Television sports journalist Jim McKay has died of natural causes in Maryland, according to a statement from the McKay family.
McKay is best known for hosting "ABC's Wide World of Sports" and 12 Olympic Games.
McKay won numerous awards for journalism, including the George Polk Memorial Award and two Emmys -- one for his sports coverage, the other for his news reporting -- for his work at the 1972 Munich Olympics, which were tragically affected by the Black September terrorists' attack on the Israeli athletes in the Olympic Village.
A veteran of the U.S. Navy in World War II, McKay was the first on-air television broadcaster seen in Baltimore. McKay was the first sportscaster to win an Emmy Award. He won 12, the last in 1988. ABC calculated that McKay traveled some 4 1/2 million miles to work events. He covered more than 100 different sports in 40 countries.
Jim McKay
Photo courtesy of Jim McKay
