''ABC's Wide World of Sports'' is an American sports

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

television program that aired on ABC from April 29, 1961, to 1997, primarily on Saturday afternoons. Hosted by Jim McKay, with a succession of co-hosts beginning in 1987, the title continued to be used for general sports programs on the network until 2006. In 2007, ''Wide World of Sports'' was named by '' Time'' on its list of the 100 best television programs of all time. Weekend sports news updates on sister radio network ABC Sports Radio, operated by

Cumulus Media Networks Cumulus Media Networks was an American radio network owned and operated by Cumulus Media. From 2011 until its merger with Westwood One, it controlled many of the radio assets formerly belonging to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which w ...

, continue to be branded under the similar title ''ABC's World of Sports''. The program also lent its name to an athletic facility at Walt Disney World, the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, which was originally known as Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex from its opening in 1997 (one year after The Walt Disney Company acquired ABC and an 80% stake in ESPN) until 2010.

History

Origins

''Wide World of Sports'' was the creation of Edgar Scherick through his company, Sports Programs, Inc. After selling his company to ABC, he hired a young Roone Arledge to produce the show. The series' April 29, 1961, debut telecast featured both the Penn and Drake Relays. Jim McKay (who hosted the program for most of its history) and Jesse Abramson, the track and field writer for the ''

New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...

'', broadcast from Franklin Field with Bob Richards as the field reporter. Jim Simpson called the action from

Drake Stadium Drake Stadium may refer to: * Drake Stadium (1904), a defunct outdoor multiuse sports field at Drake University used from 1904 to 1925 * Drake Stadium (Drake University), an outdoor multiuse sports field at Drake University used from 1925 to present ...

with Bill Flemming working the field. During its initial season in the spring and summer of 1961, ''Wide World of Sports'' was initially broadcast from 5:00 to 7:00 P.M. Eastern Time on Saturdays. Beginning in 1962, it was pushed to 5:00 to 6:30 P.M., and later to 4:30 to 6:00 P.M. Eastern Time to allow ABC affiliates in the Eastern and Central Time Zones to carry local early-evening newscasts.

Successful spin-offs

In 1961, ''Wide World of Sports'' covered a bowling event in which

Roy Lown Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin. In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise to ...

beat Pat Patterson. The broadcast was so successful that in 1962, ABC Sports began covering the Professional Bowlers Tour. In 1964, ''Wide World of Sports'' covered the

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

Rattlesnake Hunt championships; the following year, ABC premiered outdoor program '' The American Sportsman'', which remained on the network for nearly 20 years. In 1973, the ''

Superstars A superstar is a widely acclaimed celebrity. Superstar or superstars may also refer to: People * Warhol superstars, the associates of Andy Warhol * WWE Superstar, a branding term referring to a WWE wrestler * Superstar Billy Graham (born 1943) ...

'' was first televised as a segment on ''Wide World of Sports''; the following year, the ''Superstars'' debuted as a weekly winter series that lasted for 10 years.

Athlete of the Year

In 1963, ABC Sports producers began selecting the Athlete of the Year. Its first winner was track and field star Jim Beatty for being the first to run a sub-4-minute mile indoors. Through the years, this award was won by such now legendary athletes of

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...

, Jim Ryun, Lance Armstrong, Mario Andretti, Dennis Conner, Wayne Gretzky, Carl Lewis and Tiger Woods. The award was discontinued in 2001.

The end of ''Wide World of Sports''

In later years, with the rise of cable television offering more outlets for sports programming, ''Wide World of Sports'' lost many of the events that had been staples of the program for many years (many, although not all, of them ended up on ESPN, a sister network to ABC for most of its existence). Ultimately, its traditional anthology series was ended in 1997 after a 37-year run. The ''Wide World of Sports'' name remained in use afterward as an umbrella title for ABC's weekend sports programming, starting January 3, 1998. In August 2006, ABC Sports came under the oversight of ESPN, under the relaunched banner name ESPN on ABC. The ''Wide World of Sports'' title continues to occasionally be revived for Saturday afternoon sports programming on ABC; it was used during the

140th Belmont Stakes The 2008 Belmont Stakes was the 140th running of the Belmont Stakes. The race was won by Da'Tara, who led the race wire to wire. Da'Tara went off at 38–1 odds, making the win a monumental upset. Entrants included the favorite, winner of both the ...

as a tribute to Jim McKay following his death in June 2008, and in 2017 it was used for the revival of the '' Battle of the Network Stars'' with a remake of the show's opening sequence. Most of ABC's sports programming since ''Wide World of Sports'' ended as a program has been displaced from ABC and moved to ESPN; the cable network began producing its own anthology series on Saturday afternoons in 2010, ''

ESPN Sports Saturday ''ESPN Sports Saturday'' was an American sports anthology series, anthology television program that was broadcast on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). Produced by sister cable sports network ESPN, it premiered on April 3, 2010. The two-hour ...

'', which consists of documentaries originally featured on ESPN's '' E:60'' and ''

30 for 30 ''30 for 30'' is the title for a series of documentary films airing on ESPN, its sister networks, and online highlighting interesting people and events in sports history. This includes three "volumes" of 30 episodes each, a 13-episode series un ...

'' programs, and a modified version of the ESPN interactive series '' SportsNation'', titled ''

Winners Bracket ''ESPN Sports Saturday'' was an American sports anthology television program that was broadcast on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). Produced by sister cable sports network ESPN, it premiered on April 3, 2010. The two-hour program regularly ...

''.

Format

Sports featured on ''Wide World of Sports''

''Wide World of Sports'' was intended to be a fill-in show for a single summer season, until the start of fall sports seasons, but became unexpectedly popular. The goal of the program was to showcase sports from around the globe that were seldom, if ever, broadcast on American television. It originally ran for two hours on Saturday afternoons, but was later reduced to 90 minutes. Usually, ''Wide World'' featured two or three events per show. These included many types not previously seen on American television, such as

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working va ...

, curling, jai-alai,

firefighter A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...

's competitions, wrist wrestling, powerlifting,

surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suitabl ...

, logger sports,

demolition derby Demolition derby is a non-racing motorsport usually presented at county fairs and festivals. While rules vary from event to event, the typical demolition derby event consists of five or more drivers competing by deliberately ramming their vehic ...

, slow pitch softball,

barrel jumping Barrel jumping is a discipline of speed skating, where ice skaters build up speed to jump over a length of multiple barrels lined up, usually side by side like rollers. Occasionally barrels would also be stacked pyramid-style for height. The obj ...

, and badminton. NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup racing was a ''Wide World of Sports'' staple until the late 1980s, when it became a regularly scheduled sporting event on the network. Traditional Olympic sports such as figure skating, skiing, gymnastics and track and field competitions were also regular features of the show. Another memorable regular feature in the 1960s and 1970s was Mexican cliff diving. The lone national television broadcast of the

Continental Football League The Continental Football League (COFL) was a professional American football minor league that operated in North America from 1965 through 1969. It was established following the collapse of the original United Football League, and hoped to beco ...

was a ''Wide World of Sports'' broadcast of the 1966 championship game; ABC paid the league $500 for a rights fee, a minuscule sum by professional football standards.

Firsts

''Wide World of Sports'' was the first U.S. television program to air coverage of – among events –

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

(1961), the Indianapolis 500 (highlights starting in 1961; a longer-form version in 1965), the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship (1962), the

Daytona 500 The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three ...

(1962), the

U.S. Figure Skating Championships The U.S. Figure Skating Championships is a figure skating competition held annually to crown the national champions of the United States. The competition is sanctioned by U.S. Figure Skating. In the U.S. skating community, the event is ofte ...

(1962), the first color broadcast of the

Monaco Grand Prix The Monaco Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix de Monaco) is a Formula One motor racing event held annually on the Circuit de Monaco, in late May or early June. Run since 1929, it is widely considered to be one of the most important and prestigiou ...

(

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

), the Little League World Series (1961), The British Open Golf Tournament (1961), the X-Games (1995) and the

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

(1962).

Introduction

The program's introductory sequence was accompanied by a stirring, brassy musical fanfare (composed by Charles Fox), set over a montage of sports clips and accompanying narration written by

Stanley Ralph Ross Stanley Ralph Ross (July 22, 1935 – March 16, 2000) was an American writer and actor. He was raised in Brooklyn, New York, starting his career in advertising with Chudacoff and Margulis Advertising in West Los Angeles, then soon going to ...

and voiced by McKay:

"The thrill of victory ... and the agony of defeat"

The melodramatic introduction became a national catchphrase that is often heard to this day. While "the thrill of victory" had several symbols over the decades, Slovenian ski jumper

Vinko Bogataj Vinko Bogataj (Slovenian: ; born on March 4, 1948) is a Slovenian painter and former ski jumper. Footage of him crashing featured on ABC's '' Wide World of Sports'' represented the Agony of Defeat.. Retrieved on 2011-04-11. ''Agony of Defeat'' j ...

, whose dreadful misjump and crash during a competition on March 21, 1970, was featured from the early 1970s onward heard over the sentence "...and the agony of defeat." Bogataj became a hard-luck hero of sorts, and an affectionate icon for stunning

failure Failure is the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective (goal), objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of Success (concept), success. The criteria for failure depends on context, and may be relative to a parti ...

. Previously, the footage played with that phrase was that of another ski jumper who made a long, almost successful jump, but whose skis lost vertical alignment shortly before landing, leading to a crash. Later in the 1990s, an additional clip was added to the "agony of defeat" sequence after Bogataj's accident: footage of a crash by Alessandro Zampedri, Roberto Guerrero and Eliseo Salazar during the

1996 Indianapolis 500 The 80th Indianapolis 500 was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana on Sunday, May 26, 1996. This was the first Indy 500 contested by the Indy Racing League, under the overall sanctioning umbrella of USAC. It was the third ...

showed a car flipping up into the

catch fence The following is a glossary of terminology used in motorsport, along with explanations of their meanings. 0–9 ;1–2 finish: When two vehicles from the same team finish first and second in a race. Can be extended to 1–2–3 or 1–2–3– ...

. The "oh no!" commentary that accompanies it, however, is dubbed from commentary by Benny Parsons of

Steve Grissom Steven Paul Grissom (born June 26, 1963) is an American former stock car racing driver. Grissom was the 1993 Busch Series champion and has eleven Busch wins in 185 starts. He turned down a scholarship to play quarterback at the University of Alaba ...

's crash in the 1997 Primestar 500 (part of the NASCAR Winston Cup series). Bogataj's mishap is also commemorated in

Rich Hall Richard Travis Hall (born June 10, 1954) is an American comedian, writer, documentary maker and musician, first coming to prominence as a sketch comedian in the 1980s. He wrote and performed for a range of American networks, in series such as ...

's book ''

Sniglets A sniglet () is an often humorous word made up to describe something for which no dictionary word exists. Introduced in the 1980s TV comedy series ''Not Necessarily the News'', sniglets were generated and published in significant numbers, along wit ...

'' as "agonosis", which is defined as "the syndrome of tuning in on ''Wide World of Sports'' every weekend just to watch the skier rack himself."

Announcers

Hosts

* Jim McKay (1961–1998) *

Becky Dixon Rebecca "Becky" Dixon (born April 14, 1951) is an American television broadcaster. She is best known as the first woman co-host of '' ABC’s Wide World of Sports'', alongside Frank Gifford, from 1987 to 1988. Dixon is currently the president an ...

(1987–1988) * Frank Gifford (1987–1993) * Julie Moran (1994–1995) * John Saunders (1995–1996) * Robin Roberts (1996–1998)

Event announcers

;Play-by-play *

Tim Brant Tim Brant (born February 26, 1949) is a retired American sportscaster. Brant most recently worked for Raycom Sports and was formerly Vice President, Sports for WJLA-TV in Washington, DC. He has spent more than forty years covering sports nationa ...

* Howard Cosell * Becky Dixon *

Chris Economaki Christopher Constantine Economaki (October 15, 1920 – September 28, 2012) was an American motorsports commentator, pit road reporter, and journalist. Economaki was given the title "The Dean of American Motorsports Journalism."

* Bill Flemming *

Terry Gannon Terrance Patrick Gannon (born November 1, 1963, in Joliet, Illinois) is a sportscaster for NBC Sports and the Golf Channel, currently announcing golf, gymnastics, and figure skating. Gannon played basketball for North Carolina State University ...

* Frank Gifford * Curt Gowdy *

Keith Jackson Keith Max Jackson (October 18, 1928 – January 12, 2018) was an American sports commentator, journalist, author, and radio personality, known for his career with ABC Sports (1966–2006). While he covered a variety of sports over his career ...

* Jim Lampley * Jim McKay * Al Michaels * Julie Moran *

Brent Musburger Brent Woody Musburger (born May 26, 1939) is an American sportscaster, currently the lead broadcaster and managing editor at Vegas Stats and Information Network (VSiN). With CBS Sports from 1973 until 1990, he was one of the original members ...

Paul Page Paul Page (born November 25, 1945) is an American motorsports broadcaster who is best known for serving as the play-by-play commentator for the Indianapolis 500 for a total of 27 years across radio and television. Page was the radio ''Voice of th ...

* Bud Palmer * Jerry Punch * Robin Roberts * John Saunders * Chris Schenkel * Al Trautwig *

Steve Zabriskie Steven Kenneth Zabriskie (born May 13, 1947 in Palo Alto, California) is a retired American television sports announcer who is best known for calling Major League Baseball and college football. Announcing career Zabriskie was a television sports ...

;Reporters * Chris Economaki * Bill Flemming *

* Jim Lampley *

David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He hosted late night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982 debut of ''Late Night with David Letterman' ...

Stirling Moss Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British Formula One racing driver. An inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, he won 212 of the 529 races he entered across several categories of comp ...

* Sam Posey * Jerry Punch * Jody Scheckter *

O. J. Simpson Orenthal James Simpson (born July 9, 1947), nicknamed "Juice", is an American former football running back, actor, and broadcaster who played for the Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League. Once a popular figure ...

* Lynn Swann * Al Trautwig * Lesley Visser * Rodger Ward * John Watson * Jack Whitaker ;Analysts * Donnie Allison * Chris Economaki *

Phil Hill Philip Toll Hill Jr. (April 20, 1927 – August 28, 2008) was an American automobile racing driver. He was one of two American drivers to win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship, and the only one who was born in the United States ( ...

* Ned Jarrett * Fred Lorenzen * Mickey Mantle * Cheryl Miller * Don Meredith * Stirling Moss * Sam Posey * Bill Russell * Jackie Stewart * Rodger Ward

International versions

Canada

From September 19, 1964, until the late 1980s, a Canadian version was aired by the

CTV Television Network The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by BCE Inc. in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned television network and is now a divis ...

. Licensed by ABC, the CTV broadcast included a mix of content from the American show, and segments produced by CTV and its affiliates.

Australia

In Australia, the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

produced its own version from 1981 to 1999 and from 2008 to 2016, '' Nine's Wide World of Sports'', which has since become the all-encompassing brand for all of Nine's sport coverage. It was also originally a sports anthology series, but also featured professional sporting competitions. It, along with Nine's

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

coverage, also inspired a series of parodies, released as audio albums by Billy Birmingham, under the nom-de-plum of

The Twelfth Man The Twelfth Man (also known as The 12th Man) is the name for a series of comedy productions by Australian satirist Billy Birmingham. Birmingham, a skilled impersonator, is generally known for parodying Australian sports commentators' voices. ...

Mexico

A program partly inspired by the U.S. version, known as ''DeporTV, El Ancho Mundo del Deporte'' (''DeporTV, the Wide World of Sports'') debuted on Canal 13, at the time the Mexican government's public television channel (which later became Imevisión) on January 6, 1974. The program continues to air on Imevisión's successor TV Azteca, becoming one of the longest-running programs in the country. It was hosted by José Ramón Fernández from its inception until 2006, and is currently hosted by Antonio Rosique, Luis García Postigo and Christian Martinolli. The program "El Ancho Mundo del Deporte" was aired in Monterrey Mexico in the state government owned Canal 28 from 1985 to 1991. This was possible in an exchange with Imevisión since the NFL national broadcast in Mexico for that national network was originated in Monterrey (Fernando Von Rossum Garza and Jose "Pepe" Espinoza). The hosts in the Monterrey version of "El Ancho Mundo del Deporte" were Javier Hector Gutierrez, Rubén Pizarro, Alejandro Campos, Martha Vigil and Carlos Gutierrez.

References

External links

*
Jump The Shark – ''Wide World of Sports''
{{authority control 1961 American television series debuts 1997 American television series endings 1960s American anthology television series 1970s American anthology television series 1980s American anthology television series 1990s American anthology television series American Broadcasting Company original programming ABC Sports American sports television series Black-and-white American television shows Sports telecast series Peabody Award-winning television programs