The World Was Our Stage: Spanning the Globe with ABC Sports
By Doug Wilson with Jody Cohan
Foreword by Peggy Fleming
In The World Was Our Stage, 17-time Emmy Award winning producer/director Doug Wilson recounts his incredible fifty-year journey with ABC Sports and its groundbreaking sports anthology program Wide World of Sports. Wilson's natural storytelling style and entertaining anecdotes capture not only "the human drama of athletic competition"--the hallmark of ABC's coverage--but also the unforgettable golden era of sports television. Wilson's perspectives on celebrated athletes such as Muhammad Ali, Evel Knievel, Peggy Fleming, Arthur Ashe, and Scott Hamilton, among many others, are both humorous and poignant--all revealed against a background of historical events of the last half of the twentieth century.
More information at dougwilsonabcsports.com
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Winner - Sports Category National Indie Excellence Book Awards 2014 |
Finalist - Sports Category
2014 USA Best Book Awards |
Finalist - Sports and History Categories
Foreword Reviews' Book of the Year Awards 2013 |
—ENDORSEMENTS--
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"Doug Wilson revisits a time when ABC's Wide World of Sports was must-see TV every weekend for millions of Americans. If some of these stories seem made up—trust me—they're not. I was there for many of them and would walk away thinking, "You can’t make this stuff up." It was great fun to witness and just as much fun to read about."
Al Michaels, Emmy Award-Winning NBC Sportscaster, Previously with ABC Sports for three decades |
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"As Olympic athletes, we always cherished ABC's Wide World of Sports for exposing sports like gymnastics to a much wider audience than our sport ever enjoyed before. Doug Wilson, who has been a friend for over thirty years, has always delighted us with his behind-the-scenes stories about this groundbreaking sports television show. We are thrilled that Doug has finally decided to share these incredible stories from the award-winning show that represented a paradigm shift in sports television."
Bart Conner and Nadia Comaneci, Olympic and World Champions in Gymnastics |
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“ABC Sports and Wide World of Sports not only changed but also virtually created the sports television landscape in the US and set the standard by which sports coverage around the world is now measured. They had the vision to put the King/Riggs Battle of the Sexes match in prime time and it paid off for them and for Bobby and me, and it raised the profile of tennis worldwide—all while putting social change in the national spotlight. ABC Sports was a game changer and they fully understood the importance of bringing sports to the people.”
Billie Jean King, Sports Icon and Humanitarian; Cofounder, World Team Tennis |
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"Doug's sensitivity and his passion for 'getting it right' from the perspective of the athlete continue to define his amazing contributions to television. I love this book, and I couldn't put it down." Scott Hamilton 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist in Men's Figure Skating Four-Time World Champion |
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"Along with my father, Jim McKay, Doug Wilson was in many ways the heart and soul of ABC Sports. Doug's passion for his craft and his remarkable creativity are surpassed only by his storytelling ability, both on television and in print. The World Was Our Stage is a fascinating and compassionate behind-the-scenes look at many of the greatest sports television stories and personalities of all time. My father would have loved this book, almost as much as he loved working with Doug."
Sean McManus, Chairman, CBS Sports |
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"In addition to all of the interesting and entertaining stories Doug Wilson tells with firsthand knowledge of the people and events that shaped ABC Sports, there is a great deal of history in this book. Not only is there plenty of sports history but also the history of the sports televisions industry from an insider point of view. The World Was Our Stage should be required reading for every student of broadcasting. What is documented in this book is critical for understanding the origins of this industry.
Jim Jennett, Emmy Award-Winning Sports Television Director |
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"Doug Wilson tells a fascinating story in The World Was Our Stage, a unique personal journey that also recalls the riveting history of the coming-of-age of sports television. Doug is one of the finest and kindest gentlemen to ever work in the business, and it's a delight to go back in time with him as he spans the globe once more to tell the stories that he and his colleagues first told so magnificently decades ago. In Doug's storytelling, it truly still is a wide, and wonderful, world of sports."
Christine Brennan, USA Today national sports columnist, ABC News commentator, best-selling author of Inside Edge |
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"Doug Wilson has an elephantine memory. Our decades of working together at ABC Sports took us from Innsbruck, Austria, to Nagano, Japan, to Podunk, USA. I enjoyed reading about the history we shared."
Dick Button, Emmy Award-Winning Sports Analyst, Olympic and World Champion in Figure Skating |
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"For 50 years, Doug Wilson embodied the spirit and creative excellence that was ABC Sports. His passionate storytelling played an integral part in the success of Wide World of Sports, the longest and most celebrated sports anthology show in television history. Doug allowed the places, events, and athletes to always be in the story. This book relives the lost age of innocence in sports and chronicles its greatest athletes, "up close and personal." I was fortunate to produce many of the world's greatest sporting events with Doug, and for that I am grateful."
Curt Gowdy Jr., Emmy Award-Winning Executive Producer |