When you think of the words honesty, straight from the shoulder, and tell it like it is, you think of one man: Howard Cosell . Howard is best remembered as the greatest sportscaster in the history of sports. 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 spent together. How they made fun of each other and played with each other are legendary. Howard also appeared several times with Dean Martin in the 70s on some of Dean's celebrity roasts, honoring people like Bob Hope , Bette Davis , Mr. T , even Dean Martin himself, and probably the man whom he knew the most: Muhammad Ali . After the 80s, Cosell drifted away from fame. On April 23, 1995, Howard passed away with heart embolism. But, surely, no one ever forgets how honest and straight-going Howard Cosell was.

Was a lawyer before becoming a sports announcer.On Dec. 8, 1980 at 11:30 pm while broadcasting a game between the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots on "NFL Monday Night Football" (1970), he was the first person to publicly announce the death of John Lennon . This was long before there was the Internet and 24-hour news channels. Concidentally, Lennon had appeared in the broadcast booth on "NFL Monday Night Football" (1970) exactly five years earlier (Dec. 8, 1975).After his law career, he started out as a radio sports reporter before he was hired by ABC to cover sports for TV.He co-wrote with Peter Bonventre a book called "I Never Played The Game" in which he coined the word "jockocracy" to describe how athletes were given announcing jobs that they had not earned.In 1983, during a Monday Night Football matchup between the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys, he referred to Redskins wide receiver Alvin Garrett as a "little monkey." Following two months of intense public pressure, he resigned from the MNF broadcast team.Inducted into the American Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame in 1993 with Marty Glickman .Inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1993.Was openly against the hiring of ex-athletes for sportscasting roles solely based on their playing fame. He felt that many qualified candidates who never played sports were being unfairly overlooked for these positions. He used the term "jockocracy" to describe this.Was said to be a very devout family man who never recovered from his wife's death.Inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.Ranked #5 by the American Sportscasters Association in its list of the Top 50 Sportscasters of All-Time (January 2009).