Howard Cosell
Howard William Cosell (/koʊˈsɛl/; né Cohen; March 25, 1918 – April 23, 1995) was an American sports journalist, broadcaster and author. Cosell became prominent and influential during his tenure with ABC Sports from 1953 until 1985.
Howard Cosell
April 23, 1995 (aged 77)
- Journalist
- author
- radio personality
- columnist
- sports commentator
- lawyer
- television personality
1953–1993
2
1941–1945
Cosell was widely known for his blustery, confident personality.[1] Cosell said of himself, "I've been called arrogant, pompous, obnoxious, vain, cruel, verbose, a showoff. And, of course, I am."
Cosell was sardonically nicknamed "Humble Howard" by fans and media critics.[2] In its obituary for Cosell, The New York Times described Cosell's effect on American sports coverage:
He also brought an antagonistic, almost heel-like commentary, notably his giving criticism of Terry Bradshaw by suggesting that he did not have the intelligence to win in the league.[3]
In 1993, TV Guide named Howard Cosell The All-Time Best Sportscaster.[4]
Early life and family[edit]
Cosell was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina,[1] to accountant Isidore Cohen and his wife Nellie (Rosenthal) Cohen; his parents were Jewish.[5][6] He had an elder brother, Hilton (1914–1992).[7] The grandson of a rabbi,[8] he was raised in Brooklyn, New York City.
The name of Cosell's grandfather was changed when he entered the United States; Howard Cosell said he changed his name from "Cohen" to "Cosell" while a law student as a way to honor his father and grandfather by reverting to a version of his family's original Polish name.[9]
During World War II, Cosell served in the Army Transportation Corps from 1942–1945. He was honorably discharged with the rank of major.[10]
Career[edit]
Introduction to broadcasting[edit]
In the early 1950s, Cosell had a sports radio show which he would record early in the morning. Ned Garver recalled doing an interview with him in 1951. Cosell told Garver that the sponsor did not provide any gifts to the guests on the show, but Garver found out later that there actually were gifts and that Cosell kept them himself.[11]
Cosell represented the Little League of New York, when in 1953, Hal Neal (president ABC Radio), then an ABC Radio manager, asked him to host a show on New York flagship WABC featuring Little League participants. The show marked the beginning of a relationship with WABC and ABC Radio that would last his entire broadcasting career.
Cosell hosted the Little League show for three years without pay, and then decided to leave the law to become a full-time broadcaster. He approached Robert Pauley, President of ABC Radio, with a proposal for a weekly show. Pauley told him the network could not afford to develop untried talent, but he would be put on the air if he would get a sponsor. To Pauley's surprise, Cosell came back with a relative's shirt company as a sponsor, and the show Speaking of Sports was born.[12]
Cosell took his "tell it like it is" approach when he teamed with the ex–Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher "Big Numba Thirteen" Ralph Branca on WABC's pre- and post-game radio shows of the New York Mets in their nascent years beginning in 1962. He pulled no punches in taking members of the hapless expansion team to task.
Otherwise on radio, Cosell did his show, Speaking of Sports, as well as sports reports and updates for affiliated radio stations around the country; he continued his radio duties even after he became prominent on television. Cosell then became a sports anchor at WABC-TV in New York, where he served in that role from 1961 to 1974. He expanded his commentary beyond sports to a radio show, Speaking of Everything.[13]
Rise to prominence, support of black athletes[edit]
Cosell rose to prominence in the early-1960s, covering boxer Muhammad Ali, beginning from the time he fought under his birth name, Cassius Clay. The two seemed to have an affinity despite their different personalities, and complemented each other in broadcasts. Cosell was one of the first sportscasters to refer to the boxer as Muhammad Ali after he changed his name, and supported him when he refused to be inducted into the military. Cosell was also an outspoken supporter of Olympic sprinters John Carlos and Tommie Smith, after they raised their fists in a "black power" salute during their 1968 medal ceremony in Mexico City. In a time when many sports broadcasters avoided touching social, racial, or other controversial issues, and kept a certain level of collegiality towards the sports figures they commented on, Cosell did not, and indeed built a reputation around his catchphrase, "I'm just telling it like it is."
Cosell's style of reporting transformed sports broadcasting in the United States. Whereas previous sportscasters had mostly been known for color commentary and lively play-by-play, Cosell had an intellectual approach. His use of analysis and context brought television sports reporting closer to "hard" news reporting. However, his distinctive staccato voice, accent, syntax, and cadence were a form of color commentary all their own.
Cosell earned his greatest interest from the public when he backed Ali after the boxer's championship title was stripped from him for refusing military service during the Vietnam War. Cosell found vindication several years later when he was able to inform Ali that the United States Supreme Court had unanimously ruled in favor of Ali in Clay v. United States.
Cosell called most of Ali's fights immediately before and after the boxer returned from his three-year exile in October 1970. Those fights were broadcast on tape delay usually a week after they were transmitted on closed circuit. However, Cosell did not call two of Ali's biggest fights, the Rumble in the Jungle in October 1974 and the first Ali–Joe Frazier bout in March 1971. Promoter Jerry Perenchio selected actor Burt Lancaster, who had never provided color commentary for a fight, to work the bout with longtime announcer Don Dunphy and former light-heavyweight champion Archie Moore. Cosell attended that fight as a spectator only. He would do a voice-over of that bout, when it was shown on ABC a few days before the second Ali-Frazier bout in January 1974.
Perhaps his most famous call took place in the fight between Joe Frazier and George Foreman for the World Heavyweight Championship in Kingston, Jamaica in 1973. When Foreman knocked Frazier to the mat the first of six times, roughly two minutes into the first round, Cosell yelled out:
[edit]
Cosell's colorful personality and distinctive voice were featured to fine comedic effect in several sports-themed episodes of the ABC TV series The Odd Couple. His feuds with New York City sportswriter Oscar Madison (Jack Klugman) mirrored the real life feuds he had with some of New York's leading sportswriters. He also appeared in the Woody Allen films Bananas, Sleeper and Broadway Danny Rose. Such was his celebrity that while he never appeared on the show, Cosell's name was frequently used as an all-purpose answer on the popular 1970s game show Match Game. Cosell also had a cameo appearance in the 1988 movie Johnny Be Good featuring Robert Downey Jr., Anthony Michael Hall and Uma Thurman. His particular speech pattern was also imitated by one of the characters in the film Better Off Dead.
Cosell's national fame was further boosted in fall 1975 when Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell aired on Saturday evenings on ABC. This was an hour-long variety show, broadcast live from the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City and hosted by Cosell, which is not to be confused with the NBC series Saturday Night Live (which coincidentally also premiered in 1975 under its original title of NBC's Saturday Night, to avoid confusion with Cosell's show). Despite bringing several unknown comedians, such as Billy Crystal, Christopher Guest, and future SNL star Bill Murray to national prominence and showcasing the American TV debut of the Bay City Rollers (who later had a hit song by the name of "Saturday Night"), Cosell's show was canceled after three months; the NBC show was officially renamed
Saturday Night Live for the succeeding season and has retained the name ever since. Cosell later hosted the 1984–85 season finale of Saturday Night Live.
Cosell was the announcer of Frank Sinatra's 1974 ABC television special Sinatra – The Main Event.[31]
Cosell appeared alongside Muhammad Ali, Frank Sinatra, Richie Havens, and others on a 1976 spoken word novelty record, The Adventures of Ali and His Gang vs. Mr. Tooth Decay.[32]
Beginning in 1976, Cosell hosted a long-running series of specials known as Battle of the Network Stars. The two-hour specials pitted celebrities from each of the three broadcast networks against each other in various athletic competitions, including relay races, swimming relays, tug of war, an obstacle course, and a dunk tank. Some of the specials also featured other events, such as golf, kayak racing, three-on-three touch football, or Frisbee. Cosell conducted short interviews with the participants between events, and was seen laughing, joking, and clearly enjoying himself throughout each show. Of Cosell, the program's supervising producer Bill Garnet said in an interview, "Cosell loved doing the show . . . He used to say, 'I’m the biggest star out here. They all want to be around me!' But he loved doing the show."[33] Actor LeVar Burton, who participated in 1977 and 1978, spoke warmly of having interacted with Cosell, describing his experience as "...a great joy and one of my fondest memories. It’s like being heckled by Don Rickles, you know? Having Cosell insult you or even just mention your name was the Holy Grail for me."[33] Cosell hosted all but one of the nineteen specials, including the final episode which aired in 1988.
In 1977, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.[34][35]
Criticism of boxing[edit]
Cosell denounced professional boxing during the broadcast of a November 26, 1982, WBC heavyweight championship bout between titleholder Larry Holmes and a clearly outmatched Randall "Tex" Cobb at the Astrodome. The fight was held two weeks after the fatal fight between Ray Mancini and Duk Koo Kim, when Kim died shortly after the fight. Cosell famously asked the rhetorical question, "I wonder if that referee [Steve Crosson] understands that he is constructing an advertisement for the abolition of the very sport that he's a part of?"[36] Cosell, horrified over the brutality of the one-sided fight, said that if the referee did not stop the fight he would never broadcast a professional fight again.[21]
Major boxing reforms were later implemented, the most important of which allows referees to stop clearly one-sided fights early in order to protect the health of the fighters. In amateur boxing, one-sided fights would be automatically stopped if one fighter had a score considerably higher than his opponent. Hitherto, only the ring physician had the authority to halt a bout. Another change was the reduction of championship bouts from fifteen rounds to twelve rounds by the WBC. (The fatal blows to Kim were in Rounds thirteen and fourteen.) The WBA quickly followed suit, and the IBF did so in 1988. Cosell did not cut off ties with the United States Amateur Boxing Federation. His 1984 broadcasts of the Olympic Trials, box-offs, and the 1984 Summer Olympics boxing tournament, all of which were at the amateur level with much shorter fights, were his last professional calls of the sport.
I Never Played the Game and reaction[edit]
After Cosell's memoir I Never Played the Game, which, among other things, chronicled his disenchantment with fellow ABC commentators, was published in September 1985, Cosell was taken off scheduled announcing duties for that year's World Series and was dismissed by ABC television shortly thereafter. Cosell's book was seen by many as a bitter "hate rant" against those who had offended him. TV Guide published excerpts of his memoirs and reported that they had never had as many viewers' responses and they were overwhelmingly negative towards Cosell. The magazine reported some of the "printable" ones saying things such as "Will Rogers never met Howard Cosell".
In I Never Played the Game, Cosell popularized the word "jockocracy" (originally coined by author Robert Lipsyte), describing how athletes were given announcing jobs that they had not earned. Coincidentally, he was replaced for the 1985 World Series broadcast by Tim McCarver, himself a former baseball player, to join Al Michaels and Jim Palmer. (The title of the book is a double entendre, meaning that Cosell never actually played the game of football or any other professional sport he broadcast, as well as implying that he never played the "game" of corporate politics.) Cosell is notably absent from the Pro Football Hall of Fame.[37][38]
In his later years, Cosell briefly hosted his own television talk show, Speaking of Everything, authored his last book (What's Wrong With Sports), and continued to appear on radio and television, becoming more outspoken about his criticisms of sports in general.
Later life[edit]
In 1993, Cosell was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.[39] A year later, in 1994, he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. He was also the 1995 recipient of the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. After his wife of 46 years, Mary Edith Abrams Cosell (known as "Emmy") died from a heart attack in 1990, Cosell largely withdrew from the public eye and his health began failing. A longtime smoker, he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1991, and had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in his chest. He also had several minor strokes, and was diagnosed with heart disease, kidney disease and Parkinson's.
Death[edit]
Cosell died at the Hospital for Joint Diseases in Manhattan on April 23, 1995, of a cardiac embolism at the age of 77.[1] He is buried at Westhampton Cemetery, Westhampton, New York.
Legacy[edit]
Cosell was placed as number one on David J. Halberstam's list of "Top 50 All Time Network Television Sports Announcers" on Yahoo! Sports in January 2009.[40] The sports complex at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem was named for Cosell.[41] In 2010, Cosell was posthumously inducted into the Observer's Category in the International Boxing Hall of Fame.[42]
In Woody Allen's 1973 comedy Sleeper, Allen's character Miles Monroe, who has been revived after 200 years in cryogenic suspension, is shown an excerpt of an ABC Wide World of Sports broadcast in which Cosell talks about Muhammad Ali. One of the scientists who has revived Miles, unsure of what the video means, says that the theory is that watching Cosell was a form of punishment for crimes committed against the state 200 years in the past. Miles Monroe agrees. "Yes, that's exactly what that was."[43]
In the 1985 film Better Off Dead, one of the two Asian-American teenage brothers who regularly challenged John Cusack's character to a street race is said to have learned English from listening to Cosell.[44] The band Ben Folds Five have a song titled "Boxing" from 1995, which was written as a fictional monologue from Muhammad Ali to Cosell.[45]
In Michael Mann's 2001 film Ali, Cosell is played by Jon Voight, who earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance. In the 2002 television film Monday Night Mayhem, Cosell was played by John Turturro.[46]
Cosell's daughter, Hilary Cosell, was a producer of NBC SportsWorld, and was one of the first women sports producers. She was also the senior producer of her father's show, Speaking of Everything with Howard Cosell, an assistant producer of ABC News 20/20, and received four Emmy Award nominations.[47]
Cosell's nephew Greg Cosell is a senior producer at NFL Films.[48] Cosell's grandson Colin Cosell was named public address announcer (along with Marysol Castro) at Citi Field, home of the New York Mets, in 2018. Colin Cosell intended to honor his grandfather by enunciating Mets' third baseman Todd Frazier's last name the same way Cosell did with Joe Frazier's name in his famous "Down Goes Frazier!" call.[49]