CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus in the The NFL Today control room Photo: Jeffrey Neira, Courtesy CBS Sports
Now 67 years old, Sean McManus grew up in the world of television sports. His father, the late Jim McKay, was the pre-eminent broadcaster in that business through the last half of the 20th century, having hosted Wide World of Sports on ABC from 1961 to 1998 and covered a dozen Olympics, including the 1972 Summer Games at Munich, during which Arab terrorists slaughtered 11 Israeli athletes, coaches and officials. McKay also reported extensively on golf, most notably the Masters, the U.S. Open and the Open Championship.
It was no surprise, then, that McManus went on to work in that industry. He started as a production assistant at ABC Sports in 1977, right after graduating from Duke University with a degree in English and history. A couple of years later, he took a job at NBC Sports, in part to create some professional separation from his father, ...