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Writing Howard Cosell’s obituary presented the problem of how to reconcile the man’s enormous contribution to sports journalism with his lesser side. Howard Cosell (1918–1995) When The Grim Reaper comes, it’s best to speak well of the departed. So let it be said first that Howard Cosell changed the face of sports commentary in America.There were talented broadcasters before him, but Cosell brought something new to the game—a willingness to speak the truth in hard situations.That was particularly evident in the 1960s, when Cassius Clay changed his name to Muhammad Ali and refused induction into the United States Army. Cosell wasn’t Ali’s only defender.Writers like Jerry Izenberg and Robert Lipsyte were equally eloquent in support of Muhammad’s cause. But Cosell had access to television ;an extraordinarily powerful new medium.And because of that, his name will be linked with Ali’s forever. There was also a time when Howard Cosell was good for boxing. Like him or not, he had the most recognizable voice in America and was boxing’s only nationally known commentator. He had the ability to go before a major sports audience, and by virtue of his presence, make almost any event seem important. For two decades, he was integral to the sport. Then, in 1982, he walked away, telling an interviewer, “I now favor the abolition of professional boxing. It’s utterly immoral; it’s not capable of reformation.You’ll never clean it up. Mud can never be clean.” That, of course, was Cosell’s prerogative. Just as he urged others, particularly black athletes, to speak their mind, he also had First Amendment rights.But something beyond the Constitution always seemed to be pushing Howard Cosell on. Ultimately, he began to act as though he was more important than the events he covered. Despite an enormously successful career, he became an increasingly bitter and abusive man. My own first contact with Cosell was a positive experience. It came 42 THOMAS HAUSER in 1962. I was a high-school junior. He was hosting pre- and post-game radio shows for the NewYork Mets. I wrote him a letter suggesting that he was becoming a “shill.” I doubt very much that an eleventh grader ever caused more consternation at ABC. Several days later, when I got home from school,my mother told me,“Someone named Howard Cosell called this morning.” The next day, I received a typed two-page singlespaced letter in the mail. “Dear Tom,” the missive began. “Despite a flood of mail, I am answering your letter as immediately as I have received it for one very important reason—I respect it.” (The man wrote like he talked.)The letter went on to reaffirm Cosell’s commitment to truth, and closed with the words, “I shall not change; I assure you of that. I have gone my way regardless of the fact that much of the public seems to prefer bland tripe to forthright exposition, and I shall continue to do so. Meanwhile, I ask that you, as an intelligent listener, bear in mind that life is complex, integrity is precious, and that working before and after the Mets games has been the biggest challenge to my courage—as a married man with children—that I have ever faced.” That was my introduction to Howard Cosell.We met face-to-face twenty-two years later when I was researching a book entitled The Black Lights. I went to ABC for an interview, and was ushered into “The Great One’s” office.He was on the telephone with Eddie Einhorn,who owned the ChicagoWhite Sox.The first words I heard him say were,“Eddie;take your fucking ball club and shove it up your ass.” Then the conversation got ugly. Five years later, while researching Muhammad Ali: His Life AndTimes, I had occasion to interview Cosell again.Another time, I was a guest on his radio talk show,“Speaking Of Everything.” He invited me both to the Friars Club and to his home. But it really wasn’t worth the price, because the cost of access was nonstop abuse;of me,of the people he worked with, of the world at large.I mean,how can you digest your lunch when you’re sitting next to someone who’s saying, “Alex Wallau has cancer, and he deserves it.” The last time I saw Howard Cosell was at CORE’s annual Martin Luther King...

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