Notebook: Remembering Jim McKay

Armen Keteyian Honors The Voice That Carried TV Viewers Through Thrills And Agony

(CBS)  This reporter's notebook was written by CBS News correspondent Armen Keteyian.

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Jim McKay was a hero of mine.

I can’t count the number of Saturday and Sunday afternoons I spent watching "Wide World of Sports," or golf, football, you name it, drawn in by his elegant grace and unpredictable, what-the-hell-I’ll-try-it style.

Like so many of my generation, I heard McKay before I ever saw him, and it was the words that drew me in. He didn’t so much tell stories as paint pictures.

It was a strong, clear, eloquent voice, one that when you finally “met” seemed to match the man.

Over much of the '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s, I followed that voice all over the world, spanning the globe, spinning stories for ABC Sports, bringing all manner of odd athletic endeavors (Luge! Barrel jumping! Demolition derby!) to "Wide World of Sports," while remaining cool, calm and collected as TV host of ten Olympic Games.

Nobody who lived through the Black September attack in Munich during the 1972 Summer Olympics will forget what McKay meant to a nation. How hour after endless hour - under the enormous pressure of live television - he never once strayed into hype or hysteria, holding our collective hands as we pondered the fate of 11 Israeli athletes.

And when he finally found out, and told us they were gone, all gone, well, you never forget words like that, or the man who carried them into your home.

Upon learning I had written an appreciation for tonight’s Evening News, more than a few people walked up and offered sympathies believing I was close to McKay. The fact is, I’d only met him a couple of times in passing.

But I was a dear friend, a lover one might say, of his words, and the path they blazed for several generations of broadcast journalists.

Today, there are far more screamers than commentators, a trend I trust he’d find regrettable. Perhaps the stories surrounding the death of this legend, at age 86, will serve to do what all those Saturday and Sunday afternoons did for me - inspire the next generation of broadcast journalists to model at least some of their ways after Jim McKay.

[samsond1]

From the first time you heard Jim McKay, you thought you knew him. For a generation of us, he took us on his adventures with him and introduced us to people and places we''ve never seen or heard of. He was our teacher and our friend.

[j_flood]

First, let me express my condolences to the McManus family for their loss.

I remember Jim McKay from some old 50s court TV show as the ''court reporter''. Thank goodness he sought out sports for his career - he made sports a part of journalism. His demeanor was always positive and classy. His delivery always ''just enough'' not to spoil the visual side. His chosen words - spot on. Sports journalism has now passed into entertainment. I''ll remember him for how he elevated sports reporting. RIP

[dijitalman]

McKay was the greatest. ESPN''s so-called "analysts" (for one) should take a few classes with him as the guide...

[louklou51]

Rest in peace, my friend, and may God bless you and your family, you were certainly a class act.