David Coleman 1926 - 2013 RIP

The former BBC sports broadcaster David Coleman has died at the age of 87.

He grew up in Cheshire although his family were of Irish heritage. Coleman was a talented athlete in his own right, and in 1949, he won the Manchester Mile as a member of Stockport Harriers, the only non-international runner to do so. He was in line to compete at the 1952 Olympics but missed the trials due to a pulled hamstring and after a serious of other niggling injuries had to give up competing.

He had moved into journalism with his local newspaper and after he wrote to the BBC offering his services, without even auditioning he was invited to report on a local athletics meeting where Roger Bannister was running. Shortly after he joined the sports department at BBC Midlands.

In October 1958, the BBC's Head of Sport Peter Dimmock recruited Coleman to be the presenter of the new Saturday afternoon sports programme Grandstand. He continued as the regular presenter until 1968, frequently returning over the next 25 years for major events such as the Grand National or when Frank Bough was unavailable. He also presented the BBC's Sports Review of the Year from 1961, and Sportsnight with Coleman (1968–1972) – which included an interview with the then Conservative Party leader, Ted Heath, on his famous triumph in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. He presented a Question of Sport for 18 years from 1979-1997 and even covered the return of the Beatles from the United States and the 1959 General Election for the BBC from the Press Association headquarters.

As well as a presenter, Coleman was also a sports commentator. He presented and/or commentated on 11 Olympic Games from Rome 1960 to Sydney 2000, as well as eight Commonwealth Games.

He was the BBC's senior football commentator for several years from 1971 although he had covered a number of big games since the early 1960s including all of England’s games at the 1970 World Cup. His “ONE-NIL” becoming almost his trademark. He commentated on the World Cup Final in 1974 and 1978, the European Cup Final in 1973 and 1975 and the FA Cup final from 1972 to 1976 inclusive, although he missed the 1977 game because he was in a legal dispute with the BBC, allowing John Motson to make his FA Cup final debut. Coleman returned for the 1978 final before inexplicably announcing later that year that he was stepping down as lead football commentator, although he continued as (effectively) the number three on MOTD for several more years. Coleman's last live football commentary was the England v Scotland game in the 1979 Home International Championship, and his last game of all was a midweek League Cup match between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United in October 1981.

But it was Athletics which was his first love, and his commentary accompanied nearly every major event for more than a generation, including the Coe-Ovett battles of the 1980s. In 1972 he had been on the air for almost 15 hours non-stop doing the Munich Olympics hostage crisis, his background in journalism coming to the fore.

Coleman was the consummate professional; he set himself very high standards and expected those around him to do the same, and woe-betide anybody who didn’t live up to his expectations. There is a youtube clip of him berating an unfortunate studio cameraman who messed up and he nearly caused a diplomatic incident by calling host broadcasters RAI “a bunch of ******* amateurs” at an athletics event in Rome.

He could be volatile and his relationships with his work colleagues wasn’t always easy. Twice he refused to sign a new contract with the BBC and on one occasion he sued them (the matter was settled out of court but only after Coleman had been off-air for more than a year). His long standing rival at ITV, Brian Moore - the kindest and most gentle soul you could ever meet - described him as “not a particularly nice man and not an easy one to work with”.

When he finally retired in 2000 after 46 years on the BBC he became the only broadcaster ever to be awarded the Olympic Order by the IOC. A very private man, he left without fanfare and refused to co-operate with the farewell programme the BBC had planned to mark his leaving.

He didn’t particularly like being a “celebrity”, nor the parodies of him on Spitting image. He was known to be irritated by the Colemanballs column started in his honour by Private Eye, especially as the comment about a Cuban hurdler which had started it all off at the 1976 Olympics “Juantorina just open his legs wide and showed us all his class” was actually said by his colleague Ron Pickering.

Coleman retired to Torquay and refused all requests for interviews and offers to write his autobiography, although he did agree to the BBC screening “The Quite Remarkable David Coleman “ to celebrate his life, which was aired just after his 85th birthday in May 2011. He was married with six children, one of his daughters becoming an International Show Jumper.

As with the death of Ronnie Biggs earlier this week, younger members won’t always understand the effect and influence names from the past had on the events that those of us who grew up in those days lived through. They will wonder why so much news coverage is being given to a commentator, but David Coleman’s voice resonated through a generation and for once the term “broadcasting legend” is not out of place or unjustified for one of the greatest sports broadcasters ever to pick up a microphone.

But we couldn’t finish without some Coleman classics.....

* "And for those of you watching who haven’t got television sets, there’s live commentary on Radio 2"
* "Britain's Olympic Gold medallist.....Daley Cathlon."
* "The Dutch manager told them in the dressing gown at half-time."

He was a quality broadcaster. Apparently he started working for the BBC in 1954.
I remember him presenting A Question of Sport.

Top man.

Colemanballs: The art of letting the words come out before the brain is engaged, made famous by David Coleman but with very able disciples in Kevin Keegan, Bobby Robson, Ron Atkinson, Terry Venables....in fact it seems endemic amongst the football fraternity.

"It was still moving when it hit the back of the net."

"I came to Nantes two years ago and it's much the same today, except that it's completely different"

"In some ways, cramp is worse than having a broken leg."

"I don't think there's anyone bigger or smaller than Maradona."

"I know what is around the corner - I just don't know where the corner is. But the onus is on us to perform and we must control the bandwagon."

"The substitute is about to come on - he's a player who was left out of the starting line-up today."

"England have the best fans in the world and Scotland's fans are second-to-none."

"I'd love to be a mole on the wall in the Liverpool dressing room at half-time."

"Luis Figo is totally different to David Beckham, and vice versa."

"Gary always weighed up his options, especially when he had no choice."

"You can't do better than go away from home and get a draw."

I remember him for so many Olympics, commentating alongside Ron Pickering. 2-great broadcasters now reunited once again.

Such a great loss,he was a legend in broadcasting, there is only one word to sum him up Remarkable.
R.I.P

(21-12-2013 17:09 )jimmyt73 Wrote:  there is only one word to sum him up Remarkable.
R.I.P

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr remarkable to give him the spitting image version.


Good life, good innings, no arguments there.

Another giant of broadcasting gone I can well believe he was somewhat spiky off-screen, though, but I've got to give respect to someone who turns down the "autobiog-adulation-etc" route.

RIP

RIP to a man that was simply unique, he was the King of catchphrases and contradictions. His legendary commentary gaffes provided us many a chuckle over the years.

We'll never see his likes again. The great thing about this man was that he did it his way or not at all. Will be sorely missed. A broadcasting giant who quickly became a household name with a style unlike nobody else

One of the outstanding multi sport commentators of any generation.
A superb professional and an excellent host of A question of sport too.
R.I.P.

great broadcaster im old enough to remember him starting on grandstand in black and white one of the finest sports commentators of all time