R.I.P. CBS' Doug Towey

Wednesday, March 11, 2009


Man this is depressing. The man who is responsible for the song "One Shining Moment" making it onto CBS' airwaves all the way back in 1987, has passed away today. CBS released the following statement about TV Exec, Doug Towey, who at the time of "OSM's" inclusion in the tournament was a Creative Director at the network....

Longtime network television executive for CBS Sports, Doug Towey, passed away Wednesday morning after a long illness.

Among the many highlights of Towey’s Emmy Award-winning career in television was his direct role in making the song “One Shining Moment” the iconic hallmark anthem of college basketball and CBS Sports’ coverage of the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship each March. Folk singer David Barrett penned the song in 1986 and gave it to his high school friend CBS News Chief Investigative Correspondent, and then Sports Illustrated staff writer, Armen Keteyian. Keteyian passed it along to Towey who planned to use it to accompany the Network’s closing highlights of Super Bowl XXI in January 1987. But due to long-running interviews the song never made it to air. A couple of months later, Towey was looking for a way to bring CBS Sports’ NCAA Tournament coverage to a close and decided to use it. “One Shining Moment” made its Final Four debut on March 30, 1987, following Keith Smart’s baseline jumper in the final seconds that gave Indiana a 74-73 victory over Syracuse.

Throughout his over 34-year network television career Towey played a role in the broadcast of virtually every major sporting event in the world including several Olympic Games, Super Bowls, World Series, NBA Finals, NCAA Championships and Final Fours, the Masters®, PGA Championships, U.S. Open Tennis Championships, as well as many other events.
What better send off could we give Towey, than playing that very first "One Shining Moment" from 1987? Wait until 1:45....I get goosebumps every time....

5 Comments:

Hoosiers!

JFreak said...
Mar 11, 2009, 7:05:00 PM  

I wonder how long it will take Rick Reilly to write a sappy column about this

Anonymous said...
Mar 11, 2009, 9:09:00 PM  

Check out :57 seconds in. "Editorial consultant: Mike Francessa." And yes, it has two S's in the credits instead of his normal one.

SteveD said...
Mar 11, 2009, 10:02:00 PM  

jg, 3 seconds???

GMoney said...
Mar 12, 2009, 10:51:00 AM  

If anyone is interested, there will be a live blog of the entire quarterfinal games of the Big East tournament.

fireandyreidnow.blogspot.com/2009/03/big-east-quarterfinals-live-blog.html

49er16 said...
Mar 12, 2009, 11:21:00 AM  

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