The changing face of live broadcast television is often stated as a reason why we will not see his like again, but the fact remains he stands head and shoulders above each succeeding generation of commentators. The root of this lies in the fact that first and foremost he considered himself a journalist, rather than a TV celebrity or personality (boy, there's a misnomer for many of today's "talking faces"!).
Though we loved to mock his "ColemanBalls", his professional pride meant his gaffes pained him terribly, and it was many years before he could accept the "industry" he had spawned - it's hard to believe that today's generation review, or give a second thought to what spews out of their "pie-holes".
Many of the best known "C-Balls" and gaffes are in the links below, but my all time favourite concerned the 1968 Olympic 400m Hurdles; in the excitement of trying to adequately capture David Hemery's overwhelming victory, and trying to name the 3rd. placer from the rush of following athletes he said " oh, who cares who was third!" - John S probably didn't care about Coleman's gaffe either!
Known also for repeated "one-liners", particularly about football, his true journalistic ability was shown in his instantaneous response for what were often very fast and fleeting moments of action in athletics (his favourite sport), but his words subsequently held the memory for a lot longer - for me one of his earliest was one of his best;
"here is the best in the world, followed by the rest of the world" exactly portrayed Herb Elliott's run away victory in the 1960 Olympic 1500m.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/telegraphsportnews/10533020/David-Coleman-a-towering-figure-in-an-era-of-sporting-giants.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10532648/David-Coleman-obituary.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/telegraphsportnews/10532492/David-Coleman-dies-Top-20-Colemanballs.html
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/25480429
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/25475976
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/25476668
Though we loved to mock his "ColemanBalls", his professional pride meant his gaffes pained him terribly, and it was many years before he could accept the "industry" he had spawned - it's hard to believe that today's generation review, or give a second thought to what spews out of their "pie-holes".
Many of the best known "C-Balls" and gaffes are in the links below, but my all time favourite concerned the 1968 Olympic 400m Hurdles; in the excitement of trying to adequately capture David Hemery's overwhelming victory, and trying to name the 3rd. placer from the rush of following athletes he said " oh, who cares who was third!" - John S probably didn't care about Coleman's gaffe either!
Known also for repeated "one-liners", particularly about football, his true journalistic ability was shown in his instantaneous response for what were often very fast and fleeting moments of action in athletics (his favourite sport), but his words subsequently held the memory for a lot longer - for me one of his earliest was one of his best;
"here is the best in the world, followed by the rest of the world" exactly portrayed Herb Elliott's run away victory in the 1960 Olympic 1500m.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/telegraphsportnews/10533020/David-Coleman-a-towering-figure-in-an-era-of-sporting-giants.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10532648/David-Coleman-obituary.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/telegraphsportnews/10532492/David-Coleman-dies-Top-20-Colemanballs.html
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/25480429
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/25475976
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/25476668
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