In 1982, Bill Macatee began his network sports broadcasting career with NBC as the youngest network sportscaster in the industry….where he covered a wide range of events including Wimbledon, the Super Bowl, the Rose Bowl and the World Series. He hosted NBC’s Major League Baseball Game of the Week pre-game show for 4 years….as well as numerous events for the network’s sports anthology show, NBC Sportsworld….as seen in this video herewith where he provides a highlights feature of the year in sports in 1987. Additionally, Macatee served as the sports correspondent for the NBC’s Today Show and sports anchor for NBC News at Sunrise and Sunday Today. He also co-anchored the syndicated show USA Today on TV.
The year of 1987 was an outstanding year in sports that NBC captures with wonderful highlights from the years top events including the New York Giants winning Super Bowl XXI over the Denver Broncos by a score of 39 – 20…..while the Fiesta Bowl featured a hard fought 14 – 10 win by the Penn State Nittany Lions over the Miami Hurricanes to win the national championship….for 1987 was the year that the NCAA handed out the Death Penalty to SMU for rules infractions….and the truth be known….SMU was never ever again able to regain it’s prior status as one of college footballs perennial top 10 team programs. In MLB, the Minnesota Twins won the World Series by 4 games to 3 over the St. Louis Cardinals….with the Series MVP being PFrank Viola….as the Twins had the lowest regular-season record of any World Series champion (85-77, .525)…. until 2006, when the Cardinals went 83-78 for a .516 winning percentage….plus this was the 1st World Series game ever played indoors for Game 1 at the Hubert Humphrey Metrodome…. as well as the 1st World Series where the home team won every game. The Los Angeles Lakers beat their arch rival, Boston Celtics by 4 games to 2 in the NBA Finals….and Coach Bobby Knight’s Indiana Hoosiers beat Coach Jim Boeheim’s Syracuse Orangemen in New Orleans to win the NCAA men’s basketball championship. by a score of 74 – 73….in a game that Bone Daddy saw live and in color.
Boxing in 1987 provided some outstanding world championship title fights that included Iron Mike Tyson adding the WBA title to his WBC heavyweight belt by defeating James “Bonecrusher” Smith in a 12-round unanimous decision…..along with a fight that featured two (2) legends from the golden age of boxing as Sugar Ray Leonard took Marvelous Marvin Hagler’s undisputed middleweight title. In cycling, Stephen Roche of Ireland won the Giro d’Italia, the Tour de France and the UCI Road World Championship. In horseracing, the great Alysheba won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness….as Bet Twice won the Belmont.
In golf, Larry Mize won the Masters….Scott Simpson the US Open…..Nick Faldo the British Open….and Larry Nelson the PGA Championship. In the NHL in 1987, Edmonton’s Wayne “The Great One” Gretzky won the Art Ross trophy as the NHL’s top scorer and the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s Most Valuable Player….while his Oilers team won the Stanley Cup by 4 games to 3 over the Philadelphia Flyers.
In tennis, Stefan Edberg won the Australian Open….while Ivan Lendl won the French and the US Open…..and USA Pat Cash won Wimbledon. On the ladies side….Hana Mandlikova won the Australian Open….Steffi Graf the French Open….and Martina Navratilova won Wimbledon and the US Open.
All in all, 1987 was an outstanding year in sports…..and the NBC production with host Bill Macatee is evidence of this fact….as this video is well worth the watch.
