October 25, 2012

Jacques Lesgards, Sports Broadcasting Pioneer

Recruited by ABC's Roone Arledge, Lesgards helped to shape coverage of the Olympics and other major sports events.

Jacques Lesgards, a sports broadcasting pioneer who helped to shape television coverage of the Olympics and other athletic events. died October 5, 2012, in Monaco. He was 92.

A native of Paris, France, Lesgards was working as chief engineer for the European production company Intertel when his work on the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, led to a job with ABC executive Roone Arledge, who in 1966 hired him as manager of ABC Sports European Engineering Operations.

In 1971, Lesgards was named ABC Sports director of broadcast operations and engineering in Europe, where he was an important part of ABC's team covering the 1972 Munich Olympics and several years of European events for Wide World of Sports.

In 1977, Lesgards became ABC's vice president and director, European technical production and broadcast operations. He retired to Monaco in 1980.

More information about his life and work is available at:

Sports Video Group

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