Obituary of Douglas Towey

Doug Towey, CBS Sports creative director, dead at 61 BY ZACHARY R. DOWDY zachary.dowdy@newsday.com March 12, 2009 As a child, Hempstead native Doug Towey was often glued to the television set, perhaps taking mental notes of the graphics and sounds he would later combine like a maestro into promotional packages as creative director for CBS Sports, a task the Emmy award winner performed well for decades.After a long battle, the Lloyd Neck resident died of cancer yesterday. He was 61."As far as I remember, he was always interested in television, and in the creative side of television and film," said Denis Towey, an elder brother, of Niagara Falls.Doug Towey, family and colleagues said, was beloved throughout the sports world, and admired for his artistic projects. He is perhaps best known for a single stroke of genius: the decision to use folk singer David Barrett's song "One Shining Moment" in packaging the network's college basketball coverage, a move that transformed the song into an anthem of CBS' NCAA men's Division I basketball championships blitz."His remarkable professional talents aside, there was never a better friend," said Sean McManus, president of CBS News and sports. "He left us with a legacy of great memories and many, many shining moments that will live forever."CBS officials said in a statement that Towey had a hand in "virtually every major sporting event in the world" during his 34-year career in television, including several Olympic Games, Super Bowls, World Series, NBA Finals, NCAA Championships and Final Fours, the Masters, PGA Championships and U.S. Open tennis championships.He first used "One Shining Moment" to wrap up CBS' NCAA basketball coverage on March 30, 1987.Towey's professional career began on Long Island as a news reporter for WLIW-TV and WHLI Radio, after he graduated from Our Lady of Loretto School and, in 1972, the New York Institute of Technology.He got a job as associate director of sports for ABC Sports from 1975 until 1978 and participated in the first network sports on-air promotion unit there.Towey won an Emmy award for the network's coverage of the 1980 Winter Olympics, and he snatched up several more while at CBS for promotion, music and graphics.He also won Mobius, Promax and Monitor and Broadcast Design Association awards.Besides his brother, Towey is survived by his wife, Helen, and two sisters, Anne Towey of North Merrick and Brenda Romanski of Ronkonkoma.Viewing will take place today and tomorrow from 2 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. at the M.A. Connell Funeral Home in Huntington Station. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Thomas More Church at St. John's University. In lieu of flowers, Towey's family requests donations be made to The Douglas Towey Memorial Fund, Niagara University, NY, 14109. Copyright 2009, Newsday Inc.