View source for Howard Cosell

{{refimprove|date = August 2025}}
{{Short description|American sportscaster (1918–1995)}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Howard Cosell
| image              = Howard Cosell 1980 (cropped).jpg
| caption            = Cosell in 1980
| birth_name         = Howard William Cohen
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1918|3|25|mf=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Winston-Salem, North Carolina]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1995|4|23|1918|3|25|mf=y}}
| death_place        = [[New York City]], U.S.
| occupation         = {{flatlist|
* Journalist
* author
* radio personality
* columnist
* sports commentator
* lawyer
* television personality
}}
| alma mater         = [[New York University]]
| years_active       = 1953–1993
| spouse             = {{marriage|Mary Edith Abrams "Emmy" Cosell|1944|1990|end=died}}
| children           = 2
| module             = {{Infobox military person|embed=yes
| allegiance = United States
| branch = [[United States Army]]
| serviceyears = 1941–1945
| rank = [[Major (United States)|Major]]
| unit = [[United States Army Transportation Corps]]
| battles = [[World War II]]}}
}}

'''Howard William Cosell''' ({{IPAc-en|k|oʊ|ˈ|s|ɛ|l}}; né '''Cohen'''; March 25, 1918 – April 23, 1995) was an American [[Sports journalism|sports journalist]], broadcaster and author. Cosell became prominent and influential during his tenure with [[ABC Sports]] from 1953 until 1985.

Cosell was widely known for his blustery, confident personality.<ref name=obit/> Cosell said of himself, "I've been called arrogant, pompous, obnoxious, vain, cruel, verbose, a showoff. And, of course, I am."
Cosell was sardonically nicknamed "Humble Howard" by fans and media critics.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0Q7uAUHVxo#t=31m44s|title=NFL Top 10 Game Voices|website=YouTube|access-date=April 17, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150528174242/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0Q7uAUHVxo#t=31m44s|archive-date=May 28, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> In its obituary for Cosell, ''[[The New York Times]]'' described Cosell's effect on American sports coverage:
<blockquote>
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.<ref name=obit/>
</blockquote>
He also brought an antagonistic, almost [[Heel (professional wrestling)|heel-like]] commentary, notably criticism of [[Terry Bradshaw]] suggesting that he did not have the intelligence to win in the league.<ref>{{cite news |last=Houston |first=William |date=December 26, 2005 |title=Turn out the lights, the party's over - The Globe and Mail |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/turn-out-the-lights-the-partys-over/article740763/ |newspaper=The Globe and Mail}}</ref>

In 1993, ''[[TV Guide]]'' named Howard Cosell the all-time best sportscaster.<ref>{{cite book|title=''TV Guide''|issue=April 17–23|year=1993|pages=62|title-link=TV Guide}}</ref>

==Early life and family==
Cosell was born in [[Winston-Salem, North Carolina]],<ref name=obit/> to accountant Isidore Cohen and his wife Nellie Cohen ([[née]] Rosenthal); his parents were [[American Jews|Jewish]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/77/Howard-Cosell.html|title=Howard Cosell Biography (1920-)|work=filmreference.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Cosell, Howard |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/article-1G2-3436500123/cosell-howard.html |website=encyclopedia.com}}</ref> The grandson of a [[rabbi]],<ref>Leonard Shapiro. April 24, 1995. [https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/longterm/memories/1995/95pass12.htm Howard Cosell Dies at 77]. ''The Washington Post''. Retrieved: May 18, 2013</ref> he was raised in [[Brooklyn]], New York City.

The name of Cosell's grandfather was changed 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 language|Polish]] name.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bloom |first=John |date=2010 |title=There You Have it: The Life, Legacy, and Legend of Howard Cosell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pRirlKfG3J0C&q=howard+cosell+changed+name+polish&pg=PA67 |location=Amherst, MA |publisher=University of Massachusetts Press |page=67 |isbn=978-1-55849-837-2}}</ref> He attended New York University School of Law and was admitted to the bar in 1939.<ref>"[http://www.americansportscastersonline.com/cosell.html Howard Cosell]", American Sportscasters Online, Hall of Fame, 1993; accessed 2025.08.18.</ref>

During World War II, Cosell served in the Army Transportation Corps from 1942 to 1945. He was honorably discharged with the rank of major.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sports Heroes Who Served: Supporting Roles |url=https://www.defense.gov/News/Feature-Stories/Story/Article/2808890/sports-heroes-who-served-supporting-roles/ |website=U.S. Department of Defense}}</ref>

==Career==
===Introduction to broadcasting===
In the early 1950s, Cosell had a sports radio show which he would record early in the morning. [[Ned Garver]] recalled doing an interview with him in 1951. Cosell told Garver that the sponsor did not provide any gifts to the guests on the show, but Garver found out later that there actually were gifts and that Cosell kept them himself.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Garver|first1=Ned|last2=Bozman|first2=Bill|last3=Joyner|first3=Ronnie|title=Touching All the Bases|publisher=Pepperpot Productions, Inc.|year=2003|asin=B00B6JBVV6|pages=146, 153}}</ref>

Cosell represented the [[Little League]] of New York, when in 1953, Hal Neal (president ABC Radio), then an [[Citadel Media|ABC Radio]] manager, asked him to host a show on New York flagship [[WABC (AM)|WABC]] featuring Little League participants. The show marked the beginning of a relationship with WABC and ABC Radio that would last his entire broadcasting career.

Cosell hosted the Little League show for three years without pay, and then decided to leave law to become a full-time broadcaster. He approached [[Robert Pauley]], President of ABC Radio, with a proposal for a weekly show. Pauley told him the network could not afford to develop untried talent, but he would be put on the air if he would get a sponsor. To Pauley's surprise, Cosell came back with a relative's shirt company as a sponsor, and the show ''Speaking of Sports'' was born.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/business/media/14pauley.html Robert Pauley, Former Head of ABC Radio, Dies at 85], ''The New York Times'', May 14, 2009.</ref>

Cosell took his "tell it like it is" approach when he teamed with the ex–[[Brooklyn Dodgers]] pitcher "Big ''Numba'' Thirteen" [[Ralph Branca]] on WABC's pre- and post-game [[Radio programming|radio shows]] of the [[New York Mets]] in their nascent years beginning in 1962. He pulled no punches in taking members of the hapless [[expansion team]] to task.

Otherwise on radio, Cosell did his show, ''Speaking of Sports'', as well as sports reports and updates for affiliated radio stations around the country; he continued his radio duties even after he became prominent on television. Cosell then became a sports anchor at [[WABC-TV]] in New York, where he served in that role from 1961 to 1974. He expanded his commentary beyond sports to a radio show, ''Speaking of Everything''.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1987/09/02/cosell-gets-back-in-the-picture/61f7b279-6f64-442c-8e73-3af9caccf4e2/|title=COSELL GETS BACK IN THE PICTURE|first=Norman|last=Chad|date=September 2, 1987|newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>

===Rise to prominence, support of black athletes===
Cosell rose to prominence in the early 1960s, covering boxer [[Muhammad Ali]], beginning from the time he fought under his [[Name at birth|birth name]], Cassius Clay. The two seemed to have an affinity despite their different personalities, and complemented each other in broadcasts. Cosell was one of the first sportscasters to refer to him as Muhammad Ali after he changed his name, and supported him when he refused to be inducted into the military. Cosell was also an outspoken supporter of Olympic sprinters [[John Carlos]] and [[Tommie Smith]], after they raised their fists in a [[1968 Olympics Black Power salute|"black power" salute during their 1968 medal ceremony]] in Mexico City. In a time when many sports broadcasters avoided touching social, racial, or other controversial issues, and kept a certain level of collegiality towards the sports figures they commented on, Cosell did not, and indeed built a reputation around his [[catchphrase]], "I'm just telling it like it is."

Cosell's style of reporting transformed [[sports broadcasting]] in the United States. Whereas previous sportscasters had mostly been known for [[color commentary]] and lively [[play-by-play]], Cosell had an intellectual approach. His use of analysis and context brought television sports reporting closer to "hard" news reporting. However, his distinctive [[staccato]] voice, [[New York City English|accent]], [[syntax]], and [[cadence (music)|cadence]] were a form of color commentary all their own.

Cosell earned his greatest interest from the public when he backed Ali after his heavyweight title was stripped from him for refusing military service during the [[Vietnam War]]. Cosell found vindication several years later when he was able to inform Ali that the [[Supreme Court of the United States|United States Supreme Court]] had unanimously ruled in favor of Ali in ''[[Clay v. United States]]''.

Cosell called most of Ali's fights immediately before and after Ali's return from his three-year exile in October 1970. Those fights were broadcast on tape delay usually a week after they were transmitted on closed circuit. However, Cosell did not call two of Ali's biggest fights, the [[Rumble in the Jungle]] in October 1974 and the first [[Fight of the Century|Ali–Joe Frazier bout]] in March 1971. Promoter [[Jerry Perenchio]] selected actor [[Burt Lancaster]], who had never provided color commentary for a fight, to work the bout with longtime announcer [[Don Dunphy]] and former light-heavyweight champion [[Archie Moore]]. Cosell attended that fight as a spectator only. He would do a [[voice-over]] of that bout, when it was shown on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] a few days before the second [[Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier II|Ali-Frazier bout]] in January 1974.

Perhaps his most famous call took place in early 1973 at the [[Joe Frazier vs. George Foreman|fight between]] heavyweight champion [[Joe Frazier]] and top challenger [[George Foreman]]<!-- for the World Heavyweight Championship--> in [[Kingston, Jamaica]]. When Foreman knocked Frazier to the mat the first of six times, roughly two minutes into the first round, Cosell yelled out:

{{blockquote|Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!}}

His call of Frazier's first trip to the mat became one of the most quoted phrases in American sports broadcasting history. Foreman beat Frazier by a [[Technical knockout|TKO]] in the second round to win the [[World heavyweight boxing championship|World Heavyweight Championship]].

Cosell provided blow-by-blow commentary for ABC of some of boxing's biggest matches during the 1970s and the early-1980s, including [[Ken Norton]]'s upset win over Ali in 1973 and Ali's defeat of [[Leon Spinks]] in 1978 recapturing the heavyweight title for the third time. His signature [[toupee]] was unceremoniously knocked off in front of live ABC cameras when a scuffle broke out after a broadcast match between [[Scott LeDoux]] and Johnny Boudreaux. Cosell quickly retrieved his hairpiece and replaced it. During interviews in studio with Ali, the champion would tease and threaten to remove the hairpiece with Cosell playing along but never allowing it to be touched.

Ali would frequently refer to Cosell's hairpiece as a squirrel, rabbit or other wild animal. On one of these occasions, Ali quipped, "Cosell, you're a phony, and that thing on your head comes from the tail of a pony."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5294873|title=Ali and Cosell, Irresistible Enigmas|website=NPR.org|date=March 22, 2006 }}</ref>

With typical headline-generating drama, Cosell abruptly ended his broadcast association with the sport of boxing while providing coverage for ABC for the heavyweight championship bout between [[Larry Holmes]] and [[Randall "Tex" Cobb]] on November 26, 1982. Halfway through the bout and with Cobb absorbing a beating, Cosell stopped providing anything more than rudimentary comments about round number and the participants punctuated with occasional declarations of disgust during the 15 rounds. He declared shortly after the fight to a national television audience that he had broadcast his last professional boxing match.

Cosell also was an ABC commentator for the television broadcast of the second of the two famous 1973 "[[Battle of the Sexes (tennis)|Battles of the Sexes]]" tennis matches, this one between [[Bobby Riggs]] and [[Billie Jean King]].

===Feuds===
During Cosell's tenure as a sportscaster, he frequently clashed with longtime ''[[New York Daily News]]'' sports columnist [[Dick Young (sportswriter)|Dick Young]], who rarely missed an opportunity to denigrate the broadcaster in print as an "ass", a "shill", or most often, "Howie the Fraud". Young would sometimes stand near Cosell and shout profanities so that the audio he was taping for his radio show would be unusable. Writing about Cosell, sportswriter [[Jimmy Cannon]] sniped, "This is a guy who changed his name, put on a toupee and tried to convince the world that he tells it like it is."<ref>{{cite web |last=Plummer |first=William |title=The Mouth That Roared |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20105742,00.html |work=[[People (magazine)|People]]}}</ref> He further added, "If Howard Cosell were a sport, he'd be [[roller derby]]."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121104201031/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1006539/index.htm Nack, William. "Telling It Like It Is", ''Sports Illustrated'', May 1, 1995].</ref>

Cosell, according to longtime [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] [[racecaster]] [[Chris Economaki]], "had an enormous and monumental ego, and may have been the most pompous man I've ever met". Cosell ripped Economaki for a miscue in an interview with [[Cale Yarborough]] for ABC "(and he) never let me forget that". At an ABC Christmas party Economaki's wife asked to be introduced to Cosell and Chris said, "{{'}}Howard, for some inexplicable reason my wife wants to meet you...' and it (ticked) him off to no end. He really took it personally."<ref>Economaki, Chris (with Dave Argabright) (2006) ''LET 'EM ALL GO! The Story of Auto Racing by the Man Who Was There'' (Fisher, IN: Books By Dave Argabright), p. 191. {{ISBN|0-9719639-3-2}}.</ref>

===''Monday Night Football''===
In [[1970 NFL season|1970]], [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] executive producer for sports [[Roone Arledge]] hired Cosell to be a [[color commentator|commentator]] for ''[[Monday Night Football]]'' (''MNF''), the first time in 15 years that [[American football]] was broadcast weekly in prime time. Cosell was accompanied most of the time by ex-football players [[Frank Gifford]] and [[Don Meredith|"Dandy" Don Meredith]].
[[File:Howard cosell 1975.JPG|thumb|right|Cosell in the broadcast booth, 1975]]
Cosell was openly contemptuous of ex-athletes appointed to prominent sportscasting roles solely on account of their playing fame. He regularly clashed on-air with Meredith, whose laid-back style was in sharp contrast to Cosell's more critical approach to the games.

The Cosell-Meredith-Gifford dynamic helped make ''Monday Night Football'' a success; it frequently was the number one rated program in the weekly [[Nielsen ratings]]. The inimitable style of the group (mostly with Cosell, both loved and hated by the public) distinguished ''Monday Night Football'' as a distinct spectacle, and ushered in an era of more colorful broadcasters and [[24/7 service|24/7]] TV sports coverage.<ref>{{cite web |last=Steele |first=David |date=September 18, 2021 |title='The perfect fit': Glory days of 'Monday Night Football' with Cosell, Meredith and Gifford |url=https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/the-perfect-fit-glory-days-of-monday-night-football-with-cosell-meredith-and-gifford/867rd0wxv7j01m38x26nbivfc |access-date=October 18, 2025 |website=Sporting News}}</ref>

It was during his ''MNF'' run that Cosell coined a phrase that came to be so identified with football that other announcers and spectators—notably [[Chris Berman]]—began to repeat it. An ordinary kickoff return began with Cosell giving commentary about a player's difficult life. It became extraordinary when he suddenly observed, in his trademark staccato rhythm, "He could ... go all ... the way!"

Cosell has been credited for popularizing the term "[[nachos]]" during his time in the ''MNF'' booth.<ref>{{cite web|title=How Howard Cosell helped bring nachos to the world|website=For the Win|date=November 13, 2013|url=https://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/11/how-howard-cosell-helped-bring-nachos-to-the-world|access-date=February 17, 2021}}</ref>

====Departure from ''MNF'': Alvin Garrett incident====
During the first half of the September 5, 1983 ''Monday Night Football'' game between the [[1983 Dallas Cowboys season|Dallas Cowboys]] and [[1983 Washington Redskins season|Washington Redskins]], Cosell's commentary on wide receiver [[Alvin Garrett]] included "That little monkey gets loose doesn't he?" Cosell's references to Garrett as a "little monkey," ignited a racial controversy that laid the groundwork for Cosell's departure from ''MNF'' at the end of the 1983 season. The Rev. [[Joseph Lowery]], then-president of the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]], denounced Cosell's comment as racist and demanded a public apology. Despite supportive statements by [[Jesse Jackson]], Muhammad Ali, and Alvin Garrett himself, the fallout contributed to Cosell's decision to leave ''Monday Night Football'' following the 1983 season.

"I liked Howard Cosell," Garrett said. "I didn't feel that it was a demeaning statement."<ref>{{cite news |date=April 25, 1995 |title=EX-REDSKIN ALVIN GARRETT RECALLS REMARKABLE COSELL |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1995/04/25/ex-redskin-alvin-garrett-recalls-remarkable-cosell/010c3f84-162d-415d-855d-9d9a996799b3/ |access-date=July 4, 2020 |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> Cosell explained that Garrett's small stature, and not his race, was the basis for his comment, citing the fact that he had used the term to describe his own grandchildren. Among other evidence to support Cosell's claim is video footage of a [[1972 NFL season|1972]] preseason game between the [[1972 New York Giants season|New York Giants]] and the [[1972 Kansas City Chiefs season|Kansas City Chiefs]] that features Cosell referring to athlete [[Mike Adamle]], a 5-foot, 8-inch, 195-pound European American, as a "little monkey."

===Olympics===
Along with ''Monday Night Football'', Cosell worked the Olympics for [[ABC Olympic broadcasts|ABC]]. He played a key role on ABC's coverage of the [[Palestinian political violence|Palestinian terror]] group [[Black September (group)|Black September]]'s [[mass murder]] of Israeli athletes in [[Munich massacre|Munich]] at the [[1972 Summer Olympics]]; providing reports directly from the [[Olympic Park|Olympic Village]] (his image can be seen and voice heard in [[Steven Spielberg]]'s [[Munich (2005 film)|film]] about the terror attack).

In the [[Boxing at the 1976 Summer Olympics|1976 Summer Games in Montreal]], and the [[Boxing at the 1984 Summer Olympics|1984 games in Los Angeles]], Cosell was the main voice for boxing. [[Sugar Ray Leonard]] won the gold medal in his light welterweight class at Montreal, beginning his meteoric rise to a world professional title three years later. Cosell became close to Leonard, during this period, announcing many of his fights.<ref name="ReferenceA">"I Never Played The Game", by Howard Cosell, 1985</ref>

==="The Bronx is burning"===
Cosell was widely attributed with saying the famous phrase "the Bronx is burning". Cosell is credited with saying this during Game 2 of the [[1977 World Series]], which took place in [[Yankee Stadium (1923)|Yankee Stadium]] on October 12, 1977. For a couple of years, fires had routinely erupted in the South [[The Bronx|Bronx]], mostly because owners of low-value properties would burn their own real estate for [[insurance fraud|insurance money]]. During the bottom of the first inning, an ABC aerial camera panned a few blocks from Yankee Stadium to a building on fire. The scene became a defining image of New York City in the 1970s. Cosell supposedly stated, "There it is, ladies and gentlemen. The Bronx is burning."<ref name="nypost">{{cite news |last=Flood |first=Joe |date=May 16, 2010 |title=Why the Bronx Burned |url=https://nypost.com/2010/05/16/why-the-bronx-burned/ |work=New York Post}}</ref> This was later picked up by Republican presidential candidate [[Ronald Reagan]], who then made a special trip to the Bronx, to illustrate the failures of politicians to address the issues in that part of New York City.

In 2005, author Jonathan Mahler published ''[[Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx Is Burning]]'', a book about New York in 1977, and credited Cosell with the title quote during the aerial coverage of the fire. [[ESPN]] produced a 2007 [[Miniseries|mini-series]] based on the book ''[[The Bronx Is Burning]]''. Cosell's comment seemed to have captured the widespread view that New York City was in a state of decline.

The truth was discovered after Major League Baseball published a complete DVD set of all of the games of the 1977 World Series. Coverage of the fire began with [[Keith Jackson]]'s comments regarding the enormity of the blaze, while Cosell added that [[Jimmy Carter|President Jimmy Carter]] had visited that area just days before. At the top of the second inning, the fire was once again shown from a helicopter-mounted camera, and Cosell commented that the [[New York City Fire Department|New York Fire Department]] had a hard job to do in the Bronx as there were always numerous fires. In the bottom of the second, Cosell informed the audience that it was an abandoned building that was burning and no lives were in danger. There was no further comment on the fire, and Cosell appears to have never said "The Bronx is Burning" (at least not on camera) during Game 2.<ref name=nypost/>

Mahler's confusion could have arisen from a 1974 documentary entitled ''The Bronx Is Burning''; it is likely Mahler confused the documentary with his recollection of Cosell's comments when writing his book.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://bestblog.mlblogs.com/archives/2007/08/did_howard_cose_1.html |title=Did Howard Cosell Really Say, "The Bronx Is Burning"?|access-date=December 15, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101213023329/http://bestblog.mlblogs.com/archives/2007/08/did_howard_cose_1.html |archive-date=December 13, 2010 }}</ref>

===Public report of the death of John Lennon===
{{main|Murder of John Lennon}}
On the night of December 8, 1980, during a ''Monday Night Football'' game between the [[1980 Miami Dolphins season|Miami Dolphins]] and the [[1980 New England Patriots season|New England Patriots]], Cosell shocked the television audience by interrupting his regular commentary duties to deliver a news bulletin on the murder of [[John Lennon]] in the midst of a live broadcast. Word had been passed to Cosell and Frank Gifford by [[Roone Arledge]], who was president of ABC's news and sports divisions at the time, near the end of the game.

Cosell was initially apprehensive about announcing Lennon's death. Off the air, Cosell conferred with Gifford and others, saying: "Fellas, I just don't know, I'd like your opinion. I can't see this game situation allowing for that news flash, can you?" Gifford replied, "Absolutely. I can see it." Gifford later told Cosell, "Don't hang on it. It's a tragic moment and this is going to shake up the whole world."

On air, Gifford prefaced the announcement saying, "And I don't care what's on the line, Howard, you have got to say what we know in the booth." Cosell then replied:<ref>{{cite web|title=John Lennon shot 12-8-80 Howard Cosell tells the world twice John Lennon was dead.|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n73GFvAyIjs| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211113/n73GFvAyIjs| archive-date=November 13, 2021 | url-status=live|work=YouTube| date=December 3, 2010 |access-date=March 25, 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

{{blockquote|Yes, we have to say it. Remember this is just a [[National Football League|football]] game, no matter who wins or loses. An unspeakable tragedy confirmed to us by [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] in New York City: John Lennon, outside of his apartment building on the West Side of New York City—the most famous, perhaps, of all of [[the Beatles]]—shot twice in the back, rushed to [[Roosevelt Hospital]], dead on arrival. Hard to go back to the game after that newsflash, which, in duty bound, we have to take.}}

Lennon had been shot four times and had not been pronounced dead on arrival, but the facts of the shooting were not clear at the time of the announcement. Lennon once appeared on ''Monday Night Football'', during the December 9, 1974, telecast of a 23–17 [[1974 Washington Redskins season|Washington Redskins]] win over the [[1974 Los Angeles Rams season|Los Angeles Rams]], and was interviewed for a short breakaway segment by Cosell.

ABC had obtained this scoop as a result of the coincidence of an ABC employee, Alan Weiss, being at the same emergency room where the critically wounded Lennon was brought that night.<ref>{{cite news |last=Monkovic |first=Toni |date=December 6, 2010 |title=Behind Cosell's Announcement of Lennon's Death |url=http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/06/behind-cosells-announcement-of-lennons-death |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101211105347/http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/06/behind-cosells-announcement-of-lennons-death/ |archive-date=December 11, 2010 |work=The New York Times |department=The Fifth Down: ''The New York Times'' N.F.L. Blog}}</ref> This unwittingly violated a request to the hospital by Lennon's wife, [[Yoko Ono]], to delay reporting his death until she could tell their son, [[Sean Lennon|Sean]], herself. Sean, age 5, was not watching television at the time as it was near midnight, and Ono was able to break the news to him.<ref>[[ESPN]] ''[[Outside the Lines]] First Report'', December 8, 2010</ref> NBC beat ABC to the punch, however, interrupting ''[[The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson|The Tonight Show]]'' just minutes before Cosell's announcement with a "breaking news" segment.<ref name=LennonAnnouncement>{{cite web|title=NBC TV bulletin - John Lennon is dead|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvcydIVLthM| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211113/WvcydIVLthM| archive-date=November 13, 2021 | url-status=live|work=YouTube| date=January 2010 |access-date=September 29, 2013}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

===Sports journalism and ''ABC SportsBeat'' magazine show===
In the fall of [[1981 in American television|1981]], Cosell debuted a serious investigative 30-minute magazine show, ''[[SportsBeat|ABC SportsBeat]]'' on ABC's weekend schedule. He made news and covered topics that were not part of general sports coverage - including the first story about drugs in professional sports (the story of former [[Minnesota Vikings|Minnesota Viking]] [[Carl Eller]]'s [[cocaine]] use), an in-depth look at how NFL owners negotiated tax breaks and incentives for building new stadiums, and together with [[Arthur Ashe]], an investigation into apartheid and sports. Though [[Nielsen ratings|ratings]] were low, Cosell and his staff earned three [[Emmy Award]]s for excellence in reporting, and broke new ground in sports journalism.<ref>{{cite web|title=Cosell, Howard - 1993 Hall of Fame Inductee|url=http://www.americansportscastersonline.com/cosell.html|website=American Sportscasters Online|access-date=August 6, 2015}}</ref> At the time, ''ABC SportsBeat'' was the first and only regularly scheduled network program devoted solely to sports journalism.

To produce this pioneering program, Cosell recruited a number of employees from outside the ranks of those that produced games, who he felt might be too invested in the success of the athletes and leagues to look at the hard news. He brought in Michael Marley, then a sportswriter for ''[[The Washington Post]]''; Lawrie Mifflin, a writer for ''[[The New York Times]]''; and a 20-year-old researcher who quickly rose to an associate producer, Alexis Denny. As a sophomore at [[Yale]], Ms. Denny had been a student in a seminar that Cosell taught on the "Business of Big-Time Sports in America", and was selected by the Director of ''Monday Night Football'' to join their production crew. She took her junior year off to join Cosell's staff at [[American Broadcasting Company#Facilities and studios|ABC Headquarters]] in New York City, and produced many segments, including in 1983 a half-hour special report previewing the [[1984 Summer Olympics|1984 Olympic Games]] in Los Angeles.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ribowsky|first=Mark|title=Howard Cosell: The Man, The Myth and the Transformation of American Sports|url=https://archive.org/details/howardcosellmanm00ribo|url-access=registration|date=November 14, 2011|publisher=W.W.Horton|isbn=9780393080179 }}</ref> Despite the games being one of ABC's biggest investments, with a record-breaking $225 million rights fee at the time,<ref>{{cite book|last=Nelson|first=Murray R.|title=American Sports: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas|date=2013|publisher=ABC-CLIO|page=947|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tfTXAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA947|access-date=August 6, 2015|isbn=9780313397530}}</ref> the 30-minute documentary-style program produced by Denny showed many sides of the questions about the viability of the games themselves—from concerns about traffic, pollution and terrorism, to a look at how the sponsorship deals were structured.

In his 1985 autobiography, Cosell reflected on his highly diverse work, and concluded that the ''SportsBeat'' series had been his favorite.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

==Non-sports-related appearances==
Cosell's colorful personality and distinctive voice were featured to fine comedic effect in several sports-themed episodes of the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] TV series ''[[The Odd Couple (1970 TV series)|The Odd Couple]]''. His feuds with New York City [[sportswriter]] [[Oscar Madison]] ([[Jack Klugman]]) mirrored the real life feuds he had with some of New York's leading sportswriters. He also appeared in the [[Woody Allen]] films ''[[Bananas (film)|Bananas]]'', ''[[Sleeper (1973 film)|Sleeper]]'' and ''[[Broadway Danny Rose]]''. Such was his celebrity that while he never appeared on the show, Cosell's name was frequently used as an all-purpose answer on the popular 1970s game show ''[[Match Game]]''. Cosell also had a cameo appearance in the 1988 movie ''[[Johnny Be Good]]'' featuring [[Robert Downey Jr.]], [[Anthony Michael Hall]] and [[Uma Thurman]]. His particular speech pattern was also imitated by one of the characters in the film ''[[Better Off Dead (film)|Better Off Dead]]''.

Cosell's national fame was further boosted in fall 1975 when ''[[Saturday Night Live with Howard Cosell]]'' aired on Saturday evenings on [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]. This was an hour-long variety show, broadcast live from the [[Ed Sullivan Theater]] in New York City and hosted by Cosell, which is not to be confused with the NBC series ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' (which coincidentally also premiered in 1975 under its original title of ''NBC's Saturday Night'', to avoid confusion with Cosell's show). Despite bringing several unknown comedians, such as [[Billy Crystal]], [[Christopher Guest]], and future ''SNL'' star [[Bill Murray]] to national prominence and showcasing the American TV debut of the [[Bay City Rollers]] (who later had a hit song by the name of "[[Saturday Night (Bay City Rollers song)|Saturday Night]]"), Cosell's show was canceled after three months; the NBC show was officially renamed ''Saturday Night Live'' for the succeeding season and has retained the name ever since. Cosell later hosted the 1984–85 [[season finale]] of ''Saturday Night Live''.

Cosell was the announcer of [[Frank Sinatra]]'s 1974 ABC television special ''[[Sinatra – The Main Event (TV program)|Sinatra – The Main Event]]''.<ref name="Terrace2013">{{cite book |last=Terrace |first=Vincent |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Of0QAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA157 |title=Television Specials: 5,336 Entertainment Programs, 1936-2012, 2d ed. |date=June 19, 2013 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-1240-9 |page=157}}</ref>

Cosell appeared alongside [[Muhammad Ali]], Frank Sinatra, [[Richie Havens]], and others on a 1976 spoken word novelty record, ''[[The Adventures of Ali and His Gang vs. Mr. Tooth Decay]]''.<ref name="RSJun16">{{cite news |last=Heller |first=Jason |date=June 6, 2016 |title=Remembering Muhammad Ali's Trippy, Anti-Cavity Kids' Record |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/remembering-muhammad-alis-trippy-anti-cavity-kids-record-20160606 |access-date=July 24, 2016 |work=[[Rolling Stone (magazine)|Rolling Stone]]}}</ref>

Beginning in 1976, Cosell hosted a long-running series of specials known as ''[[Battle of the Network Stars]]''. The two-hour specials pitted celebrities from each of the three broadcast networks against each other in various athletic competitions, including [[relay race]]s, [[Swimming (sport)|swimming relays]], [[tug of war]], an [[Obstacle course racing|obstacle course]], and a [[dunk tank]]. Some of the specials also featured other events, such as golf, [[Canoe sprint|kayak racing]], three-on-three [[Touch football (American)|touch football]], or [[Frisbee]]. Cosell conducted short interviews with the participants between events, and was seen laughing, joking, and clearly enjoying himself throughout each show. Of Cosell, the program's supervising producer Bill Garnet said in an interview, "Cosell loved doing the show . . . He used to say, 'I'm the biggest star out here. They all want to be around me!' But he loved doing the show."<ref name="AVClub">{{cite news |last=Harris |first=Will |date=August 14, 2017 |title=A Battle Royale Revisited: An Oral History of Battle Of The Network Stars |url=https://www.avclub.com/a-battle-royale-revisited-an-oral-history-of-battle-of-1797835884 |access-date=May 14, 2022 |work=The A.V. Club}}</ref> Actor [[LeVar Burton]], who participated in 1977 and 1978, spoke warmly of having interacted with Cosell, describing his experience as "...a great joy and one of my fondest memories. It's like being heckled by [[Don Rickles]], you know? Having Cosell insult you or even just mention your name was the [[Holy Grail]] for me."<ref name="AVClub"/> Cosell hosted all but one of the nineteen specials, including the final episode which aired in 1988.

In 1977, he received the Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]].<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url= https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#sports | website= achievement.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title= Our History Photo: Academy guests of honor: sports journalist Howard Cosell, Alex Haley, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family, and the Emmy Award-winning actor Edward Asner at the 1977 Banquet of the Golden Plate during the American Academy of Achievement Summit held in Orlando, Florida. | website= achievement.org |publisher= American Academy of Achievement |url= https://achievement.org/our-history/}}</ref>

==Criticism of boxing==
Cosell denounced professional [[boxing]] during the broadcast of a November 26, 1982, [[World Boxing Council|WBC]] [[List of WBC world champions#Heavyweight|heavyweight championship]] bout between titleholder [[Larry Holmes]] and a clearly outmatched [[Randall "Tex" Cobb]] at the [[Astrodome]]. The fight was held two weeks after the fatal fight between [[Ray Mancini]] and [[Kim Duk-koo]], when Kim died shortly after the fight. Cosell famously asked the [[rhetorical question]], "I wonder if that referee [Steve Crosson] understands that he is constructing an advertisement for the abolition of the very sport that he's a part of?"<ref name=HolmesCobb>{{cite web|title=Larry Holmes vs Tex Cobb - 4/4|website = YouTube| date=November 6, 2011 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xswSNKUj6qk#t=403| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211113/xswSNKUj6qk| archive-date=November 13, 2021 | url-status=live|access-date=September 29, 2013}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Cosell, horrified over the brutality of the one-sided fight, said that if the referee did not stop the fight he would never broadcast a professional fight again.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Major boxing reforms were later implemented, the most important of which allows referees to stop clearly one-sided fights early in order to protect the health of the fighters. In amateur boxing, one-sided fights would be automatically stopped if one fighter had a score considerably higher than his opponent. Hitherto, only the ring physician had the authority to halt a bout. Another change was the reduction of championship bouts from fifteen rounds to twelve rounds by the [[World Boxing Council|WBC]]. (The fatal blows to Kim were in Rounds thirteen and fourteen.) The [[World Boxing Association|WBA]] quickly followed suit, and the [[International Boxing Federation|IBF]] did so in 1988. Cosell did not cut off ties with the [[United States Amateur Boxing Federation]]. His 1984 broadcasts of the Olympic Trials, box-offs, and the [[Boxing at the 1984 Summer Olympics|1984 Summer Olympics boxing tournament]], all of which were at the amateur level with much shorter fights, were his last professional calls of the sport.

==''I Never Played the Game'' and reaction==
After Cosell's memoir ''I Never Played the Game'', which, among other things, chronicled his disenchantment with fellow ABC commentators, was published in September 1985, Cosell was taken off scheduled announcing duties for that year's [[1985 World Series|World Series]] and was dismissed by [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC television]] shortly thereafter. Cosell's book was seen by many as a bitter "hate rant" against those who had offended him. ''[[TV Guide]]'' published excerpts of his memoirs and reported that they had never had as many viewers' responses and they were overwhelmingly negative towards Cosell. The magazine reported some of the "printable" ones saying things such as "[[Will Rogers]] never met Howard Cosell".

In ''I Never Played the Game'', Cosell popularized the word "[[wikt:jockocracy|jockocracy]]" (originally coined by author [[Robert Lipsyte]]), describing how athletes were given announcing jobs that they had not earned. Coincidentally, he was replaced for the 1985 World Series broadcast by [[Tim McCarver]], himself a former baseball player, to join [[Al Michaels]] and [[Jim Palmer]]. (The title of the book is a [[double entendre]], meaning that Cosell never actually played the game of football or any other professional sport he broadcast, as well as implying that he never played the "game" of [[corporate politics]].) Cosell is notably absent from the [[Pro Football Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/football/nfl/08/02/cosell/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100807001158/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/football/nfl/08/02/cosell/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 7, 2010 |magazine=Sports Illustrated |first=Marky |last=Billson |title=As strange as it sounds, Howard Cosell has never won Rozelle award |date=August 4, 2010}}</ref><ref>[https://www.sportsbroadcastjournal.com/missing-howard-cosell-has-still-not-won-pro-football-hofs-rozelle-award-for-broadcast-excellence/ Missing: Howard Cosell has still not won Pro Football Hall of Fame's Rozelle Award]</ref> However, he was recently nominated as a semifinalist for the class of 2025 for the bronze bust and gold jacket.

In his later years, Cosell briefly hosted his own television talk show, ''Speaking of Everything'', authored his last book (''What's Wrong With Sports''), and continued to appear on radio and television, becoming more outspoken about his criticisms of sports in general.

==Later life==
In 1993, Cosell was inducted into the [[International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://books.wwnorton.com/books/detail.aspx?ID=22291|title=Howard Cosell|work=wwnorton.com}}</ref> A year later, in 1994, he was inducted into the [[Television Hall of Fame]]. He was also the 1995 recipient of the [[Arthur Ashe Courage Award]]. After his wife of 46 years, Mary Edith Abrams Cosell (known as "Emmy") died from a heart attack in 1990, Cosell largely withdrew from the public eye and his health began failing. A longtime smoker, he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1991, and had surgery to remove a cancerous [[tumor]] in his chest. He also had several minor strokes, and was diagnosed with [[heart disease]], [[Nephropathy|kidney disease]] and [[Parkinson's]].

==Death==
Cosell died at the [[Hospital for Joint Diseases]] in Manhattan on April 23, 1995, of a [[coronary thrombosis|cardiac embolism]] at the age of 77.<ref name="obit">{{cite news |last=Thomas |first=Robert McG. Jr. |author-link=Robert McG. Thomas Jr. |date=April 24, 1995 |title=Howard Cosell, Outspoken Sportscaster On Television and Radio, Is Dead at 77 |url=http://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/packages/html/sports/year_in_sports/04.25.html |access-date=March 25, 2020 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |quote=Howard Cosell, who delighted and infuriated listeners during a 30-year career as the nation's best-known and most outspoken sports broadcaster, died yesterday at the Hospital for Joint Diseases in Manhattan. He was 77. ...}}</ref> He is buried at Westhampton Cemetery, [[Westhampton, New York|Westhampton]], New York.

==Legacy==
Cosell was placed as number one on [[David J. Halberstam]]'s list of "Top 50 All Time Network Television Sports Announcers" on [[Yahoo! Sports]] in January 2009.<ref>{{cite news |last=Halberstam, David J. |title=The top 50 network TV announcers of all time |url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/top-50-network-tv-announcers-064900091--spt.html |website=Yahoo.com |date=January 30, 2009 |access-date=July 13, 2020}}</ref> The sports complex at the [[Hebrew University]] in [[Jerusalem]] was named for Cosell.<ref>{{cite news |last=Deford, Frank |title=Deford on Cosell: 'I've Won. I've Beat Them.' |url=https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/05/30/frank-deford-howard-cosell-sports-illustrated |website=SI.com |date=August 8, 1983 |access-date=July 13, 2020}}</ref> In 2010, Cosell was posthumously inducted into the Observer's Category in the [[International Boxing Hall of Fame]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibhof.com/pages/about/inductees/observer/cosell.html|title=Howard Cosell|work=ibhof.com}}</ref>

In [[Woody Allen]]'s 1973 comedy ''[[Sleeper (1973 film)|Sleeper]]'', Allen's character Miles Monroe, who has been revived after 200 years in [[Cryopreservation|cryogenic suspension]], is shown an excerpt of an [[Wide World of Sports (American TV program)|ABC Wide World of Sports]] broadcast in which Cosell talks about Muhammad Ali. One of the scientists who has revived Miles, unsure of what the video means, says that the theory is that watching Cosell was a form of punishment for crimes committed against the state 200 years in the past. Miles Monroe agrees. "Yes, that's exactly what that was."<ref>{{cite web |title=Scene from the Woody Allen classic, "Sleeper" |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kwcLW9I0n8 |website=youtube.com | date=August 21, 2010 |publisher=YouTube |access-date=June 26, 2023}}</ref>

In the 1985 film ''[[Better Off Dead (film)|Better Off Dead]]'', one of the two Asian-American teenage brothers who regularly challenged [[John Cusack]]'s character to a street race is said to have learned English from listening to Cosell.<ref>{{cite news |last=Attanasio, Paul |title=Better Off' Dead |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1985/10/17/better-off-dead/f8af2b50-e203-4dbb-8bc9-3f27a54b8b9b/ |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=October 17, 1985 |access-date=July 13, 2020}}</ref> The band [[Ben Folds Five]] have a song titled "[[Ben Folds Five (album)|Boxing]]" from 1995, which was written as a fictional monolog from [[Muhammad Ali]] to Cosell.<ref>{{cite news |last=Weisbard, Eric |title=Every Bit Counts |url=https://www.villagevoice.com/1999/05/04/every-bit-counts/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180916045716/https://www.villagevoice.com/1999/05/04/every-bit-counts/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 16, 2018 |website=VillageVoice.com |date=May 4, 1999 |access-date=July 13, 2020}}</ref>

In the 1995 song "My Mind Went Blank", Cosell is used as a metaphor by Point Blank for a person who spreads other people's business around.{{slang|date=May 2025}}

In [[Michael Mann (director)|Michael Mann]]'s 2001 film ''[[Ali (2001 film)|Ali]]'', Cosell is played by [[Jon Voight]], who earned an [[Academy Award]] nomination for his performance. In the 2002 television film ''[[Monday Night Mayhem]]'', Cosell was played by [[John Turturro]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Sandomir |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Sandomir |date=December 25, 2001 |title=Cosell on Film Is Not Exactly Like It Was |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/25/sports/sports-media-cosell-on-film-is-not-exactly-like-it-was.html |access-date=July 13, 2020 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>

Cosell's daughter, Hilary Cosell, was a producer of NBC SportsWorld, and was one of the first women sports producers. She was also the senior producer of her father's show, ''Speaking of Everything with Howard Cosell'', an assistant producer of ABC News 20/20, and received four Emmy Award nominations.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1985-08-04-8502200870-story.html|title=The Career: A Different Sort of Trap|last=Cosell|first=Hilary|date=August 4, 1985|work=The Chicago Tribune|access-date=October 29, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref>

Cosell's nephew [[Greg Cosell]] is a senior producer at [[NFL Films]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Strauss, Robert |title=Another Cosell Who Talks Sports |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/28/nyregion/in-person-another-cosell-who-talks-sports.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=December 28, 2003 |access-date=July 13, 2020}}</ref> Cosell's grandson Colin Cosell was named public address announcer (along with [[Marysol Castro]]) at [[Citi Field]], home of the [[New York Mets]], in 2018. Colin Cosell intended to honor his grandfather by enunciating Mets' third baseman [[Todd Frazier]]'s last name the same way Cosell did with Joe Frazier's name in his famous "Down Goes Frazier!" call.<ref>{{cite web | last=Walker | first=Ben | title=That Voice: Cosell's grandson debuts as Mets' PA announcer | website=AP News | date=2018-06-03 | url=https://apnews.com/that-voice-cosells-grandson-debuts-as-mets-pa-announcer-52c53670fe4b4f43bf50492baf334a92 | access-date=2025-08-10}}</ref>

==Film appearances==
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year !! Title !! Role !! Notes
|-
| 1971 || ''[[Bananas (film)|Bananas]]'' || Himself ||
|-
| 1971 || ''[[Nanny and the Professor]]'' || Miles Taylor 
|| Episode: "Sunday's Hero"

|-
|1971 ||''[[The Partridge Family]]'' || Himself || Episode: "What Happened To Moby Dick?"
|-
| 1972 || ''[[Fol-de-Rol]]'' || The Storyteller || TV movie
|-
| 1972-1975 || ''[[The Odd Couple (1970 TV series)|The Odd Couple]]'' || Himself || 2 episodes
|-
| 1973 || ''[[The World's Greatest Athlete]]'' || Announcer ||
|-
| 1973 || ''[[Sleeper (1973 film)|Sleeper]]'' || Himself in archival footage ||
|-
| 1976 || ''[[Two-Minute Warning]]'' || Himself ||
|-
| 1983 || ''[[The Fall Guy]]'' || Commentator || Voice, Episode: "Win One for the Gipper???"
|-
| 1984 || ''[[Broadway Danny Rose]]'' || Himself ||
|-
| 1986 || ''[[Tall Tales & Legends]]'' || Ernie || Episode: "Cassie and the Bats"
|-
| 1988 || ''[[Johnny Be Good]]'' || Himself ||
|}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
*Bloom, John. (2010). ''There You Have It: The Life, Legacy, and Legend of Howard Cosell''. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press. {{ISBN|978-1-55849-836-5}}.
*Cosell, Howard. (1973). ''Cosell''. Chicago: Playboy Press. {{ISBN|1-199-31000-X}}.
*Cosell, Howard. (1974). ''Like It Is''. Chicago: Playboy Press. {{ISBN|0-872-23414-2}}.
*Cosell, Howard, with Peter Bonventre. (1985). ''I Never Played the Game''. New York: William Morrow & Co. {{ISBN|0-688-04481-6}}.
*Cosell, Howard, with Shelby Whitfield. (1991). ''What's Wrong with Sports''. New York: Simon & Schuster. {{ISBN|0-671-70840-6}}.
*Gunther, Mark, and Bill Carter. (1988). ''Monday Night Mayhem: The Inside Story of ABC's Monday Night Football''. New York: Beech Tree Books. {{ISBN|0-688-07553-3}}.
*Hyatt, Wesley. (2007). ''Kicking Off the Week: A History of Monday Night Football on ABC Television, 1970-2005''. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. {{ISBN|0-786-42969-0}}.
*Ribowsky, Mark. (2011). ''Howard Cosell: The Man, the Myth, and the Transformation of American Sports''. New York: W. W. Norton & Co. {{ISBN|0-393-08017-X}}.

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
*[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/longterm/memories/1995/95pass12.htm Howard Cosell Dies at 77]
*{{IMDb name|0181763}} Retrieved on 2008-01-25
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100807001158/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/football/nfl/08/02/cosell/index.html Pete Rozelle Radio-TV Award - Sports Illustrated Article]
*{{Find a Grave|7960}}
{{Major League Baseball on ABC}}
{{NBA on ABC}}
{{Thoroughbred Racing on ABC}}
{{Boxing on ABC}}
{{Sports Lifetime Achievement Award}}
{{1994 Television Hall of Fame}}
{{Arthur Ashe Courage}}

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