'One Shining Moment' Genius Dead on Eve of Big Dance

The eagerly awaited coda of the NCAA men's basketball tournament—a montage of highlights set to the song "One Shining Moment"—will be even more poignant this year. Doug Towey, the reporter-turned-CBS Sports creative director who introduced David Barrett's tune to the network's coverage in 1987, has died of cancer at 61, Newsday reports.

A master of packaging, Towey worked in TV for 34 years and won an Emmy for ABC's 1980 Winter Olympics coverage. He had a hand in coverage of "virtually every major sporting event in the world," CBS said in a statement. Said CBS exec Sean McManus: "He left us with a legacy of great memories and many, many shining moments that will live forever." (More CBS stories.)