Don McGuire (television executive)

Don McGuire (1 Dec 1949 - 19 Mar 2020) was an American television sports executive. McGuire started his career as a radio announcer in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He joined NBC Sports in 1978, initially to produce features for the 1980 Moscow Olympics. He was the feature producer in 1979 on the Michigan State and Indiana State NCAA basketball championship match-up featuring Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. He also produced the telecast of the heavyweight fight between Gerry Coetzee and Randy Stephens - the first competition between a black man and a white man in South Africa. In 1987, McGuire was hired as executive producer of TBS Sports. He was executive producer on the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics, the 1991 Pan American Games, the 1990 World Cup, and the 1994 Goodwill Games. Under McGuire's operational direction Turner Sports added the NBA, NFL, PGA and Grand Slam Golf. McGuire was also a consultant on the launch of the Golf Channel and subsequently served as executive producer and later senior vice president for programming, production and operations until the network was taken over by Comcast.