NFL Films President Steve Sabol, who with his father helped change the way television presented and fans experienced football, died on Tuesday from brain cancer at age 69.
Sabol was diagnosed with a brain tumor in March 2011.
His father, Ed Sabol, began NFL Films in 1962 as Blair Motion Pictures and over the years introduced a range of new features and innovations that would revolutionize how football was seen on television.
Some of those innovations included microphones on players, slow-motion replays, blooper reels and voice-over narration.
"Steve Sabol was the creative genius behind the remarkable work of NFL Films," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement from the league confirming Sabol's death. "Steve's passion for football was matched by his incredible talent and energy. Steve's legacy will be part of the NFL forever. He was a major contributor to the success of the NFL, a man who changed the way we look at football and sports, and a great friend."
Sabol worked with his father as a cinematographer from the beginning and started work on NFL games when the company won the rights to film the 1962 NFL championship game. At the time the rights cost $4,000.
Impressed with the film work, two years later the NFL agreed to buy out Sabol's company and renamed it NFL Films. Before bidding on the rights, the only video experience Ed had was filming his son's high school games.
"We see the game as art as much as sport," Steve Sabol told The Associated Press before his father was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame last year. "That helped us nurture not only the game's traditions but to develop its mythology: America's Team, The Catch, The Frozen Tundra."
Anyone who has watched the NFL Films highlight packages over the years knows the characteristics of Sabol's work. The company used reverse angles, close ups, dramatic music and pregame locker room footage to make highlights and documentary pieces compelling.
"Today of course those techniques are so common it's hard to imagine just how radical they once were," the younger Sabol told the AP last year. "Believe me, it wasn't always easy getting people to accept them, but I think it was worth the effort."
Sabol turned NFL Films into an art form over the years, winning 35 Emmy Awards for various categories, including for editing, producing, writing and directing. He is the only person to be awarded that many awards in that many categories.
Sabol and his father also received a Lifetime Achievement Emmy award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 2003.
NFL Films had great success with TV series and documentaries, including "Hard Knocks" on HBO. The show gives a detailed look at one NFL team during the preseason leading into the beginning of the regular season. The show has won numerous Emmy awards, including the Outstanding Edited Sports Series Emmy in 2009 and 2010.
"This is a sad day for football fans everywhere," Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay said. "As someone who grew up watching NFL Films creations, I can attest to Steve's vision and contribution to the incredible popularity of this sport. His, along with his father, Ed's, creativity and passion for the game cultivated many, many avid fans."
Due to the work of Sabol and his father on the company's "Greatest Moments" series, young fans were able to learn the history of the NFL and watch footage of some of its most exciting games. Things that have become standard on NFL broadcasts and highlight packages were made possible due to the innovations and creativity of the two.
Much of the footage seen from older games had never previously been shown on television before and helped bring attention to some of the NFL's greatest, yet forgotten stars.
"His work humanized the players, coaches and people who have made the National Football League so great," said San Francisco 49ers CEO Jed York.
Sabol is survived by his wife, Penny; his son, Casey; his parents, Audrey and Ed; and his sister, Blair. The NFL said there would be a private funeral for the family.
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