| William Norman Flemming | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 3, 1926 Chicago, Illinois |
| Died | July 20, 2007 (aged 80) Petoskey, Michigan |
| Nationality |  United States |
| Occupation | Television sports journalist |
William Norman "Bill" Flemming (September 3, 1926 – July 20, 2007) was an American television sports journalist who was one of the original announcers for the ABC Sports show Wide World of Sports.
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Born in Chicago, Illinois, Flemming moved with his family to Ann Arbor, Michigan by the time he entered high school.[1] While at Ann Arbor High School, he was a member of their state championship football team in 1943.[1] Flemming was also a member of the high school basketball team.
Attending the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, he entered as a Pre-medical major, but switched to speech after winning a campus wide speech contest which earned him a summer job at WUOM, the campus radio station.[1] Flemming would work his way up to sports director of the radio station.[1]
After graduating from Michigan, he went to work for WWJ-TV in Detroit in 1953 [2] and later appeared on NBC's Today Show before joining ABC's Wide World of Sports in 1961.[3] While with ABC, Flemming covered over 600 events for the program, including college football, golf and cliff diving.[1] One of the assignments he cherished broadcasting was the Michigan-Ohio State football game since Flemming was a Michigan graduate.[3] Other sports that Flemming called on Wide World of Sports were bobsleigh,[4] chess, and the Olympic Games.[3] His first event called on ABC was the Drake Relays athletics event in Des Moines, Iowa while his fellow broadcaster Jim McKay called the Penn Relays athletic event in Philadelphia.[5] While at NBC, Flemming also called the US Open golf tournament in 1957.[5] It was Flemming's reputation for tact and persistence that made him the go-to man in interviewing the reclusive Bobby Fischer during the 1972 World Chess Championships in Reykjavík, Iceland when Fischer was competing against defending champion Boris Spassky of the then-Soviet Union.[2]
Flemming was a Past President of the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association and was named a Lifetime Honorary Member of the DSBA. On June 20, 2008, Flemming was elected posthumously to the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.[6]
Flemming married the former Barbara Forster.[3] Their marriage produced two children, and they had two grandchildren.[3] Living in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Flemming was a pilot with over 6,000 hours logged.[2] From 1998 until his 2007 death, Flemming split his time between his homes in Good Hart, Michigan and Marco Island, Florida.[2]
Flemming died of prostate cancer on July 20, 2007 in Petoskey, Michigan.[5] A memorial service was held on August 10 in Harbor Springs.[2]
  | International Herald Tribune July 26, 2007 article on Flemming's death - The New York Times > Log In |
| | Boston.com July 27, 2007 article on Flemming's death. - Bill Flemming, announcer on 'Wide World of Sports' - The Boston Globe |
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