George Finkel

George Finkel (July 29, 1936 – April 17, 2019)[1] was an American television sports producer and director. He was the son of architect Maurice Herman Finkel. He graduated from University of Michigan in 1958.

Finkel worked for NBC Sports from August 1971 to February 1990 and won three Emmys, for producing Super Bowl XIII,[2] for 1982 Baseball World Series, and for producing gymnastics at the 1988 Olympics.

He also produced the highest-rated basketball game in television history; the NCAA Final Game in 1979, which featured Michigan State, with Magic Johnson, over Indiana State, with Larry Bird.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]

  1. ^ "Obituary George Finkel". Dignity Memorial. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  2. ^ "ABC captures four Emmys". The Gadsden Times. AP. March 5, 1980. p. 30. Retrieved July 12, 2010.
  3. ^ "When March Went Mad". Wall Street Journal. March 20, 2009. Retrieved April 17, 2019 – via www.wsj.com.
  4. ^ "The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia". www.broadcastpioneers.com. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
  5. ^ Broadcast Pioneers (December 2, 2014). "Pioneers of Philadelphia Broadcasting George Finkel". Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved April 17, 2019 – via YouTube.
  6. ^ William Taafe (May 16, 1982). "Ohlmeyer: NBC Won't Be the Same Without Its Expert at Excess". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 1330888409.
  7. ^ Davis, Seth (March 3, 2009). When March Went Mad: The Game That Transformed Basketball. Macmillan. ISBN 9780805088106. Retrieved April 17, 2019 – via Google Books.
  8. ^ Verna, Tony; Bode, William T (April 17, 1987). Live TV: an inside look at directing and producing. Focal Press. OCLC 14357417. Retrieved April 17, 2019 – via Open WorldCat.
  9. ^ http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/032609_madness.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  10. ^ "The Michigan Alumnus". UM Libraries. April 17, 1974. Retrieved April 17, 2019 – via Google Books.
  11. ^ http://emmyonline.com/download/1980-Nomination_Winners.pdf [bare URL PDF]