Love him or hate him - and most people did - there was no ignoring Howard Cosell.
With his caustic "tell it like it is" personality, Cosell became the most celebrated sportscaster ever and turned "Monday Night Football" into a national institution.Cosell, who underwent cancer surgery in 1991, died Sunday at NYU's Hospital for Joint Diseases. He was 77. His grandson, Justin Cohane, said Cosell died of a heart embolism after a long illness.
Cosell was the strident, colorful voice of ABC radio and television from 1953 to 1992. It was a period of phenomenal growth and change in America's pastimes, spurred by television's cascading millions and increased greed among both athletes and promoters.
"Howard Cosell was one of the most original people ever to appear on American television," said ABC News president Roone Arledge, who was head of ABC Sports during Cosell's heyday. "He became a giant by the simple act of telling the truth in an industry that was not used to hearing it and considered it revolutionary."
Cosell was one of the first sportscasters to acknowledge Muhammad Ali by his new name after he changed it from Cassius Clay and stood up for Ali when the heavyweight champion refused to enter military service during the Vietnam War and was stripped of his title.
"Howard Cosell was a good man and he lived a good life," Ali said. "I have been interviewed by many people, but I enjoyed interviews with Howard the best. We always put on a good show. I hope to meet him one day in the hereafter. I can hear Howard now saying, `Muhammad, you're not the man you used to be.' I pray that he is in God's hands. I will miss him."
Cosell's acid tongue generated bitter feuds with not only the print media but also contemporaries in broadcasting. Few, high or low, escaped his often bitter sarcasm, including the institutions on whom his fame was based, boxing and the NFL.
"I never sacrificed truth in the name of friendship," he insisted.
But he could exhibit stubborn loyalty when his sense of right and wrong was outraged.
Cosell was vilified by many when he defended Ali, but the boxer went on to beat the government in the courts, reclaim his crown and become one of the most popular champions in history. Cosell held firm and emerged as an even more celebrated figure.
"It was a fight Ali had to make. He made it and won," Cosell said. "People said we, Ali and I, played off each other. That's partially true."
Cosell waged a similar battle to defend Curt Flood, who challenged baseball rules binding one player to a team for life unless traded or sold.
"Cosell was one of a kind," said Shelby Whitfield, a longtime colleague at ABC Radio. "He brought a new dimension to sports reporting. He was a showman and a journalist and a person always sensitive to the underdog.
"No doubt he would like to be remembered as the first sportscaster who told it like it was. Many loved him, many hated him, but everyone had an opinion. There will never be another Howard Cosell."
Cosell, a graduate in law from New York University, was a TV producer, author and lecturer as well as sportscaster. Cosell was best known for his role with ABC's "Monday Night Football," which began in 1970, as well as his broadcasting of bigtime prize fights.
"What people never understood is that sports are show business. I think you can make an event dull by stressing cross blocks, blitzes, spinouts and technical things," he once said.
"My idea is that you must give every game a story line. My hero in broadcasting was Edward R. Murrow. I learned speech variety from him - when to raise and lower the voice. The object is to grab the greatest number of people."
Yet he dramatically deserted both football and boxing late in his career, exacerbating the divorces with biting criticism.
In December 1982, after covering a heavyweight title bout in which champion Larry Holmes pummeled Randall "Tex" Cobb for 15 rounds, he announced he never again would broadcast a pro fight.
"I am tired of the hypocrisy and sleaziness of the boxing scene," he said, calling for it to be reformed or abolished.
He withdrew from "Monday Night Football" in 1983, after 13 years. While acknowledging his reasons were largely personal - he and his wife were both tired of his constant traveling - he also complained that "pro football has become a stagnant bore."
He criticized the TV industry for bringing former coaches and players into broadcast booths, and he deplored the transfer of football teams from city to city, which he called "a travesty, an affront to fan loyalty."
Cosell's style intrigued and irritated listeners but made him one of the best-known and recognizable figures of his time, in or out of sports. One survey found 96 percent of respondents recognized his name; another rated him tops as both the most popular and least popular sportscaster.
"He made people listen, he certainly made people think and he made people watch," said Dennis Lewin, senior vice president at ABC Sports. "You didn't always agree with Howard, but he was never afraid to say what he thought."
Cosell's looks and voice were as distinctive as his opinions. He was a tall, stoop-shouldered man with a long nose, slicked-down hair (in later years, supplemented by a toupee), and an inevitable cigar.
His voice was heavy, at times booming, with a nasal twang. He liked to use long words and enunciate them with a finality that defied rejoinder. He was likened to a fundamentalist preacher attacking sin.
After abandoning pro boxing and "Monday Night Football," he was host of a weekly program called "Sportsbeat" until 1985. He appeared regularly on ABC radio until his retirement in January 1992. He later testified against the NFL during its court battle with the upstart USFL.
Cosell was born Howard William Cohen on March 25, 1918, in Winston-Salem, N.C., the son of a Polish immigrant and grandson of a rabbi. The family later moved to Brooklyn, N.Y.
Howard wanted to become a newspaper reporter, but his parents urged him to study law. After serving in the military in World War II, he practiced law for nearly 10 years - doing a little sports writing on the side - before going into broadcasting part time in 1953 as a member of the ABC Radio staff.
He became a full-time broadcaster in 1956.
He wrote three books - "Cosell on Cosell," "Like It Is" and "I Never Played The Game," in which he bitterly attacked Frank Gifford and Don Meredith, his former "Monday Night Football" colleagues. His income was said to be in excess of half a million dollars a year.
Among his movie appearances was a memorable bit in Woody Allen's "Bananas," parodying himself with a play-by-play account of a bedroom scene. He also appeared in Allen's "Broadway Danny Rose" as well as Disney's "The World's Greatest Athlete." And he had short-lived fling as a TV variety host in 1975-76 with "Saturday Night Live With Howard Cosell."
He is survived by two daughters, Jill and Hilary. His wife, Mary Edith "Emmy" Cosell, died in 1990.
Hospital spokeswoman Lynn O'Dell said the funeral will be private and plans for a memorial service will be announced later. O'Dell added that in lieu of flowers, contributions should be made in Cosell's name to the Hospital for Joint Diseases.