Edgar J. Scherick on AllMovie

One of the most prolific producers of television miniseries and made-for-television films, multiple Emmy-award nominee Edgar J. Scherick was the man responsible for ABC's Wide World of Sports in 1961, as well as such memorable features as Sleuth (1972) and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974). Born in New York City in October of 1964, Scherick graduated from Harvard before finding work as a radio and TV executive at a Big Apple ad agency. Subsequently finding himself a pioneer of television sports with the creation of the "Baseball Game of the Week with Dizzy Dean." The program served as the first national weekly broadcast of Major League Baseball games, and did much the same for football. Later, while working as a sports specialist for CBS, Scherick formed Sports Programs Inc., which would serve as one of the main catalysts of sports television growth. Though he would eventually move to ABC and merge Sports Programs Inc. with the network, Scherick truly came into his own as a producer of television films after leaving ABC and founding his own production company. Well renowned for his charm and friendly demeanor, Scherick's television work in Raid on Entebbe (1977), The Kennedys of Massachusetts (1990), and John Frankenheimer's Path to War (2002) would find him a three-time Emmy nominee. In late December of 2002, Scherick died of leukemia in Los Angeles, CA. He was 78.