Groundbreaking CBS golf producer Chirkinian to go into Hall of Fame

Longtime golf producer Frank Chirkinian is going into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem made a surprise announcement Wednesday night. He says that Chirkinian has been selected through the lifetime achievement category.

He will be inducted May 9 in St. Augustine, Fla.

Chirkinian revolutionized golf coverage as the producer for CBS Sports. He also came up with the idea of putting a camera on a blimp for a college football game, and produced the first Winter Olympics on television, the 1960 Squaw Valley Games.

The 84-year-old Chirkinian is battling cancer. At a CBS reception, broadcaster Jim Nantz held a microphone up to his phone so Chirkinian could speak from his home in South Florida.

Chirkinian says getting into the Hall is the apex of his career.