McKay — understated, dignified and with a clear eye for detail — covered 12 Olympics. His last was in 2002 at Salt Lake City for NBC, after he received special permission to get out of his lifetime contract with ABC Sports to do it. NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol began working with McKay as a 19-year-old Olympics researcher in 1968.

“He was truly the most respected and admired sportscaster of his generation and defined how the stories of sports can and should be covered,” Ebersol said. “While we all know what an absolute titan he was in his chosen field, I will always remember him as an extraordinary human being guided by a strong moral compass.

"He was the best husband to his wife, an extraordinary father to his own children and for all of us who had the privilege to grow up around him as boys, he helped shape us into men."

ESPN and ABC Sports president George Bodenheimer called McKay “a founding father of sports television.” Added Bob Iger, president and chief executive of The Walt Disney Company: “He was a regular guy who wrote and spoke like a poet.”

McKay left his mark on countless colleagues. Bob Costas called McKay a “singular broadcaster.”

“He brought a reporter’s eye, a literate touch, and above all a personal humanity to every assignment,” Costas said. “He had a combination of qualities seldom seen in the history of the medium, not just sports.”

CBS Sports’ Jim Nantz said McKay was the broadcasting hero of his youth.

“I hung onto his every words and wrote him letters when I was a kids,” he said. “I feel like one of the greatest joys of my life was having the chance to get to know him as a friend and father figure.”

Auto racing great A.J. Foyt called McKay one of the “most down-to-earth and sincere sports guys I knew.”

“He interviewed me many times and he was always a real gentleman,” Foyt said. “He didn’t ask stupid questions.”

Video   An Olympic man June 7: When Jim McKay took part in the Salt Lake City games, it was the 12th Olympic Games in which he participated.

McKay was a minority owner of the Baltimore Orioles. Majority owner Peter Angelos regarded him as a “visionary and a pioneer of sports broadcasting” who “never forgot where he came from, or his Maryland roots.”

In addition to McManus, McKay’s survivors include his wife, Margaret, and his daughter, Mary. Margaret met McKay when they were reporters at The Sun, and they would have celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in October.

“He was a great father and I don’t think he had one single regret when he passed away,” his son said.

Funeral arrangements have not been announced.