R.I.P. Steve Sabol

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NFL Films President Steve Sabol passed away from brain cancer yesterday at the age of 69. Younger football fans may not know his name, but probably know his face and voice and certainly, in some form, know his work. Adult football fans who were children in the 1990s, 80s, 70s and perhaps before should feel a profound sense of loss, although most never met the man. Simply put, Steve Sabol and his surviving, 96 year old father, Pro Football Hall of Famer, NFL Films founder Ed Sabol created the single most significant contributor to the popularity of the National Football League, which ascended to apex of American sports popularity in the latter half of the 20th century.

NFL GOES HOLLYWOOD

Most often, the key to product differentiation in modern American consumerism is emotional attachment. In a nation at a time in which Major League Baseball dominated the American sports landscape and professional football was just beginning to gain traction with the mainstream American public, Ed Sabol and his son, Steve, embarked on a filmmaking adventure to capture the drama, excitement, and real world parallels of the NFL. I have said on this blog, numerous times, that sports often parallel real life and that is often what compels us to watch and participate in sports. In 1962, the Sabols started NFL Films and began to bridge the emotional connection from the gridiron into the minds and hearts of American sports fans.

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TRAILBLAZING

At a time in which the American film industry itself was evolving quickly, the notion of using high speed, color film to shoot a professional sporting event was unprecedented. In addition to the high quality film that utilized the drama and emotion captured by a slow motion shot, NFL Films added situational appropriate, dramatic, orchestral music tracked to its cutting edge visual depictions of the game action. NFL Films also utilized on field and on-player microphones to capture the authentic sounds of the game.

 Several of these clips have been in the personal soundtrack in my head.

THE VOICE OF GOD

The true power of NFL Films at its inception lay in the voice of its legendary narrator, the late, former Philadelphia newscaster John Facenda. His baritone voice is synonymous with the NFL. In sports pop culture, Facenda’s voice has been called “The Voice of God”. Companies, such as Campbell’s Soup, have utilized imitations of the voice of Facenda, who died in 1984, to promote products with a tie to the National Football League. Facenda was the straw the stirred the drink of early success for NFL Films.

Did anyone else get goosebumps?

EVERY NFL FAN’S CINEMATIC DOCUMENTARY

Speaking for myself, the foundation of knowledge that I have about the National Football League and its history began with NFL Films. Their productions stoked the fire of my interest in football, which has lasted and grown throughout my life. Upon the passing of Steve Sabol, I heard talk show host after talk show host and reporter after reported discuss the impact that NFL Films had on their interest in the NFL, which served as a gateway to interest in the sports world in general. Twitter lit up with post after post about the genius of Steve Sabol and his father in building NFL Films into what it is today and what NFL Films meant to them growing up.

The sports world lost one of its greatest contributors yesterday. Many of us, who consider ourselves to be football enthusiast, know him by name and have his face burned into memory. All of us who love football, and perhaps sports as a whole, owe a debt of gratitude to Steve Sabol and his creation, without which the enthusiasm many of us have for the NFL may not be possible.

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