David Coleman 26 April 1926 – 21 December 2013 by Gary Naylor

The (Cole)Man

For many of us, David Coleman simply was sport. Sure he was an track and field man (and a very handy athlete in his youth), but he did football and the Grand National and, because it was Sportsnight with Coleman (and, as often as not, Grandstand too), pretty much everything else – including the ice skating that so displeased Bob and Terry. At a time when sport was strictly rationed in the media and the BBC were so far ahead of the field that the others didn’t count, he was The Man.

It was a golden age of sports broadcasting, not in any technical sense – camerawork was terrible and television pictures murky and monochrome – but because the experiences were shared, Coleman sits at the heart of an emotional history that unites millions. “Porterfield. 1-0!” is simply enough.

Like many of the great voices of sport, Coleman was trained, but not molded, beloved for his errors and eccentricities as much as his brilliance. In the first half of this race from the 1976 Olympics listen to the voice dip and soar, as he uses its pitch to build the excitement. He was always on the edge of hysteria (wonderfully exploited by Spitting Image) but – well – so were we! And never were we (and he) more excited than when calling home one of GB’s extraordinary relay races. And, of course, Allan Wells, Seb Coe and Steve Ovett.

There was a Question of Sport, the magnificent rant at the Battle of Santiago and Colemanballs and there’ll be plenty of tributes that highlight other aspects of so long a broadcasting career. But I’ll leave you with this and, if you’re a certain age, a vision of David Coleman swimming into your mind, about to introduce the racing from Haydock followed by rally-cross from Lydden Hill. Happy days.

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