ode To Joy," a "recurring musical theme of the Olympic Games, accompanied the pallbearers escorting McKay's casket." McManus at the funeral said his family is "totally overwhelmed by the amount of affection shown my dad." McManus also "told tales of his father's sense of humor." Michaels said, "Jim McKay made the Olympics. He was so human. I've always said he combined tremendous intellect with a big, great heart." Ebersol said of McKay and late ABC News and ABC Sports President ROONE ARLEDGE, "They believed in the Olympics as being this incredible unifying force. And I think they were the first to really make the entire production of the Olympics be about really getting to know the various competitors, without a sense of where they were from." Ebersol added of McKay, "Of all the superstars I've dealt with, whether in sports or news or entertainment over 40 years, he was by far the best human being" (AROUNDTHERINGS.com, 6/10).
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