Ed Sabol Biography

Fast Facts

• Was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011
• His son, Steve, joined his company as a cinematographer in 1964 and took over as president in 1987, and he often credited his son as being the creative spark behind his films
• Partnered with Dan Endy, who had previously produced black-and-white films of NFL games for a company in Philadelphia, to film the 1962 NFL championship game with color, music and multiple cameras, titling the result "Pro Football's Longest Day․"
• First became involved in filmmaking when he flew his new plane to the Bahamas, controlling it with one hand and holding a 16-mm camera in the other, later selling the footage to Bahamian officials for their tourism productions
• Quote: "We began making the game personal for the fans, like a Hollywood movie․ Violent tackles, the long slow spiral of the ball ․․․ The movie camera was the perfect medium at the time to present the game the way the fans wanted to see it․"
• Best known as the founder of NFL Films who used Hollywood techniques to turn football into America's top spectator sport
• Before he sold his company to the NFL and took on the name NFL Films, he called it Blair Motion Pictures after his daughter
• Was a champion swimmer in high school and college and was even named an alternate for the U․S․ team for the 1936 Berlin Olympics, but he refused to go and swim in a pool built by Adolf Hitler
• The footage he collected for NFL Films made the company the primary source for more than 100 years of football history and also allowed him to create the sports blooper genre