"I tell it like it is."

"Sports is human life in microcosm."

 "Sports is the toy department of human life."

 "What's right isn't always popular. What's popular isn't always right." 

"The ultimate victory in competition is derived from the inner satisfaction of knowing that you have done your best and that you have gotten the most out of what you had to give. "

Howard Cosell, was one of the first network television sports announcers to, in his own words,to "tell it like it is".

His way with words and ability of telling like it was, brought him fame not only in America, but all over the world. Perhaps, no one will ever forget the memorable moments that he and Muhammad Ali created.

After studying English literature and graduating Phi Beta Kappa from New York University, he got his law degree from NYU, edited the school's law review, and was admitted to the New York state bar in 1941 at the age of 23.

Cosell became a major in the U.S. Army Transportation Corps during World War II. Cosell and Mary Edith "Emmy" Abrams, were married in 1944 while he was in the service. She died in 1990.

After the war, he opened a law office in Manhattan. Cosell counted among his clients several actors -- he'd spent time in college on the stage himself working summer stock productions -- and athletes, including Willie Mays. He also represented the Little League of New York, a connection that got him his first job in broadcasting.

That came in 1953, when an ABC program manager asked him to host a Saturday morning radio show that featured Little Leaguers asking questions of major leaguers. Cosell jumped at the chance. He did the show for three years without pay, but finally abandoned what had become an unsatisfying career in law to work full-time in broadcasting in 1956.

 Cosell handled a wide variety of assignments for ABC, but was particularly renowned for his work as a boxing announcer and on "Monday Night Football".