Halit Kıvanç

Halit Ahmet Kıvanç (18 February 1925 – 25 October 2022) was a Turkish television and radio presenter, humorist, sports journalist and writer.

He was best known as a sports commentator.

Kıvanç was born in the Fatih district of Istanbul to trader Ahmet and his wife Leman, the youngest of five siblings.

His precise birthday is not known, as at that time Turkey was still using the Rumi calendar and would not transition to the Gregorian calendar for another few months.

However, official documents give his birthday as February 18, 1925.

Kıvanç completed his secondary education at Pertevniyal High School in Aksaray, Istanbul.

At the last grade just before the graduation, he lost his father.

His brother Kemal did not allow him to earn money for the family, instead he wished that Halit go to the university.

Halit then studied law at Istanbul University.

Following his graduation, he attended military service for duty.

In 1950, Halit Kıvanç entered civil service to become a judge.

Following a brief period of apprenticeship, he was appointed judge in Kozluk, a small town in southeastern Turkey that became shortly before a district of then Siirt Province.

He served at this post in a region of deprivation only for couple of months.

Kıvanç resigned and returned to Istanbul to pursue a career as a journalist that offered him much more income.

Already during his university years, Halit Kıvanç was interested in journalism.

His articles were published in the Law Faculty's periodical Guguk ("Cuckoo" for English).

His vested interest in football, led him to write in the sports weekly Şut ("Shoot").

Later, his writings on humor got him ahead.

His professional journalism career began as he was discovered by Yusuf Ziya Ortaç, the publisher of that time's notable illustrated satire and humor magazine Akbaba ("Vulture"), after his first joke was printed.

Kıvanç wrote sketches for the TRT's Radio Istanbul.

Kıvanç became then a narrator as he was asked to tell the stories he wrote.

Kıvanç also wrote sports reports primarily in the newspapers Milliyet, Tercüman, Hürriyet and Güneş among others.

His career as a sports commentator, which made him later famous, began as he was asked during a trip to comment on sports events that he reported in the daily Milliyet.

He commented on Turkey's participation at major sports events like Olympic Games and various World championships on radio and television.

In 1952, he was sent to Italy by the newspaper Türkiye Ekspres Gazetesi to interview four Turkish footballers (Bülent Eken, Bülent Esen, Şükrü Gülesin, Lefter Küçükandonyadis), who played in Italian clubs.

He took this opportunity and visited the Pope in Vatican, becoming the first ever Turkish journalist to be admitted.

At a contest during the World Humorists Conference held in the United States, he came in third.

Halit Kıvanç and two friends of his established in 1953 Turkey's first daily sports only newspaper Türkiye Spor.

Kıvanç married in 1955 Bülbin, a pharmacist by profession.

The couple had a son Ümit Kıvanç (born 1956), who was a columnist of the daily Radikal.

Between 1963-1964, he was almost a year-long with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in the United Kingdom for training, just before television broadcasting was launched in Turkey.

In addition to all his engagements, Kıvanç was a popular on-stage presenter asked for musical events and contests.

He hosted a talk show named "Halit Kıvanç'la Ustalar" (literally: "Masters with Halit Kıvanç") Sundays on the Turkish television channel NTV.

Moreover, as a strong fan of Fenerbahçe S.K., he presented another talk show called "Efsanenin yeni 100 yılı" ("The Legendary's new century") at Fenerbahçe TV.

Halit Kıvanç is considered as the person of firsts in the Turkish journalism.

Due to late application, he did not receive a speaker's booth at Wembley Stadium for broadcasting of the football game between England and Germany at the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final.

He commented on the match, which lasted two-and-half-hours with overtime, on radio in Turkey by telephone.

The next day, he was told that he became the first ever reporter to give a comment of a World football cup event on the phone.

He gave up his career as a sports commentator in 1983 after the Turkish President's Football Cup.

In 2005, Halit Kıvanç celebrated his 50th anniversary in his career as a sports commentator at a special event organized by the government.