4 hours ago
1
The man behind one of the most iconic images in American sports history passed away on Tuesday.
Famed Sports Illustrated photographer Heinz Kluetmeier died at the age of 82 after complications with Parkinson’s disease and a stroke.
Kluetmeier was the man behind the lens for the memorable photo of the “Miracle on Ice” at the 1980 Winter Olympics when the American men’s hockey team upset the Soviet Union in Lake Placid, New York.
The iconic photo made the cover of SI’s March 1980 issue and was the only cover to ever run without a headline.
The picture showed the United States players celebrating on the ice moments after the final horn sounded.
Kluetmeier told Sports Illustrated in a 2008 interview that the “Miracle on Ice” photo was the most memorable Olympic snap he’s ever taken.
“That’s the only cover we ever ran without cover language,” he said at the time. “It didn’t need it. Everyone in America knew what happened. A close second at the same Olympics was (speed skater) Eric Heiden. The pre-Olympic cover of him was the first time he put on the gold suit. And I have to say the last Olympics I really enjoyed when Michael [Phelps] won his first medal in Athens. It was unbridled enthusiasm. Nothing studied, nothing planned, nothing choreographed. It was, ‘Wow, I won.’ That was my last Olympic cover.”
Kluetmeier immigrated to the United States when he was 9 years old, and he started shooting pictures when he was 15.
He started his career with the Milwaukee Journal and joined Time Inc. in 1969, where his photos appeared in LIFE magazine and Sports Illustrated.
Kluetmeier retired in 2016, and one of the final sporting events he photographed was that year’s Kentucky Derby.
“He worked harder than anyone,” Kluetmeier’s daughter Jessie told CBS 42.
“His work was so much of who he was, and I think he took pleasure in it.”
English (US)