Helluva career. RIP.
Posted on 09/18/2012 11:04:17 AM PDT by mc5cents
NFL Films president Steve Sabol died Tuesday morning after an 18-month battle with brain cancer. He was 69.
Sabol was one of the driving forces behind NFL Films -- which has allowed fans to see a different side of football for the past 50 years. His father, Ed Sabol, recently inducted into the Hall of Fame, started the company and convinced the league to let him film the 1962 NFL title game. Eventually, Sabol, with help from Steve, started NFL Films, and the league was never the same.
Everything you see on Inside the NFL? NFL Films. Much of what you see on the NFL Network and NFL.com? NFL Films. The wonderful documentaries on football? NFL Films.
Steve started with the company as a cinematographer in 1964, and from there, he began building the company of which he'd eventually become president.
NFL Films has won more than 100 Emmys, and Sabol has won 35 of them individually (for writing, cinematography, editing directing and producing. Nobody else has ever won for so many different categories.
"But it wasn't hardware that Steve loved, it was the game," wrote NFL Films in its Sabol obituary. "And he saw it as no one ever had. Through the eyes of an artist. With an unerring eye for detail, and a pitch perfect ear, Steve quickly transformed NFL Films from simple chroniclers of the game, to epic myth makers. And he did it, as all great artists do, by taking chances."
Helluva career. RIP.
RIP.
I thought he was dead.
I used to look forward every week for his vids.....
RIP Mr Sabol
RIP. Those were great films.
One of the most recognizable voices in the NFL!
You will be missed Steve.
Did Steve narrate them? I always think of the late John Facenda as the voice on NFL Films.
I will miss his industrial-strength voice.
I always get a kick when watching SpongeBob when they will use Sam Spence’s classic NFL Films’ music in episodes.
RIP Steve.
You enhanced our enjoyment of the game/sport
I can hear the timpani now. And the slow motion viking raising his weapon to the sky - charging his team to victory.
I believe Steve did many of the segments after Facenda.
I admire his tenacity, his work-ethic and that he didn't seem to be daunted or imtimidated by his subject. His power lay in his ability to tell a story.
This man was an incredibly gifted artist with the work ethic that drove him to excellence for its own sake. As an artist he brought in other elements, MUSIC, sound, narration, on field live-microphones and many other innovations to make his story more compelling. He knew his medium like Stravinsky knew the violin.
My condolences to his family and thanks for sharing a life well lived.
May he rest in Peace.
TS
RIP.
Harry Kalas replaced Facenda, but I always thought Steve would do the opening intro, but not the actual narration.
Facenda was the original voice of NFL Films. "The frozen tundra of Lambeau Field" still rings in the ears of old NFL fans. Steve Sabol narrated the later films.
Still the most iconic shot, was “Old Man” Willie Brown returning the interception against the Vikings in the Super Bowl.
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