Sport Billy


Sport Billy is a 1979 animated television cartoon made by Filmation Associates, initially for broadcast in Germany. In 1982, Filmation carried the show over to the United States for syndication, and as a summer replacement in NBC's Saturday morning children's programming. It was the last first-run series produced by Filmation Associates to air on NBC.
Sport Billy was originally a European comic character and had already had presence in Europe and some parts of Latin America. Sport Billy Productions, owners of the Sport Billy franchise, licensed the property to American studio Filmation to create a cartoon based on the character. As a European character, Sport Billy's main sport was soccer, and this was reflected in the intro sequence of the Filmation program.
Sport Billy was adopted by FIFA as the Fair Play Mascot for Soccer World Cups, and a trophy of the character was presented to the most sporting team at each World Cup. The character was used as a mascot in many sporting youth programs internationally, promoting sportsmanship and fair play .
The series consisted of 26 episodes split into two seasons. It was also shown in the UK, Italy, Yugoslavia, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Greece, Spain, Turkey, Peru, Mexico, Portugal and some other countries. Sport Billy was voiced by Lane Scheimer, son of producer Lou Scheimer. Lilly and Queen Vanda was voiced by Joyce Bulifant and Willy was voiced by Frank Welker.

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