A solid argument could be made that a man who never played, coached, or managed a pro sports team was among the most influential and revolutionary figures in sports history. Well, make that a man and his son. Ed Sabol, the founder of NFL Films, passed away this week at the age of 98. Ed and his late son Steve turned NFL Films into a giant and the model for all other sports to follow in how they documented their games, highlights, and history.
A Coat Salesman With a Dream
In 1962 Sabol talked his way into a deal in which his small side company, Blair Motion Pictures, would document the NFL Championship Game between the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants. But instead of having a narrator talking over the highlights, Sabol wanted to make the production into a dramatic spectacle. He used jazz music in the background and would time the most dramatic parts of music with spiral passes or great defensive stops. The NFL was so impressed that they bought Blair Motion Pictures a year later and put Sabol in charge of a new division called NFL Films.
Birth of a Vision
NFL Films quickly came into its own during the Golden Age of Football of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s when the American Football League reached par with the NFL and the two leagues subsequent merger. In fact, NFL Films played a major part in the growth of the sport in that era when it became America’s new national pastime.
Super Bowl Majesty
NFL Films documented the first four Super Bowl games in a way that gave them instant credibility. John Facenda emerged as a world renowned narrator and voice of NFL Films based on his work on Super Bowls I, III, and IV. Sabol had NFL Films cameras all over the field and stadiums to capture not just game action but what took place in the stands and on the sidelines.
Wham, Bam, Stram
Sabol then took things to the next level in for Super Bowl IV, which remains the most popular and famous Super Bowl highlight film of all time. Sabol had the idea of wiring a head coach for sound during the biggest game of the year. He went up to the suite of Kansas City head coach Hank Stram and sold him on the idea. Stram and the Chiefs had not forgotten how biased Sabol’s Super Bowl I film had been with its cutting remarks about the Chiefs.
But peace was made and Stram was offered a few hundred dollars to be wired for sound during the entire game. If timing was everything, it certainly was for Super Bowl IV. The Chiefs routed the Vikings and the film is loaded with Stram making decisions, plotting strategy, and making his own cutting remarks about the Vikings. It was an instant classic and remains so today.
This Week in Pro Football
Before cable television and the internet football fans had to wait a few days to get the highlights of the previous week’s games. “This Week in Pro Football” was well worth the wait. It would air on UHF TV stations throughout the nation, often on Saturday mornings, with the great Pat Summerall and Tom Brookshier narrating the highlights with brilliantly conceived music playing in the background and timed to perfection with the game highlights. Summerall and Brookshier would also get in some quips that were quite unique for that time and totally spontaneous, unlike today’s contrived Comedy Central wannabes. The program became so legendary that you can special order episodes from the NFL Films website.
Football Follies
NFL Films also caught the humorous side of the game with its follies productions that would show bloopers and busted plays. The follies became among the most popular productions ever made by NFL Films and again demonstrated the creative genius of the Sabols.
America’s Team
The power of NFL Films is best exemplified by their highlight production of the 1977 Dallas Cowboys season titled ‘America’s Team.” Cowboy haters such as myself went ballistic but the moniker has forever stuck with Dallas ever since. The Sabols made America’s Team what it remains today.
America’s Game
Every Super Bowl Champion has had their season documented by NFL Films in the America’s Game series. If you want to see just how brilliant the Sabols were this series is a must see. Regardless of which era of football you prefer, the series takes you inside each champion with interviews and unique clips from the vast NFL Films vault. Just for good measure there is also a series on teams that never quite reached the top of the mountain such as Bud Grant’s Minnesota Vikings and Marv Levy’s Buffalo Bills.
Keepers of the Game
Bigger than Life is an inadequate description of what NFL Films did for the game. With the brilliantly conceived combination of superior camera work, narrations, and that background music that fans to this day love to play, the Sabols were able to bring out the majesty, emotion, drama, and glory of pro football. In fact, I have often said that NFL Films is better and more interesting than the actual game itself.
The founder of the NFL, the late George Halas said it best about NFL Films shortly before his death: “You are keepers of the game.”
NFL Films won 91 Emmys and Ed Sabol is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Without the brilliance of the Sabols, and how they brought out the greatness of the NFL for the world to see in the best possible light, pro football would not have become America’s Game.
