NEW YORK, Sept. 25, 2013 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- For nearly 40 years, people from all walks of life tuned into ABC's Wide World of Sports so they could experience "the thrill of victory … and the agony of defeat … the human drama of athletic competition"—all from their living room sofa. Now for the first time ever, sports fans and human drama aficionados can learn the stories behind the stories to the most memorable athletes in history. In The World Was Our Stage: Spanning the Globe with ABC Sports (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, $15.95, ISBN: 978-1490403663), Emmy award winning sports director Doug Wilson (with co-author Jody Cohan) pulls back the curtains to the world of sports, revealing the stories you never knew and giving everyone a firsthand glimpse into the Golden Era of sports history.

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Filled with anecdotes of some of the most prominent sports figures of the 20^th century—including Muhammad Ali, Evel Knievel, Nadia Comaneci, Peggy Fleming, Arthur Ashe, Dorothy Hamill, and Scott Hamilton, just to name a few—The World Was Our Stage details the saga of television sports during an unprecedented time in world history. In 1961, when ABC's Wide World of Sports began, television viewers, American society, and the world were undergoing monumental political and social changes. From the evolution of rock and roll, to the civil rights movement, to the tragedy at the Munich Olympics in 1972, to the first day women entered the sports newsroom, to the technology changes that transformed the TV viewing experience, Wilson masterfully tells the story of these times and more through the lens of sports television.

Fortunately, storytelling is second nature to Wilson. During his time at ABC Sports, he directed and crafted the stories of victory and defeat in a way no other sports show had done. "For the first time ever, sports were presented as drama … as television theater," explains Wilson. "We weren't just there to poke cameras on the sidelines and tell people who won or lost. We brought viewers into the stadium so they could experience the event at a depth that had never been done before. That's what made ABC's Wide World of Sports so successful for so long."

Through his work at ABC sports, Wilson spanned the globe, bringing the world as well as many sporting events to the American public for the first time. The show was as much about geography, politics, and what makes people tick as it was about sports, and this focus on human drama is what made ABC's Wide World of Sports so endearing. In The World Was Our Stage, readers can now relive the best moments the sports world has to offer … and experience many more that have never been told before.

Doug Wilson started at ABC in 1958. Over the years, he spanned the globe with ABC's Wide World of Sports, producing and/or directing fifty-one different sports across five continents. He also participated in the production of ten Olympic Games telecasts and became recognized internationally as the premier director in figure skating. Wilson won seventeen Emmys and was honored by the Directors Guild of America in 1994 with its Lifetime Achievement Award in Sports. In 1995, the United States Figure Skating Association presented Wilson with its Spirit of Giving Award, and he was inducted into the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame in 2003. He was also the first recipient of The Frank Bare Award for service to gymnastics, presented by the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

Jody Cohan is an award-winning writer.  She has worked in film and television, teaches writing, and is a volunteer mentor for WriteGirl.  An avid athlete, Cohan spent Saturday afternoons throughout her childhood sitting on the couch with her family watching ABC's Wide World of Sports.

For more information or a review copy of The World Was Our Stage, please call 866-404-4177 x4 or send an email to jimmy@target-marketing.org. 

Media Contact: Jimmy Farrell, Target Marketing, 866-404-4177 x4, jimmy@target-marketing.org

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SOURCE Target Marketing