Will McDonough facts for kids
William McDonough (July 6, 1935 – January 9, 2003) was an American sportswriter for The Boston Globe who also worked as an on-air football reporter for CBS and NBC.
Biography
Newspaper career
The youngest of nine children of Irish immigrants, McDonough grew up in working-class South Boston. He attended The English High School, where he starred in baseball as a pitcher and in football as a quarterback. While attending the Northeastern University School of Journalism, McDonough started at the Boston Globe as a co-op intern / copy boy in 1955 to cover school sports, and he was hired by the Globe full-time after graduation in 1957.
In 1960, after McDonough had been promoted to sportswriter, he was assigned as the beat reporter for the Boston Patriots of the start-up American Football League and remained one of the country's premier football reporters until his retirement in 2001. During his 40+ years writing career with the Globe (interrupted only by a brief departure in 1973), McDonough worked with other legendary Globe sportswriters such as Peter Gammons, Bob Ryan, and Leigh Montville. Beginning in 1993, he was named an associate editor of the Globe. Montville has said of McDonough: "He was the scoop guy. He always said: 'I can write better than anyone who can write faster, and I can write faster than anyone who can write better.'"
McDonough became a hero among Boston sportswriters after a 1979 altercation with Patriots cornerback Raymond Clayborn, in which the 44-year-old McDonough leveled Clayborn in the locker room after the third-year cornerback had poked him in the eye. However, McDonough's main fame was due to the number of "scoops" and exclusive stories that he broke while with the Globe. At the time of his death, NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue called him the "most influential reporter covering the NFL."
Broadcasting
In addition to newspaper reporting, McDonough was a pioneer among journalists who became broadcasters in the late 1970s and early 1980s while maintaining their newspaper positions. He originally was hired by CBS, later moving to NBC. His appearances included stints as part of NBC's NFL Live pregame show from 1991 to 1993. About his TV work, McDonough said, "I proved once and for all you don't have to be pretty to be on television." For one season, he also served as an analyst for New England Patriots preseason games. In 1994, NBC was paying him about $400,000 a year to appear on the network.
Personal life
McDonough was married twice, fathering three children (Sean, Erin and Terry) with his first wife Wilma and two (Ryan and Cara) with his second wife Denise. One of his three sons, Sean McDonough, is a sportscaster for ESPN and is also a Boston Red Sox announcer. Another son, Terry McDonough, was vice president, Player Personnel for the NFL's Arizona Cardinals. His third son, Ryan McDonough, was the general manager of the Phoenix Suns. Each of the three has a championship ring in a different sport: Sean as an announcer for the 2004 Boston Red Sox (baseball); Terry as a scout for the 2000 Baltimore Ravens (football); and Ryan as a special assistant/video analyst for the 2008 Boston Celtics (basketball).
McDonough remained lifelong friends with two other prominent South Boston Irishmen: Massachusetts political leader William "Billy" Bulger and his older brother, Boston organized crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger. He served as campaign manager for Billy's 1960 run for state representative, and he visited Whitey in Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in the 1960s while the Boston Red Sox were in Kansas City. In return, in 1993 Billy successfully lobbied Cablevision to allow McDonough to provide commentary on the cable broadcast of the annual St. Patrick's Day breakfast hosted by Billy.
Death
McDonough died of a heart attack at his home in Hingham on January 9, 2003, at age 67.
