Jim McKay was an American television sports journalist…..who is best known for hosting ABC’s Wide World of Sports from 1961 to 1998…..where his introduction for that program has passed into American pop culture….in which viewers were reminded of the show’s mission of “Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sports”….along with what lay ahead in “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat”. He is also known for television coverage of 12 Olympic Games….and is universally respected for his memorable reporting on the Munich massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics.
An avid horse racing enthusiast who raised thoroughbreds….McKay founded Maryland Million Day…. which is a series of twelve races designed to promote Maryland’s horse breeding industry….as the day-long program has grown to become a major racing event in the state of Maryland….which is second only to the Preakness Stakes day at Pimlico Race Course….for it has spawned more than twenty other similar events at United States race tracks such as the Sunshine Millions. McKay and his wife purchased a minority share in the Baltimore Orioles in 1993….and he participated in the effort to bring the 2012 Summer Olympics to Baltimore and Washington.
