Monday Night Football Pioneer Forte Dies At 60

Chet Forte, who rode a roller coaster of highs and lows as an athlete, television director and radio talk-show host, died Saturday of a heart attack at his home in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. He was 60.

Forte was on the air Friday at all-sports radio XTRA-AM, where he co-hosted an afternoon show with Steve Hartman. He had been at the station since 1991 and did color commentary on the San Diego Chargers broadcasts last season.

Prior to that, he worked at ABC from 1963 to 1987, where he won 11 Emmy Awards as a director on “Monday Night Football,” seven Olympic Games, Super Bowls, major league baseball, the Indianapolis 500, Kentucky Derbys and the NBA playoffs.

He was also a close friend of Howard Cosell, who served as best man at his wedding in 1977.

As a 5-foot-9 guard at Columbia, Forte played three seasons and set school records for career scoring average (24.8) and season scoring average (28.9 in 1956-57). He holds 11 school records.

Forte was UPI college basketball player of the year in 1957, when Wilt Chamberlain won the AP award.

He later had health problems, needing two open-heart surgeries, and a gambling addiction nearly ruined him. He was fired from ABC in 1987 and blackballed by the industry, all because of a gambling problem that he admitted at times cost $10,000 a day.

In 1992, Forte was sentenced to five years’ probation, community service and fines after defrauding a businessman of $100,000. He had since become an active member of Gamblers Anonymous.

Forte leaves a wife and 17-year-old daughter.