He was number 99 on the list.
Sabol died Monday at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona, the
NFL said.
Sabol was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in
2011. During his tenure at NFL Films from 1964-1995, the organization won 52
Emmy Awards.
Working with his son, Steve, Sabol introduced a series of
innovations taken for granted today: super slow-motion replays, blooper reels,
reverse angle shots. They stuck microphones on coaches and players, set
highlights to pop music and recorded pregame locker room speeches.
And one of their most important decisions was hiring John
Facenda to narrate all this. He became known as the "Voice of God,"
reading lyrical descriptions in solemn tones.
"We began making the game personal for the fans, like a
Hollywood movie," Sabol told The Associated Press before his Hall of Fame
induction. "Violent tackles, the long slow spiral of the ball, following
alongside the players as they sidestepped and sprinted down the field. The
movie camera was the perfect medium at the time to present the game the way the
fans wanted to see it."
A star swimmer at Ohio State who had a brief stage career,
Sabol was in the overcoat business with his father-in-law in Philadelphia
before he formed Blair Productions, a film company named after his daughter. He
described himself as a longtime "amateur moviemaker," whose only
experience producing sports was recording the action at Steve's high school football
games.
Then he won the rights to chronicle the 1962 NFL
championship, changing the course of his film career and — very possibly — the
league's fortunes.
When Ed Sabol founded NFL Films, his son was there working
beside him as a cinematographer right from the start. The two were honored with
the Lifetime Achievement Emmy from the National Academy of Television Arts and
Sciences in 2003.
Steve Sabol, who succeeded his father as NFL Films'
president, died in 2012 at age 69 of brain cancer.
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