Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder born Dimetrios Georgios Synodinos in Steubenville, Ohio on this day in 1918. {the Mount Rushmore of Steubenville would be Lincoln’s Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, Dean Martin, Jimmy The Greek and ‘actress’ Traci Lords}
Today it is easy to forget how big Jimmy The Greek was in the 1970’s into the 80’s. He is today best remembered for the comments he made concerning black athletes that got him fired from his job on the CBS NFL pregame show. Truth be, Jimmy The Greek was on the downside and his ill-fated comments were perfect for CBS to give him the boot as they were wanting to do anyway.
From 1976 until 1987 Jimmy along with Brent Musberger and Irv Cross [Phyllis George and others were also on the NFL Today at times} had the best and most watched pre-game show. This was before every station this side of the Cartoon Network had a pre-game show. I remember The Greek for his board where he would compare the teams and give them a check marks to the team that had the edge in different categories.
After the firing at CBS Snyder’s life drifted into obscurity. At the end he was broke, alone and in very bad health. A sad end. He would die at the age of 77 in 1996. He was an interesting fellow. He is buried in his hometown of Steubenville, Ohio. There is no one out there today like Jimmy The Greek.
The ESPN 30 for 30 on Jimmy a few years ago was really good. “The Legend of Jimmy The Greek” The story of when Jimmy and Brent got into a fight is hilarious. I know there have been many times I wanted to punch Brent Musberger myself.
link to the video of the comments that got The Greek fired below
slicethelife 
do you think a studio show could work today with a host, a former player, a gambler, and a beauty contest winner? for some reason i am thinking no.