Longtime ABC sportscaster Jim McKay passed away this morning at his home at the age of 86. One of Jim’s first roles on ABC was as host of ABC’s Wide World of Sports. The show saw him criss-crossing the world many times over. Among travel stories recounted about him today was that of Keith Jackson running past him sitting on a bench in Heathrow. McKay was sitting there, waiting to get a call for where his next destination was going to be. He had done six countries and eleven scenes in four days, and was about to add to the tally. It turns out that he didn’t actually enjoy the travel a ton since it meant being away from his family, but he continued to do it in spite of that.

If you can find a copy of the Bob Ley SportsCenter piece on Jim McKay online, I highly recommend it. I found a few other clips from this morning’s coverage online (Link 1, Link 2, Link 3), but the Bob Ley piece was phenomenal.

Really not all that travel related a post, but the man was huge and a testament to quality journalism, something that is missing more and more these days.