DETROIT -- Former ABC-TV sports broadcaster and longtime "Prudential College Football Scoreboard Show" host Dave Diles died Saturday night at his home in Athens, Ohio. He was 78.
Detroit station WXYZ-TV said Monday that Diles had been in failing health since suffering a stroke in April. Diles was the ABC affiliate's sports director from 1961 to 1972 and 1979 to 1982.
Diles also worked for several newspapers and reported for The Associated Press in Columbus, Ohio, and Detroit from 1951 to 1961.
Diles was the face of Detroit local sports in the 1960s, '70s and '80s, and hosted the city's first radio sports talk show, called "Dial Dave Diles," according to the Detroit Free Press.
In two decades with ABC Sports, Diles covered the Olympics, the Indy 500 and hosted "Wide World of Sports" and the "Prudential College Football Scoreboard Show."
The Michigan Sports Hall of Fame inducted him in 2006.
Diles grew up in Middleport, Ohio, and attended Ohio University.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
