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+--- Thread: RIP Roone Arledge - TV legend passes away (/showthread.php?tid=4373)
- PeterDragon - 12-08-2002
This may be one for us senior citizens, but the TV world lost one of its biggest innovators this past week.
For those of you who don't know who he was, a 1994 Sports Illustrated magazine ranking placed Arledge third, behind Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan, in a list of 40 individuals who have had the greatest impact on the world of sports in the last four decades. In addition, a 1990 Life magazine poll listed Arledge as among the "100 Most Important Americans of the 20th Century."
Roone's credits include creating ABC's Wide World of Sports, the weekly show that probably eventually led to ESPN. He created Monday Night Football, and made the wise decision to put Howard Cosell there in the spotlight, which helped its success. He produced 10 Olympics, and helped bring them into American conscienceness.
What he did for Sports would be enough, but he also helped transform ABC News. He created Nightline during the Iran Hostage Crisis to compete with late night entertainment. He put together 20/20, this week with David Brinkley, and World News tonight.
Whether you knew who he was or not, he probably shaped the way you watch TV.