David Robert Coleman OBE (26 April 1926 – 21 December 2013) was a British sports commentator and television presenter who worked for the BBC for 46 years.

[2] Born in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, of Irish heritage (his immediate family hailed from County Cork), Coleman competed as a schoolboy middle-distance runner.

Injury eventually caused him to give up competitive running, and he later became president of the Wolverhampton & Bilston Athletics Club.

Although he did not have an audition, the BBC asked him to cover Roger Bannister at Bradford City Police Sports.

[3] In 1954 Coleman moved to Birmingham and joined the BBC as a news assistant and sports editor.

He even covered the return of The Beatles from the United States and the 1959 General Election for the BBC from the Press Association headquarters.

Coleman's last live football commentary was on 26 May 1979 when he described England's 3–1 win over Scotland at Wembley Stadium in the 1978–79 British Home Championship, although he continued to work at football matches as a secondary commentator until October 1981 with his last game being a midweek League Cup game between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United.

In 1968, at the Mexico Olympics Coleman was recorded at 200 words per minute while commentating on David Hemery's win in the 400m Hurdles.

He was also absent from the 1977 Grand National, which turned out to be Red Rum's historic third win, due to his contract dispute with the BBC.

Coleman's on-air gaffes, use of clichés and occasional mispronunciations led the satirical magazine Private Eye to name its sports bloopers column Colemanballs in his honour.

[2] His son Michael (born 1962) was a Panavia Tornado navigator, who flew in the Gulf War in 1991, and had become a Squadron Leader.

[3] Coleman died from complications of bronchopneumonia and a stroke at a hospital in Windsor, Berkshire, on 21 December 2013, at the age of 87.