"Overall, I think Michael Jordan is the greatest athlete in any particular sport. He dominated the game for the Chicago Bulls and brought the NBA to its greatest peak of popularity." -- Will McDonough
William "Will" McDonough (July 6, 1935–January 9, 2003) was an American sportswriter for the Boston Globe.
"I don't think the players play with the same desire they once did.""I don't think there is enough educational programming, but unfortunately, television is built around advertising and those shows don't get the big ratings.""I don't think we use television the way we should or the way the inventors intended.""I predict that many teams will go out of business and the size of the leagues will be greatly reduced.""I received $100 per week when I started working at the Globe after graduation.""I think almost every newspaper in the United States has lost circulation due to the Internet. I also think the Internet will lead to a lot of plagiarism in journalism.""I think money in general hurts all sports.""I think the greatest all-around athlete ever was Jim Brown. He played lacrosse, basketball and ran track at Syracuse. He played professional football for the Browns.""I think we'll always have newspapers, but they'll lose influence.""I was fortunate to be part of a very successful show on CBS in 1986. I switched to NBC for eight years and through these experiences have gotten terrific insight into television; it's a fascinating medium.""I've been very fortunate to be involved in all the Super Bowls, to see some World Series, to cover heavyweight championship fights; I've been to the Olympics and seen every sporting event there is.""Muhammad Ali is a combination of personality and athlete who is probably better known around the world than any other. He became a great hero.""One of my first jobs was at the Boston Globe. I worked in the sports department six months a year. When I was ready to graduate, the sports editor gave me a job as a schoolboy sports writer.""Pete Rozelle used television to get the game to the American public by creating the Super Bowl and making it the biggest sporting event in the world.""The ability of players to jump teams when their contracts are up has hurt fan loyalty.""The future is electronic. It's radio, television and the Internet; it's not really newspapers anymore.""The one good thing about television is the money; you can make a lot more money than in newspapers.""The two major things that changed the makeup of all professional sports are money generated by television and courts that players went to in order to win their freedom as free agents.""The wonderful thing about television is the immediate impact of pictures of current events.""There aren't enough good journalists. There are too many who really weren't groomed to be reporters and, as a result, some of the reporting is shallow.""When I started at the Globe 40 years ago, there were seven newspapers in Boston and now there are only two. There were only three or four television stations in Boston and now there are a dozen."
McDonough attended the English High School of Boston, where he starred in baseball as a pitcher and in football as a quarterback. After graduating from Northeastern University he started at the Boston Globe as a copy boy in 1955, becoming a sportswriter in 1960.
McDonough became a hero among Boston sportswriters after a 1979 altercation with Patriots cornerback Raymond Clayborn, in which McDonough leveled Clayborn after Clayborn had poked him in the eye.
McDonough's TV experience included a stint as part of NBC's NFL Live pregame show from 1991-1993.
McDonough regularly referred to Roger Clemens as the "Texas Con Man" during Clemens' tenure with the Boston Red Sox.
Death
He died of a heart attack at his home in Hingham, Massachusetts at age 67.
Family
One of his sons, Sean McDonough is a sportscaster for ESPN. His other son, Terry McDonough, is Director of Player Personnel for the Jacksonville Jaguars in the National Football League.
