Bill Cullen
|
Read about Bill joining NBC
Sports In Action in this March 27, 1966 article from the Fresno
(CA) Bee.
|
|
 OK,
how many of you game show fans knew about this one? Bill and veteran
sportscaster Jim Simpson were co-hosts of the 1966 season of NBC's attempt
to duplicate the success of ABC's Wide World of Sports. The series
was frequently pre-empted in favor of live sports action, twice by golf
tournaments and four weeks of Stanley Cup playoff action. Also pre-empting
the series was a special four-episode series of made-for-TV matches between
Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player called Big Three Golf,
hosted by Jim Simpson alone. In addition, many listings (denoted by an
asterisk below) identify Simpson but not Bill as the host for a particular
episode. Remember that at the time, Bill had just started hosting
Eye Guess, and was still involved with
I've Got A Secret and the Emphasis
segements for NBC radio, so his travel time was probably limited.
Bill may have actually appeared in as few as a half dozen episodes.
The 1966 premiere covered the spearfishing
championships off Tahiti and the world drag racing championship finals
from Tulsa. The latter played into a childhood interest Bill had
with automobiles and racing. Despite some online references to the
contrary, Bill and Jim did NOT provide commentary for the NHL broadcasts.
According to vintage newspaper accounts, sportscasters Win Elliot and Bill
Mazer covered the live action for those games. Bill did cover hockey
on the radio back in Pittsburgh in the 1940s.
For more about Bill's interest in
sports broadcasting, see the RADIO
section as well as the series Sports Cavalcade
and NFL Special.
EPISODE GUIDE
These listings are culled from TV
Guide descriptions as well as vintage newspaper articles. For the
entries marked by an asterisk, Jim Simpson is mentioned in the episode
descriptions but not Bill. Also, for the descriptions of the May
22 and May 29 episodes, Lou Boda is specifically identified as one of the
hosts. He may have replaced Bill for the final weeks.
|
January 9
|
Spearfishing championships off
Tahiti and the World Drag Racing Championships from Tulsa
|
|
January 16
|
The Masters Ski Jump in Lake
Placid, New York, and the Nassau Speed Week sports car race
|
|
January 23
|
International Grand Prix of
hydroplane racing from Miami's Marine Stadium
|
|
January 30
|
Wengen Ski Races in Switzerland
and the World Lumberjack Championship in Wisconsin*
|
|
February 6
|
PRE-EMPTED (Bob Hope Golf Tournament)
|
|
February 13
|
Seventh annual Los Angeles Times
Indoor Games at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena
|
|
February 20
|
PRE-EMPTED (Big Three Golf)
|
|
February 27
|
European figure skating championship
from Bratislava, Czechoslovakia*
|
|
March 6
|
PRE-EMPTED (Big Three Golf)
|
|
March 13
|
U.S. Open Speed Skating Championships
from Lake Placid, NY (Cullen), Portuguese bullfighting from Lisbon (Simpson)
|
|
March 20
|
PRE-EMPTED (Big Three Golf)
|
|
March 27
|
PRE-EMPTED (Jacksonville Open
Golf Tournament)
|
|
April 3
|
PRE-EMPTED (Big Three Golf)
|
|
April 10
|
PRE-EMPTED (Stanley Cup Semifinals:
Black Hawks vs Red Wings, Game Two)
|
|
April 17
|
PRE-EMPTED (Stanley Cup Semifinals:
Black Hawks vs Red Wings, Game Five)
|
|
April 24
|
PRE-EMPTED (Stanley Cup Finals,
Canadiens vs Red Wings, Game One)
|
|
May 1
|
PRE-EMPTED (Stanley Cup Finals,
Canadiens vs Red Wings, Game Four)
|
|
May 8
|
Grand National Steeplechase
at Aintree, England (Cullen), Grindelwald, Switzerland Ski Races (Simpson)
|
|
May 15
|
European Ice Dancing Championships
from Czechoslovakia (Simpson) and the Orange Bowl Regatta hydroplane race
(Cullen)
|
|
May 22
|
World surfing championships
from Lima. Peru, 135-mile outboard motorboat marathon on the Hudson River*
|
|
May 29
|
Major Leage All-Star Base/Bowl
Tournament from Phoenix, national intercollegiate rodeo from Laramie, Wyoming*
|
|
June 5
|
Highland Games (Scotland), octopus
wrestling (Puget Sound), Turkish camel fighting (Quito), Georgian Games
(Russia)*
|
VIDEO
None that we know of, but who knows
what NBC Sports has in its archives? |
