Roone
Arledge

Athlete Bio#

Age

Died (Aged 71)

1931-2002

Hometown

Long Island, NY

Education

Mepham High School (North Bellmore, N.Y.) Columbia College

Quick Facts

Graduated from Columbia College
Served as class president, president of his fraternity and editor of the yearbook
First producing job was with New York’s Channel 4, working behind the scenes on a puppet show
Was given control of ABC’s NCAA football broadcasts at age 29 after arguing to his bosses that they needed to bring show business to sports
Was named by Sports Illustrated in 1994 as the individual with the third greatest impact on sports over the previous 40 years, behind Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan
Helped bring sports programming out of its limited weekend slot and into prime time
Wrote an autobiography entitled, “Roone: A Memoir”
Father to four children, Susan, Elizabeth, Patricia and Roone II.

Hall Of Fame Bio #

Roone Arledge was an American sports and news broadcasting executive at ABC who created Emmy Award-winning productions, including “Monday Night Football,” “ABC World News Tonight” and “Wide World of Sports.” Throughout his historic career, Arledge won 36 Emmy Awards and brought many innovations to the world of sports broadcasting, including slow-motion replays, freeze-frames, instant replays and enhanced audio gathering techniques. In 1961, he created ABC’s “Wide World of Sports,” one of the most popular sports programs in history, and coined its unforgettable catch phrase, “The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.” He also personally produced all 10 of ABC’s Olympic Games broadcasts. Arledge served as president of ABC Sports from 1968-86 and of ABC News from 1977-98. He died of cancer in 2002 at the age of 71.