While covering the Munich massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics for ABC , McKay took on the job of reporting the events live on his only scheduled day off during the Games , substituting for Chris Schenkel . He was on air for fourteen hours without a break , during a sixteen-hour broadcast . After an unsuccessful rescue attempt of the athletes held hostage , at 3:24 AM German Time , McKay came on the air with this statement : Although McKay received numerous accolades for his reporting of the Munich hostage crisis ( including two Emmy Awards , one for sports and one for news reporting ) , he stated in a 2003 HBO documentary about his life and career that he was most proud of a telegram he received from Walter Cronkite the day after the massacre praising his work
Munich massacre
Munich massacre
Jim McKay