The first college basketball game on ESPN was not the often cited Dick Vitale debut

40 years ago today, Dick Vitale made his debut on ESPN as the analyst on the 12/5/1979 Wisconsin @ DePaul game with Joe Boyle on play-by-play. Over the years, many sources have cited this as the first-ever college basketball telecast on ESPN which was launched three months earlier. But was it really the first?



For example, a Sarasota Herald Tribune article from 2018 stated:

On December 5, 1979, ESPN broadcast its first college basketball game, DePaul versus Wisconsin, and Vitale, fired a month earlier as head coach of the NBA’s Detroit Pistons, provided the color.

A story on the Detroit Titans official site discussing the court named after Vitale said:

Vitale sat courtside for ESPN’s first-ever NCAA basketball game – Wisconsin at DePaul on Dec. 5, 1979

Even the bio on Vitale's own website makes this incorrect claim:

Vitale called ESPN’s first-ever NCAA basketball game – Wisconsin at DePaul on Dec. 5, 1979 (a 90-77 DePaul win)

I have to admit that this blog relied on such sources and made the same claim in 2012.

However, the Vitale TV debut was not the first college basketball game on ESPN. I found a 12/3/1979 article from the New York Times archives which reviewed some of the programming from the prior weekend on the new cable network and showed that ESPN televised at least five college basketball contests before the 12/5 Vitale appearance:

11/30

St. John's vs Oral Roberts
Michigan St. vs Princeton (this was a semifinal doubleheader from the Joe Lapchick Memorial Tournament)

12/1

Valparaiso @ Notre Dame
St. John's vs Michigan St. (Lapchick Tournament final)
Yale @ Connecticut

Some references to the Wisconsin @ DePaul game claim that it was the first "major" college basketball telecast on ESPN. Here is an ESPN bio of Vitale

Vitale called ESPN’s first-ever major NCAA basketball game—Wisconsin at DePaul on Dec. 5, 1979

However, the 12/1 Lapchick Tournament title game featured #16 ranked St. John's against reigning national champion Michigan St., so that claim of first "major" seems faulty.
I also found an interestingly worded reference in the 2015 book Every Town is a Sports Town by former ESPN president George Bodenheimer:

Dick Vitale did the very first national basketball game that ever aired on ESPN (a DePaul victory over Wisconsin).

I'm not sure what to make of the "national" qualifier on this statement as I believe all ESPN programming at that time was "national" (at least across the subset of cable system that actually carried the network at that time).

According to my research, the only college basketball game during the 1979-80 season which took place prior to 11/30 was the Hall of Fame Tipoff Classic which was televised by TVS. So that fact combined with the above NY Times article appears to confirm that the St. John's vs Oral Roberts matchup (which opened the Lapchick doubleheader) was the first-ever ESPN college basketball telecast.

The myth about the Fair Hooker comment attributed to Don Meredith

In 1970, ABC introduced Monday Night Football and placed the colorful Don Meredith in the booth alongside Keith Jackson and Howard Cosell. Meredith became known for his irreverent style and classic one-liners. Perhaps the most famous quote attributed to Meredith took place in the debut regular season edition of this prime time series. Late in the second quarter of that telecast, Meredith commented about the intriguing name of Browns wide receiver Fair Hooker. According to a frequently cited legend, Dandy Don uttered a follow-up remark along the lines of "I haven't met one yet."

I've long wondered how this commentary sounded on-air (more on that later). First, let's take a look at several versions of this tale which have appeared in print.

Meredith died in 2010 and his obituary in the New York Times contained this statement:

Mr. Meredith offered a taste of his breezy, even risqué, humor in that first broadcast. In talking about the Cleveland Browns receiver Fair Hooker, Mr. Meredith said, “Fair Hooker — I haven’t met one yet.”

Upon Meredith's passing, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel recounted the story this way:

Perhaps the greatest line of them all came in the first Monday night game between the New York Jets and the Cleveland Browns.
Cleveland receiver Fair Hooker had just caught a pass, which really got Meredith going.
"Isn't Fair Hooker a great name?" he asked.
Keith Jackson said nothing and for once Cosell was speechless.
Meredith then added, "Fair Hooker . . . I haven't met one yet."

Another variation appeared in this 1978 Washington Post article:

Or the time he said of Fair Hooker (the Cleveland wide receiver), "Now there's a name. Fair Hooker. I ain't never met one yet."

The 1988 book Monday Night Mayhem, a detailed history of ABC's Monday Night Football, offered this version:

"Isn't Fair Hooker a great name?" Meredith asked, with the implications hanging.
"I pass," Jackson said.
Cosell, perhaps reluctant to hear what might come next, said nothing.
Meredith went on anyway. "Fair Hooker", he mused. "I haven't met one yet."

Obviously some of the details on the exact wording and the reactions of Jackson and Cosell are inconsistent in these renditions. But the essence of the story is that during this Jets-Browns telecast, Meredith commented about the name Fair Hooker and then followed up with a classic line about never having met one. And numerous other newspapers, magazines, and books over the years have described the incident along those lines. However, there is one major problem with this tale. The famous alleged on-air follow-up statement never happened!

A full copy of this 9/21/70 telecast recently surfaced on YouTube. I located the exchange in question starting around the 1:23:21 mark as Meredith analyzes the previous play:

Meredith: Isn't Fair Hooker a great name?
Cosell: <after a slight pause> I pass.
Jackson: 3rd down and about 42 yards to go

And that was the extent of it. No follow-up remark of "I haven't met one yet" or anything resembling it. I wondered whether Meredith may have made that kind of statement later in the telecast. But I listened to the remainder of the video and found no such comment.

So where did this famous story come from? I have no idea. I suppose that once it appeared in print, other publications assumed it was true without attempting to verify it and simply ran with it. But that doesn't explain how it got printed that way in the first place. Perhaps Meredith was later interviewed about his "great name" comment and added the "haven't met one yet" quip at that time.

It seems that this often quoted Meredith line was really too good to be true.

Error in ESPN 30-for-30 short on 1972 Olympic basketball

I highly recommend the recent ESPN 30-for-30 digital short Silver Reunion which includes all 12 members of the 1972 USA Olympic Basketball team. The episode focuses on the continuing refusal by the players to accept silver medals after the controversial conclusion to the gold medal game. Unfortunately, this otherwise excellent documentary contains an inaccuracy.

At the 2:02 mark, the film displays a graphic which incorrectly states that the 1972 Olympic basketball games were played without a shot clock. Right after this, Doug Collins comments on the late game situation and perpetuates this myth which he has repeatedly done over the years.

The Olympics have always been played under international (FIBA) rules. FIBA introduced a 30-second shot clock in 1956 and that rule was indeed in effect for the 1972 games. The reason the USSR didn't try to run out the clock entirely on that possession was to avoid a shot clock violation. The 30-second clock also explains why the USA didn't attempt to foul a Soviet player as time was running out.

In September, Ken Pomeroy wrote an intriguing retrospective on 40th anniversary of this game where he also pointed out the shot clock rule, the faulty memory of Collins, and the staggering fact that announcers Frank Gifford and Bill Russell never once mentioned the shot clock during the entire ABC telecast. Perhaps that omission contributes as much to this longstanding myth as anything.

The NBC false claim - and opening night of 1980 Winter Olympics on ABC

NBC recently issued a press release claiming that its planned coverage of the 2014 Sochi Olympics would feature the first ever prime time event coverage before the opening ceremony. However, this NBC claim is false. In 1980, ABC opened its Winter Olympics coverage in prime time on Tues 2/12 from 9:30 - 11 pm ET, one night before the opening ceremony on Wed 2/13. (For completeness, ABC did the same thing in 1984 for the Sarajevo games.)

<Update 2/25/2013: ABC also provided prime time coverage the night before the opening ceremony in 1976 for the Innsbruck games (per a blog comment which I have verified).>

I watched the Olympics on ABC that opening Tuesday in 1980 and recall the oddity of televised event coverage prior to the opening ceremony. I also found multiple newspaper archives which supported my memory. Today, I was involved in some Twitter exchanges which helped proved this claim false - Fang's Bites provided a nice summary.

I also just found video proof which further supplements this research. This ABC promo clip runs down the ABC prime time schedules including the Olympics coverage for both 2/12 and 2/13:



The ABC coverage that first night included Al Michaels and Ken Dryden calling parts of the USA-Sweden hockey game from Lake Placid. That game took place 33 years ago tomorrow.

The myth about the first prime time college football regular season telecast

Despite what many media reports would have you believe, a significant first in sports TV history took place on Saturday 11/16/1968. That evening, ABC televised the Alabama at Miami game at 8:30 pm ET with Chris Schenkel and Bud Wilkinson calling the action. This marked the first college football regular season prime time national telecast.

The following season, ABC provided national coverage of three prime time games in the regular season. The most famous of these was the Alabama-Mississippi matchup in Birmingham on Saturday 10/4/1969 at 9:30 pm ET with Schenkel and Wilkinson also at the microphones.

However, for some strange reason, numerous newspapers, books, and web sites over the years have incorrectly referred to that 1969 game as the first regular season prime time college football national telecast and multiple recent reports continue to make this mistake. Furthermore, it wasn't even the first such game in 1969 as ABC had televised Air Force at SMU in prime time at 9:30 pm ET on Saturday 9/13 to open the season. I am baffled as to why so many media outlets are wrong regarding the facts about a milestone telecast.

Here is a chronicle of some of these erroneous claims:

In 2007, ESPN compiled a list of the 100 defining moments in college football. ESPN ranked this 1969 game at #95 and described it as the "first nationally televised night game".

To commemorate its 50th anniversary in 2004, Sports Illustrated compiled a state-by-state "greatest of" feature. The section on Mississippi included the SI cover photo from the 1969 game and claimed it was "the first college game to be nationally televised in prime time".

In 2008, the University of Alabama official athletic site labelled the 1969 game as "the first prime-time telecast of a college football game". You would think the official Alabama site should know better since the Crimson Tide participated in the true first such game in 1968.

Thet same year, the Marietta (OH) Times and an LSU publication also printed the same error.

The same misinformation appears in several books. In 2005, ESPN published the ESPN College Football Encyclopedia. You would expect such a comprehensive reference work to be thoroughly researched, yet this tome refers to the 1969 contest as "the first regular-season college football game televised in prime time."

Other books making this false claim include:

• The University of Mississippi: A Sequicentennial History
• Football in the SEC: Southeastern Conference
• 100 Things Crimson Tide Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die

Fast forward to 2012 and publications are continuing to perpetuate this myth. In February of this year, the Courier Journal (of Florence, AL) called the 1969 game "the first national prime-time broadcast of a college football game". This summer, an Ole Miss site published a story describing the 1969 game as "the first national prime time broadcast of a college football game". And less than 2 months ago, an Alabama Crimson Tide online magazine contained a writeup on the 1969 game and stated that it was "nationally televised, a first in prime time for regular season college football".

So why do so many media reports continue to get this story wrong? Frankly, I have no idea, but I will offer a few theories:

• The 1969 game was much more exciting than the one in 1968 and probably resonated more strongly in the memories of those who watched it on TV. The 1969 contest featured several lead changes and offensive records with Alabama scoring late to win 33-32. Mississippi quarterback Archie Manning passed for 436 yards. Meanwhile Alabama won the 1968 contest by a score of 14-6.
• The 1969 telecast was in early October and featured two ranked teams, an undefeated Crimson Tide squad, and a highly publicized player in Manning. The 1968 telecast took place in mid-November when both teams had 3 losses and Miami was unranked.
• The 1969 telecast likely stood out more as it was the only game ABC televised that day. In 1968, ABC had regional coverage of other games in the afternoon and the national game from Miami that night.
• While I don't know how the myth got started, I suspect that once it appeared in print for the first time, subsequent publications picked up this erroneous information without verifying it and the effect snowballed. Still one would expect prominent media outlets such as ESPN and SI to perform more careful research. And there should be no excuse for media related to the Alabama Crimson Tide to make such a mistake.

In 2011, Ivan Maisel provided an interesting retrospective on the 1969 game on the ESPN site including a nugget that ABC chose 10/4 for its prime time telecast to avoid competing against the baseball playoff doubleheader on NBC that afternoon. Ironically, the central theme of Maisel's original article was the same false claim about the 1969 game being the first such prime time telecast. A reader pointed out this error in the comments section and Maisel updated the story to correctly cite the 1968 game as being first. Notice how awkwardly the second paragraph of that article reads from this revision.

Finally, I will point out that the weekly 2012 Miami Hurricanes football press release trumpets the fact that Miami was involved in the first prime time telecast in 1968, but incorrectly states that the game was played at Alabama. So even when the 1968 game gets its proper due, the truth still gets lost in the shuffle.

The myth of three consecutive buzzer beaters in the 1981 NCAA tournament

Saturday 3/14/1981 was unquestionably one of the more memorable days in NCAA tournament history. NBC televised a regional doubleheader and the day featured these three shocking last second finishes (but not quite in the way that a myth would have you believe):

• St Joseph's over DePaul on a John Smith layup

• Arkansas over Louisville on a halfcourt shot by U.S. Reed

• Kansas St over Oregon St on a Rolando Blackmon jumper

DePaul and Oregon St were both 1-seeds and were ranked #1 and #2 in the country. Louisville was the defending champion. All three received first round byes and all there were ousted in the second round.

I watched the action on NBC that day. In the early afternoon timeslot, St Joseph's stunned DePaul with Don Criqui exclaiming "Look at this! Look at this!" as the winning play developed.



The other two thrillers were in the late afternoon timeslot and ended very close to one another. NBC (which was covering four regional games in that timeslot) had taken viewers live to see Marv Albert and Bucky Waters call the end of the Arkansas game. After the Reed halfcourt shot, NBC quickly switched everyone to the live ending of the Kansas St game with Jay Randolph and Steve Grote at the mikes.



The late afternoon fireworks took place about two hours after DePaul was upset. However if you perform a Google search on this, you will find multiple sites and blogs which talk about this day featuring three consecutive buzzer beaters and some which claim that the St Joseph's win was the last of the three fantastic finishes.

And the misinformation on this is not limited to so-called amateur publishers. In 2002, Alexander Wolff on si.com contributed to this myth and claimed that these three games finished "within minutes". In 2006, si.com was at it again, as Tim Layden described the DePaul and Oregon State finishes as being "televised minutes apart on NBC".

Most surprisingly, Gary Thompson who was the NBC analyst on the St Joseph's game perpetuated this myth in a 2005 quote which appeared on cstv.com.

Thompson was also involved in what was arguably one of the greatest five-minute stretches in NCAA Tournament history in 1981.

"It was called the greatest live switch in NCAA history," Thompson said. "I was broadcasting the DePaul-St. Joseph's game, where top-seeded DePaul was upset in the final seconds to this unheralded St. Joseph's team. When the game ended, we immediately went live to the Arkansas-Louisville game just in time to see U.S. Reed's famous halfcourt shot at the buzzer to win the game for Arkansas. When that ended, we switched live to the Kansas State-Oregon State game and saw Rolando Blackman drive down the sideline and hit the fadeaway shot from the corner to win the game in the final seconds for the Wildcats."

For the record, Thompson was calling the Indiana-Maryland game with Criqui during the late afternoon window. But since he was directly involved in the telecast of one of these fantastic finishes, you would think he might have a better recollection of the facts.

So why has this myth persisted? I have a guess. I recall that the sports report on many news programs that weekend ran highlights of these buzzer beaters. And I remember NBC doing the same thing on its tournament coverage the next afternoon. I suspect that many people who didn't see these games live watched these highlight packages. The images of the three finishes consecutively in highlight format likely caused people to incorrectly perceive the three games as actually finishing back-to-back-to-back.

In any case, I have always believed that the games on 3/14/1981 and the NBC live switches to catch the ending of the two late afternoon games helped jumpstart the phenomenon now called March Madness.