Bill MacPhail
William Curtis MacPhail(March 25, 1920 – September 4, 1996) was an American television sports executive.
Early life and family
[edit]MacPhail was born inColumbus, Ohio,son ofLarry MacPhail,a baseball executive and innovator. He was a graduate ofSwarthmore Collegeand served in theUnited States Navy.His brother was longtime baseball executiveLee MacPhail,and Larry and Lee MacPhail are both members of theNational Baseball Hall of Fame.[1]Andy MacPhail,also a baseball executive, is his nephew.[1]
Early career
[edit]MacPhail worked his way up in the front office of several minor league teams. He was traveling road secretary for the New York Yankees[2]in 1946 and then worked for eight years for three minor league teams before becoming director of publicity for theKansas City Athleticsin 1955. CBS hired him the following year.[1]
Broadcasting career
[edit]MacPhail was a former president ofCBS Sports,where he worked from 1956 to 1973. Afterwards he was associated withBob Wold,a satellite sports pioneer, and then brought toCNNbyReese Schonfeldto create the CNN Sports department in 1980 upon its launch, which he ran until retiring from CNN in 1995. While at CBS Sports, MacPhail is credited with implementinginstant replay[1]for the first time in sports — during theArmy-Navy Gameof 1963.
MacPhail is known for hiring famous broadcasting talent. He introduced a number of sportscasters nationally, includingChris Schenkel,Jim McKay,Dan Patrick,Phil GriffinandKeith Olbermann.[3][4]He hired formerNew York GiantskickerPat Summerallas a sportscaster at CBS.[3]He also hiredFrank Gifford,[1]Jack Buck,and golf producerFrank Chirkinian.
MacPhail is recognized for helping CBS Sports acquire the television rights to numerous sporting events, including the1960 Winter&SummerOlympicsinSquaw Valley,United StatesandRome,Italyrespectively, theNBA,theMasters Tournament(CBSstill holds the television rights to this day), andMajor League Baseball.
At one point, during the 1960s and '70s, CBS Sports, under MacPhail, owned the rights to all major sports events—pro football, basketball, the Triple Crown, the Masters tournament and other major golf events, except Major League Baseball. MacPhail attempted to acquire the baseball rights, then owned by NBC, from Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn. Kuhn seemed very interested, but the higher up at CBS declined—they did not want to start bidding wars for sports rights. When Roone Arledge was appointed head of ABC Sports, he thought differently and thus the bidding wars began.
While head of CNN Sports, MacPhail acquired news rights from Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NBA and other sporting events so that CNN might carry TV clips of all major sporting events. He also mentored former CNN Worldwide PresidentJim Walton (journalist).[5]At CNN, MacPhail hired sports anchorsNick Charles,Bob Kurtz,Fred Hickman,Jim Huber,Dan Patrick,Keith Olbermann,Hannah Storm,Dan Hicks,andDaryn Kagan,among others.
Awards
[edit]In 1989, MacPhail was the first recipient ofPro Football Hall of Fame’sPete Rozelle Radio-Television Award.[6]The annual award recognizes "long-time exceptional contributions to radio and television in professional football."
References
[edit]- ^abcdeSandomir, Richard (1996-09-05)."Bill MacPhail, 76, Pioneer In Development of TV Sports".www.nytimes.com.Retrieved2017-01-09.
- ^"The New York Yankees Team Photo Collection".www.baseball-fever.com. Archived fromthe originalon 2011-06-14.Retrieved2009-11-24.
- ^ab"MacPhail leaves mark before leaving CBS, CNN".The Baltimore Sun.1995-06-07.Retrieved2017-01-09.
- ^"Q&A with UD grad, sportscaster Dan Patrick".www.daytondailynews.com.Archivedfrom the original on June 22, 2011.Retrieved2008-01-17.
- ^"CNN chief: More news to more people on more platforms".www.usatoday.com. 2006-05-21.Retrieved2006-05-21.
- ^"Irv Cross named Rozelle Award winner".www.profootballhof.com.Retrieved2009-07-07.