Geoffrey Mason, the veteran sports television producer whose chaotic time in the ABC control room during the hostage crisis at the 1972 Munich Olympics was documented in the Oscar-nominated drama September 5, has died. He was 85.
Mason, a member of the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame and a recipient of 24 Emmy Awards, died Sunday of natural causes in Naples, Florida, his family told ESPN.
Mason was barely 30 and working alongside ABC Sports head Roone Arledge on Sept. 5, 1972, when Israeli athletes and coaches were taken hostage at the Olympic Village by the Palestinian militant group Black September, and it was “largely up to Mason to decide what to show the world about it,” THR’s Steven Zeitchik wrote in November 2024.
“I cannot begin to tell you how fast events were unfolding in that room,” he told Zeitchik. “Every minute brought a new challenge. … we had no way of knowing the wide range of possibilities we’d face.”
Two members of the Israeli team were killed at the time of the attack, and nine athletes and a West German policeman would die in a botched rescue attempt at an airport.
The longtime head of ABC’s Olympic operations, Marv Bader, approached Mason and told him, “Mase, they’re all gone.” Mason spoke those very words to Arledge, and that’s how Olympics host Jim McKay phrased it when he informed the world of the hostages’ fate amid 22 straight hours on the air.
Nearly a billion people are believed to have watched some form of coverage in real time — almost a quarter of the global population.
Mason served as a consultant on Paramount Pictures’ September 5 (2024), which is set in the cramped control room on that day. He gave notes on the script, which was nominated for the Oscar for best original screenplay.
John Magaro plays him in the film, which also re-creates the moment when West German police stormed the room and pointed guns at his face. (An ABC camera was showing a tactical squad taking position on the roof above the hostages, and Mason ended up cutting off the camera’s feed.)
Mason had served with the U.S. Navy and graduated from Duke University with a degree in Sociology in 1963 when he landed a job as a production associate at ABC Sports in 1967.
He spent 57 years in television and did eight Olympics, starting with the 1968 Winter and Summer Games. He worked mostly at ABC and ESPN, covering the World Series, the World Cup, Triple Crown horse racing, the Indianapolis 500 and the America’s Cup — he raced yachts off the coast of his native Massachusetts — but also spent time at NBC, Fox and the NFL Network.
Mason told Zeitchik that he battled alcoholism for two decades before becoming sober in his early 40s. He started a foundation called Win Back Your Life, connected with Hazelden and the Betty Ford Center and became friends with Ford, delivering a eulogy during her funeral in 2011.
Survivors include his wife, Chris; son, Geoff Jr., who has spent some 30 years at NBC News; and his brother, David.
“Geoff was a giant visionary in television, never seeking credit,” former ESPN president Steve Bornstein said in a statement. “He preferred leading and mentoring teams, connecting people to projects, and was devoted to people and recovery of all sorts. He was a great teacher and mentor to everyone who came in his orbit.”
