50th Anniversary of 'Wide World of Sports' Celebrated

[televisionarchives]

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/20...sary-of-wide-world-of-sports-celebrated/90197It will be all over the place .ESPN , ABC , ESPN Classic. When ESPN Classic first started they showed lots of the old shows. Some fun stuff to see. One of the reasons I liked the show is because they showed events you wouldn't have seen normally. Frog Jumping, Barrel Jumping, Evel Knievel etc.

 

[Ramy]

Wow, that's a long time.

 

[iceturkee]

i saw that very first episode. it was suppose to be a summer replacement show for abc. turned out to be one of the best sport shows ever. it and host the late jim mckay, are both sadly missed!

 

[televisionarchives]

I was at the highest rated show that ABC's Wide World of Sports ever had. Back in 1975 I went to Kings Island in Ohio to see Evel Knievel jump . Frank Gifford was at that event. He was easy to pick out . He was the only one wearing that awful looking yellow ABC mustard jacket. But he was great. He came over and talked to us. Two players from the Cincinnati Reds were at the jump. I couldn't find video of the jump for years but I finally did . A trader who made the copies made me sign a agreement that I wouldn't make copies of it. I finally got to see myself in the background after all those years.

 

[AntAltMike]

Is the "Agony of Defeat" ski jumper still alive? They used to wheel him out for every previous milestone anniversary.

 

[AntAltMike]

Is the Agony of Defeat" Ski Jumper still alive? They used to wheel him out for every previous milestone anniversary.

Yep:

"Every time I'm on ABC, I crash."

—Vinko Bogataj, having suffered a minor car accident while on his way to be interviewed by ABC's Terry Gannon.

Vinko Bogataj and the Ecstacy of Defeat

 

[televisionarchives]

Yep:


Vinko Bogataj and the Ecstacy of Defeat

Yes. He shows up on the Anniversary shows. Also, I have footage of the complete event. He was not a good jumper at all and slipped on other jumps. He didn't fall like the famous one however earlier he landed rough and fell on landing. ESPN Classic might show the whole event this time. I don't know.

 

[televisionarchives]

I had forgotten about Muhammad Ali fighting professional wrestlers in 1976 in Japan and also Chicago. It was embarrassing. Wide World showed it today. Howard Cosell criticized him as the event was being shown. . It was a real low point of his career.