Professional, dignified, and humble, yet always deeply involved with the culture of sports, he set a standard to which few still aspire. Onion Sports looks back on the career of Jim McKay, 1921-2008:
As a young Baltimore Sun reporter in the late 1940s, McKay developed a new vocabulary for baseball in order to more easily convey the events of the game to his audience, including the terms “hit,” “single,” and “out”
In 1970, McKay somersaults down a ski ramp alongside tumbling ski jumper Vinko Bogataj in order to better describe the agonizing sensations of defeat
Positioned underneath the net of the 1973 badminton championships, McKay informs viewers that the last shuttlecock has been lost under the bleachers, uttering his famous words, “They’re all gone”
As the turbulent 1970s draw to a close, McKay poses for that fateful late-’70s file photo that would accompany every single one of his obituaries 30 years later
McKay’s simple yet eloquent description of the rippling hindquarter muscles of the thoroughbreds competing in the 1978 Kentucky Derby simultaneously cause three million women to have their first orgasms
In 1980, McKay revolutionizes Olympic broadcasting by being the first reporter to enjoy what he was watching
After 16 weeks of extensive instruction during the winter of 1984, McKay finally teaches Bob Costas how to sit in front of a crackling fireplace without catching on fire
Upon completion of the log rolling competition in 1986, McKay swiftly arrives at the edge of the water to interview the winning log
In 2004, McKay musters up nearly 60 years of broadcasting experience to become the only man to not look like a dipshit while wearing an ABC Sports logo blazer
