GREENSPAN, BUD

GREENSPAN, BUD (1926– ), preeminent producer, writer and director of sports films, one of the world's leading sports historians, member of the U.S. Olympic Committee Hall of Fame. Born in New York City, Greenspan broke into sports at 16 as a radio announcer, and at 21 was promoted to sports director for station WMGM (WHN) in New York City, then the largest sports station in the country. Greenspan broadcast the pre- and post-game coverage of the Brooklyn Dodgers, and also covered hockey, basketball, track, and tennis events from Madison Square Garden. Greenspan went to the 1952 Olympic Games and made a documentary on weightlifter John Davis, and after selling the film for a huge profit decided there was a future in sports documentaries. In 1964 Greenspan took Jesse Owens to Berlin to shoot a one-hour film called Jesse Owens Returns to Berlin. It was an immediate success, playing in over 120 countries and earned Greenspan three Emmy Awards. The film was revolutionary, the beginning of telling the human story of sports instead of just the standard athletic story. Greenspan was producer of the official films of the Olympic Games in 1984, 1988, 1992, and 1996, with his five-hour film on the '84 Olympics, 16 Days of Glory, considered a classic. Greenspan produced numerous other Olympic-related films, including Triumph and Tragedy: The 1972O lympics, The Measure of Greatness, An Olympic Dream, the television series For the Honor of Their Country, the two-hour docudrama, Time Capsule: The 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, and the 22-part TV series The Olympiad (1976–77), seen in more than 80 countries and which got him an Emmy Award. He also won Emmys for his 16 Days of Glory films of the Winter Olympics at Calgary (1988) and Lillehammer (1994). "There are some people who are very stylistic," Greenspan wrote. "They make films that are difficult to understand; yet some people find them genius. My approach is very simple. My stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end. The dumbest person in the world can understand my films." Greenspan was awarded the Olympic Order in 1985, the 17th American to receive such an honor; the Directors Guild of America Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995; and the Peabody Award in 1996 for his outstanding service in chronicling the Olympic Games. He is the author of numerous books, including Play It Again Bud (1973), We Wuz Robbed\! (1976), Numero Uno (1982), 100 Greatest Moments in Olympic History   (1995), Frozen in Time: The Greatest Moments at the Winter Olympics (1997), and The Olympians' Guide to Winning the Game of Life (1997). Greenspan was elected to the U.S. Olympic Committee Hall of Fame in 2004. (Elli Wohlgelernter (2nd ed.)