Howard Cosell and John Lennon, December 9, 1974.
Six years later, John would be dead.
December 8, 1980: The New England Patriots are playing the Miami Dolphins at the Orange Bowl in Miami, a game being broadcast on ABC Monday Night Football. As John Smith of the Patriots comes onto the field to attempt a last-play game-winning field goal, Howard Cosell gives an announcement about another Englishman named John:
Cosell: But it's suddenly been placed in total perspective for us. I'll finish this. They're in the hurry-up offense.
Frank Gifford: Third down, four. Foreman. (Chuck Foreman is stopped on a run.) It'll be fourth down. (Quarterback Matt) Cavanaugh will let it run down for one final attempt. He'll let the seconds tick off to give Miami no opportunity whatsoever. (Whistle blows.) Timeout is called with three seconds remaining. John Smith is on the line. And I don't care what's on the line, Howard: You have got to say what we know in the booth.
Cosell: Yes, we have to say it. Remember: This is just a football game, no matter who wins or loses. An unspeakable tragedy confirmed to us by ABC News in New York City: John Lennon, outside of his apartment building on the West Side of New York City -- the most famous, perhaps, of all of The Beatles -- shot twice in the back, rushed to Roosevelt Hospital, dead on arrival. Hard to go back to the game after that newsflash, which, in duty bound, we have to take. Frank?
Gifford: Indeed, it is.
Lennon had been shot at 10:50 PM, Eastern Standard Time. Cosell had read an initial report, before the full facts were known: Five shots had been fired, four of them hit Lennon, and, according to the doctors who tried in vain to save him, any one of the four that hit him, had it been the only one, would have done enough damage to kill him. He was pronounced dead at 11:15. He was 40 years old.
Cosell made the announcement a few minutes later. On December 9, 1974, Monday Night Football had broadcast a game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Washington Redskins at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Redskins won, 23-17. Lennon had attended, and Cosell interviewed him at halftime.
Cosell was already 43 years old when The Beatles first arrived in America, and hardly in their target group, but his journalistic instincts kicked in, and, surprising those of us who knew him only as a blowhard who tried to convince people he knew more about things than he did, he handled it like a complete professional.
Lennon had been living in America for a little over 3 years, and knew who Cosell was, and said of American football, "It makes rock concerts look like tea parties." The interview went very well, and, off-camera, Cosell even introduced Lennon to another attendee, the outgoing Governor of California, Ronald Reagan. (I was sure I had seen video footage of Lennon and Reagan talking and laughing together that night, but I can't find a still photo of it anywhere.)
Now, 6 years earlier, almost to the day, Lennon was dead, and Reagan was the President-elect, having defeated incumbent President Jimmy Carter a month earlier. Less than 4 months later, Reagan would be shot as well, but would barely survive.
When Cosell spoke the words, "dead on arrival," the camera caught Smith looking right into it, and nodding, as if he had heard what Cosell had said. Of course, none of the players knew anything about it until the game was over. Smith missed his game-winning field goal. The game went to overtime, and Uwe von Schamann, born in West Berlin, Germany but raised in Fort Worth, Texas, won it for the Dolphins with a field goal, 16-13.
This being a Monday, the Pats-'Phins game was the only NFL game scheduled. This being December, no MLB games were scheduled. Only one game was played in the NBA: The Seattle SuperSonics beat the San Antonio Spurs, 104-99 at the Seattle Center Coliseum.
Only one game was played in the NHL: The Calgary Flames beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-2 at the Forum in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood, California.
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