I Never Played the Game
| Howard Cosell | |
|---|---|
Cosell in 1975
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| Born |
Howard William Cohen March 25, 1918 Winston-Salem, North Carolina |
| Died | April 23, 1995 (aged 77) New York, New York |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Occupation | Journalist, author, radio personality, columnist, sports commentator, lawyer, television personality |
| Years active | 1953–1993 |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Edith Abrams "Emmy" Cosell (m. 1944–90); her death |
| Children | 2 |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Service/branch | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1941-1945 |
| Rank | Major |
| Unit | United States Army Transportation Corps |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Howard William Cosell (/koʊˈsɛl/; born Howard William Cohen; March 25, 1918 – April 23, 1995) was an American sports journalist who was widely known for his blustery, cocksure personality. Cosell said of himself, "Arrogant, pompous, obnoxious, vain, cruel, verbose, a showoff. There's no question that I'm all of those things." In its obituary for Cosell, The New York Times described Cosell's effect on American sports coverage: "He entered sports broadcasting in the mid-1950s, when the predominant style was unabashed adulation, [and] offered a brassy counterpoint that was first ridiculed, then copied until it became the dominant note of sports broadcasting."
In 1993, TV Guide named Howard Cosell The All-Time Best Sportscaster in its issue celebrating 40 years of television.
In 1996, Howard Cosell was ranked #47 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All Time.
Cosell was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to accountant Isidore Cohen and his wife Nellie (Rosenthal) Cohen. The grandson of a rabbi, he was raised in Brooklyn, New York. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in English from New York University, where he was a member of Pi Lambda Phi fraternity. He then earned a degree at New York University School of Law, where he was a member of the law review.
Cosell's grandfather's name had been changed by immigration authorities when he entered the United States. Howard Cosell said he changed his name from "Cohen" to "Cosell" while a law student as a way to honor his father and grandfather by reverting to a version of his family's original Polish name.
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