Jim McKay, 86; sportscaster brought the popular and the unknown to American television screens

Jim McKay, whose commanding presence, eloquence and versatility as a broadcaster made him the face and voice of sporting events around the globe for American audiences, died Saturday. He was 86.

McKay died of natural causes at his farm in Monkton, Md., according to his son, Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports.

It was McKay with three unforgettable words -- "They're all gone" -- who relayed the news that 11 Israeli athletes had been murdered by terrorists at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. And it was McKay who was the host of "Wide World of Sports," the breakthrough TV show that exposed audiences to athletes both familiar and obscure in events both universally celebrated and largely unknown from locations around the planet before technology made such telecasts commonplace.

"It's just a shame," fellow broadcaster Al Michaels said from his home in Brentwood of McKay's death. "He was a gem, a very unique man. He was able to combine his vast intelligence with his heart. I would marvel at how he could put words together."

McKay was never more effective, Michaels said, than when he received the news that earlier, optimistic reports about the fate of the Israelis were erroneous.

"Those three words pretty much sum Jim up," Michaels said. "He didn't overstate it or over-dramatize it. He got right to the point. It was a very human response. That was Jim's heart talking. He was devastated that he had to be the one to inform mothers, fathers and other relatives that their loved ones were dead. It was a burden no one would want. He told you what happened, then got out of the way because he understood that everybody needed to absorb it on their own terms."

Sports, McKay later said, lost its innocence that day.

McKay, who covered 12 Olympics, won 13 Emmy Awards, including the first for a sportscaster. But none were more meaningful to him than the Emmys for both sports and news along with a George Polk Award for his coverage in Munich.

"That's the most memorable single moment of my career," McKay said later. "I don't know what else would match that."

Said his son, "He had a remarkable career and a remarkable life. Hardly a day goes by when someone doesn't come up to me and say how much they admired my father."

He was born James Kenneth McManus on Sept. 24, 1921, in Philadelphia to Joseph, a real estate appraiser, and Florence McManus. He earned a bachelor's degree from Loyola College in Baltimore in 1943.