Ed Sabol

Ed Sabol was the founder of NFL Films and the man who is credited with making football look like cinema. Deploying multiple cameras, zooming in for raw closeups, using unexpected angles, slow motion, and putting microphones on the players and coaches, Sabol helped to make the game the visual feast and must-watch television that it is today. Founded by Sabol in 1962, NFL Films was the product of a career change at the age of 40. He used the 16-millimeter camera given to him as a wedding present to film his son’s football games. What started off as a hobby, complete with a rickety 25-foot sideline tower to capture the game from a better vantage point, was parlayed into the start of a company. Partnering with Dan Endy, Sabol bought the rights to the 1962 NFL championship game and convinced the league commissioner Pete Rozelle to let him film it. His son, Steve Sabol, helped out on the film while on vacation from college. The younger Sabol went on to partner with his father on his venture and succeeded him as president of NFL Films in 1985. He held the position until his death in 2012.

Now responsible for filming every NFL game, the company processes about 2,000 hours of programming annually. NFL Films earns annual revenue in excess of $50 million; it is also a critical success, winning 107 sports Emmy Awards to date, 52 of them during Sabol’s tenure. Sabol also won a lifetime achievement Emmy in 2003.

Sabol died February 9, 2015, in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was 98.