Miguel Vidal, historic founding reporter of AS, dies

Yesterday, January 4, 2021, like every Monday in recent times, Miguel Vidal Perelló (Consell, Mallorca, July 26, 1942) signed an article in the newspaper Last minute, in its section Minute 91. He titled it: “Getting out unscathed is a lot.” No one in his environment could think that it was the last time this race journalist, adventurous reporter, was going to stamp his name in a media outlet.

Miguel Vidal passed away last night at the age of 78 at his home in Consell, where he was pursuing a journalistic career that reached his zenith at AS, where he worked for 30 long years, from its foundation until 1998.

Vidal always boasted, and had reasons for it, that On December 6, 1967, he had signed four pages of the first issue of AS: two on Manolo Santana and another two on the Torino tragedy.

The Balearic reporter I had arrived with what I was wearing in Madrid, but with the help of the journalist José María García and with his determination he went ahead. It was initially part of the newspaper Information, which catapulted him to the founding team of AS.

In this diary he marked an era, here he squeezed the genre that made him great, the report. Through their stories you can tell the history of twentieth century sports. Among the legends that passed through his notebook stand out Jesse Owens, Muhammad Ali, Pelé, Nadia Comaneci, Joe Louis, Bob Beamon, Garrincha, Magic Johnson, Emil Zatopek, Larissa Latynina, George Best … and many more.

A little over two years ago, in November 2018, Beamon went to San Sebastián for a film festival and one of the first things he did was ask about him: “Where is my friend Miguel Vidal?”. AS led to the reunion of those two legends.

Vidal left his mark. In Mallorca, today many journalists who considered him a teacher cry to him, while they rescue from their shelves some of his twenty books, which he gladly dedicated. AS also shed tears today for its most illustrious reporter. Rest in peace.