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You are here: Home / Sports / RIP, Steve Sabol

RIP, Steve Sabol

by John Cole|  September 20, 201212:41 am| 47 Comments

This post is in: Sports

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I missed this, but as a lifelong fan of the NFL, this is a real loss:

With the eye of an art history major, Steve Sabol filmed the NFL as a ballet and blockbuster movie all in one.

Half of the father-son team that revolutionized sports broadcasting, the NFL Films president died Tuesday of brain cancer at age 69 in Moorestown, N.J. He leaves behind a league bigger than ever, its fans enthralled by the plot twists and characters he so deftly chronicled.

“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 was diagnosed with a tumor on the left side of his brain after being hospitalized for a seizure in March 2011.

When Ed Sabol founded NFL Films, his son was there working beside him as a cinematographer right from the start in 1964. They introduced a series of innovations taken for granted today, from super slow-motion replays to blooper reels to sticking microphones on coaches and players. And they hired the “Voice of God,” John Facenda, to read lyrical descriptions in solemn tones.

I had no idea he was that old. And my goodness, the voice on John Facenda- they don’t make them like Facenda, Harry Kalas, or Jack Fleming anymore. I don’t know what it was- the bell shaped heads, the old timey microphones, or what. But they were just the best. I get the chills listening to them:

And of course, Kalas was legendary:

Again, those pipes just give me chills.

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Reader Interactions

47Comments

  1. 1.

    Joel

    September 20, 2012 at 12:55 am

    If James Earl Jones ever deigned himself the kind of person to narrate NFL films, he’d be an excellent choice.

  2. 2.

    Waynski

    September 20, 2012 at 12:56 am

    My old middle school gym coach would have us play a four team league flag football tournament culminating in the Super Bowl and the Turkey Bowl. He’d bring out one of those old school issued record players and blast (stretch I know) the NFL films music while we played. Really got you into it. It was really cool. RIP brother.

  3. 3.

    Violet

    September 20, 2012 at 12:57 am

    And my goodness, the voice on John Facenda- they don’t make them like Facenda, Harry Kalas, or Jack Fleming anymore.

    Oh, yes. John Facenda. That voice. I’m not much of a football fan, and even I know the “Voice of God.” He could make everything sound solemn, serious and important.

    RIP, Mr. Sabol. What a legacy.

  4. 4.

    cbear

    September 20, 2012 at 12:59 am

    I can almost forgive you for posting a video remembrance of one of the saddest, most horrifying days of my life—The Immaculate Deception—because you had the good taste to post the Raiders video in it’s proper position.

    *Facenda was the best, but Curt Gowdy was all kinds of awesome too.

  5. 5.

    dance around in your bones

    September 20, 2012 at 12:59 am

    None of those videos are playing well for me.

    But I just have to say I love watching tight butts in Lycra, or whatever they call it nowadays. Yeah.

  6. 6.

    Brachiator

    September 20, 2012 at 1:02 am

    Yes. And this wasn’t just PR or lame commercialization. The best of these films gave you a clear idea of how freakin magnificent an NFL game could be.

    I really do not know if any other sport, in the US or in any other country, had as good and effective a champion.

    ETA: Yeah, Olympics excepted.

  7. 7.

    encephalopath

    September 20, 2012 at 1:08 am

    Was watching the USC – Cal game from 2004 on the PAC12 Network last night and was thinking the same thing about Keith Jackson.

    Listening to him call a game is musical. There is no one like him in broadcasting now.

    And the quality of players in that game was crazy.

  8. 8.

    Polish the Guillotines

    September 20, 2012 at 1:10 am

    Those films were such a huge part of my childhood. I liked them better than the actual games. Exceptional story-telling and drama. The Sabols made a kid’s game noble.

    Contrast their work with crap like SportsCenter and weep.

  9. 9.

    here4tehbeer

    September 20, 2012 at 1:12 am

    @Waynski:

    … the NFL Films music.

    Ages ago I bought a compilation on iTunes called “Selections from Autumn Thunder: 40 Years of NFL Music”. There’s *nothing* on there a long-time NFL fan hasn’t heard at least a dozen times a season.

  10. 10.

    Death Panel Truck

    September 20, 2012 at 1:17 am

    Facenda at his most magnificent. Super Bowl III.

    Skip ahead to the 6:00 mark.

    “Two champions on a Sunday afternoon. A new one, as a quarterback. An old one, as a man.”

  11. 11.

    dance around in your bones

    September 20, 2012 at 1:28 am

    I’m sad for anyone’s death ,and football and all…

    but any chance we could do some music stuff?

    I was at a family BBQ this afternoon and am about + 4 so I have been listening to The Waitresses , so, you know I could rule the world, if I could only get the parts.

    eta:moderation, really? WTF, over.

  12. 12.

    KG

    September 20, 2012 at 1:42 am

    I wasted many a summer morning watching old NFL Films on ESPN2 in the mid90s. Love everything about it.

    But the voices that defined sports for me were/are Chuck Hearn and Vin Scully. I was lucky to grow up listening o both

  13. 13.

    Temporarily Max McGee (Soon Enought To Be Andy K Again)

    September 20, 2012 at 2:03 am

    For all of the talk about voices, I think that’s what I’ll miss the most now that Steve Sabol is gone. The man had a great, refreshing way- in the intros on NFL Films Presents and the feature segments he narrated- of describing the game from an outside-the-box perspective. I don’t think it will be that difficult for NFL Films to retain the visual style that Steve Sabol shaped, but I fear that without him they may lose the ability to take that slightly askew view of the game that run-of-the-mill production companies can’t or won’t take.

    Godspeed, Steve.

  14. 14.

    Temporarily Max McGee (Soon Enought To Be Andy K Again)

    September 20, 2012 at 2:06 am

    @KG:

    For me it was Ernie Harwell and Bob Ufer- God bless his cotton pickin’ maize and blue heart!

  15. 15.

    Nick

    September 20, 2012 at 2:19 am

    What is the name of the song that starts with what sounds like every bell in Christendom ringing in unison? I hate football but I love that song.

  16. 16.

    Nick

    September 20, 2012 at 2:19 am

    What is the name of the song that starts with what sounds like every bell in Christendom ringing in unison? I hate football but I love that song.

  17. 17.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 20, 2012 at 2:20 am

    Without a doubt, Sabol was a legend…NFL Films remains a fantastic promotion and celebration of the NFL…captured the essence of pro football in a way that not even being their live did.

    OT, it seems that there’s trouble brewing among the fans of the Romney series.

  18. 18.

    Linkmeister

    September 20, 2012 at 2:21 am

    I grew up with Vin Scully and Jerry Doggett broadcasting the Dodgers on KFI in Los Angeles, and Scully just announced he’s coming back next year, his 64th season doing Dodger baseball.

    Kalas got his first broadcasting job out here in Hawai’i doing the AAA PCL team. When he went back to the mainland we had Al Michaels for a little while, and then Les Keiter did the Islanders games for a few seasons.

  19. 19.

    Waynski

    September 20, 2012 at 2:23 am

    “It was a cold day at Lambaugh Field…”

  20. 20.

    MikeJ

    September 20, 2012 at 2:24 am

    @Villago Delenda Est: Could it be any worse than the ending for Battlestar, the last Mormon series?

  21. 21.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 20, 2012 at 2:27 am

    er, being THERE live. I know better than that, I iz a kollege gradumate.

  22. 22.

    hhex65

    September 20, 2012 at 2:29 am

    sigh…yes, once upon a time there was a football team called The Oakland Raiders.

  23. 23.

    daverave

    September 20, 2012 at 2:51 am

    @Violet:

    New Yorkers know that Bob Sheppard was the original Voice of God… he passed away in 2010 at the age of 99.

  24. 24.

    Dr. Squid

    September 20, 2012 at 3:02 am

    @Nick: It’s “A New Game” by one Tom Hedden.

    http://youtu.be/u0dKMwXwx6o

  25. 25.

    Chris

    September 20, 2012 at 3:37 am

    16 millimeter, baby! All the high def in the world can’t beat an overcranked NFL films shot from the 70s

  26. 26.

    Amir Khalid

    September 20, 2012 at 4:42 am

    @Linkmeister:
    I know of Vin Scully and Jerry Doggett only because of The X-Files: Dana Scully was named after the former, and her season 8 partner John Doggett (played by Robert Patrick) after the latter. Vin Scully does make a voice appearance in the baseball-themed episode The Unnatural, written and directed by David Duchovny.

  27. 27.

    Comrade Nimrod Humperdink

    September 20, 2012 at 5:17 am

    I grew up on those movies. I probably watched all of them dedicated to the Super Bowls pre 1986, and a lot more besides. I learned all about how awesome Sid Luckman was, the poetry in motion that was Bambi with a lightning bolt on his helmet (Lance Alworth), how Jack Tatum was the ultimate Raider, the perfect ’72 Dolphins who were underdogs to George Allen Sr’s ‘Over the Hill Gang,’ Terrible Towels, Jim Marshall’s great career being overshadowed by running the wrong way, the invincibility of Jim Brown with a football in his arm, Tom Landry’s silouette, the amusement a 12 year old gets from discovering that one of the great early quarterbacks was guy named Yelberton Abraham Tittle, and so on.

    I’ve grown much fonder of the college game as I’ve gotten older, I think because of the much greater variety in schemes and the atmosphere of it. But I still love those old films. The music and the voiceovers just give it such an epic feel. Watching those as a kid makes you feel like you’re watching mythic figures, and seeing the clips now just brings back that enthralled feeling from 20 years ago. The Greeks invented the Olympics, and they had epic poems about mythic figures. Sabol gave us our own version of both.

  28. 28.

    J R in WVa

    September 20, 2012 at 5:18 am

    I have many memories of Jack Fleming broadcasting WVU football, back when they were never (or hardly ever) on TV. Think of the Pitt games with great 4th quarter comebacks.

    My only gripe with Jack was he would never tell you what the score was, if you lost track or missed a minute away from the radio, you could listen til hell froze without learning who was winning.

    Maybe that was because back then, WVU was frequently NOT winning.

    My Dad would be so proud of his team and their status today as a top 10 team almost as a matter of course. Here’s hoping they actually win most of their conference Big 12 games this season!!

  29. 29.

    Allen

    September 20, 2012 at 5:27 am

    Nothing can quite describe how much I detest the NFL, one of the most over-hyped, over-rated, boring sports ever to disgrace TV. And that coming from the medium that brought us “My Mother the Car.”

  30. 30.

    I Am Mitt's Smirk (né Studly Pantload, t.e.u.u.)

    September 20, 2012 at 5:39 am

    A true American icon with a genius for weaving Wagnerianesque gravity out of sweaty brows and mud-stained jerseys. I wish I could own every last Sabol film from the late ’60s/early ’70s I watched as a kid, enthralled by his descriptions of I game I couldn’t otherwise really understand.

    Curt Gowdy’s name has come up: I just recently found the entirety of Super Bowl III on YouTube, and finally got to see & hear this legendary game that was played when I was all of five years old. So spot on in seeing and reporting everything on the field as it happened (including immediately calling Jimmy Orr being wide open at the end of the first half as Morrall threw an interception that guaranteed the Colts would be scoreless going into halftime).

    All this also, too, reminds of Keith Jackson and his famous “Whoa, Nellie!”, a phrase I still use today.

    Gotta love the masters that bring the immediacy of a game into full light. That includes the oft-maligned, Howard Cosell, warts and all.

  31. 31.

    raven

    September 20, 2012 at 5:39 am

    @Linkmeister: Me too, moved to LA in 57 just when the Dodgers did. I moved back to Chicago in the early 60’s and it’s always been funny to me that Harry is better known than the real voice of the Cubbies, Jack Brickhouse.

    “The voice on the audio track of the famous Willie Mays catch in Game 1 of the 1954 Series at the Polo Grounds belongs to Brickhouse, who was calling the Series along with the New York Giants’ regular broadcaster, Russ Hodges. (Brickhouse himself had called Giants games locally in 1946.) Brickhouse also called the 1959 Series, which featured the White Sox with Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Vin Scully, and the 1950 Series with Jim Britt. In addition, Brickhouse partnered with fellow baseball broadcasting legend Mel Allen for NBC’s coverage of the 1952 Rose Bowl, and with Chris Schenkel for the network’s coverage of two NFL Championship Games (1956 and 1963).”

  32. 32.

    raven

    September 20, 2012 at 5:42 am

    @Allen: Fack you dork.

  33. 33.

    I Am Mitt's Smirk (né Studly Pantload, t.e.u.u.)

    September 20, 2012 at 5:47 am

    @Allen:

    “My Mother the Car.”

    It’s been the most part of half a century. Time to let it go. Time to let it go.

  34. 34.

    Cmm

    September 20, 2012 at 6:10 am

    @I Am Mitt’s Smirk (né Studly Pantload, t.e.u.u.):

    Especially when you have more recent fare to kick around, like Two and a Half Men. Which, unlike My Mother the Car, lasted for multiple seasons.

  35. 35.

    arguingwithsignposts

    September 20, 2012 at 6:19 am

    I’m shocked it took so long for the contrarian to show in this thread. BJ is going to the dogs.

  36. 36.

    Don K

    September 20, 2012 at 6:59 am

    I’m not a football fan, but those films could make football tolerable to watch.

    I grew up in the Philly area (in Moorestown, as it happens), and John Facenda was the evening news announcer for Channel 10 from before I was born until I was 19. He was the calming presence of Philadelphia TV news, kind of a local equivalent of Walter Cronkite. His signoff line was “Have a nice night tonight and a good day tomorrow. Goodnight, all.”

  37. 37.

    ChrisB

    September 20, 2012 at 7:15 am

    The music, the voices — just the best.

    By the way, do you know which New York Giant appeared the most in NFL highlights during the 1970’s?

    The answer is Spider Lockhart, who was tackling Bob Hayes or Charley Taylor or Terry Metcalf 30 yards downfield.

  38. 38.

    redoubt

    September 20, 2012 at 9:15 am

    @raven: Yes, this.

    Lifelong Cubs fan. Jack Brickhouse was my babysitter. Plus, Vince Lloyd and Lou Boudreau: “You young shortstops, watch how Concepcion gets his glove down to the ground. . .”

    @Temporarily Max McGee (Soon Enought To Be Andy K Again): I miss Steve Sabol’s voice too. You could tell in his voice how delighted he was to be doing all this, and didn’t seem to take it too seriously.

  39. 39.

    themann1086

    September 20, 2012 at 9:49 am

    I’m blessed to have grown up with Harry Kalas calling every baseball game of my childhood, living in the Philadelphia area. I cried when I heard about his death, and I can still hear his “outta here” homerun calls when I’m watching games today. Since his passing, the Phillies will play the clip of him singing “High Hopes” after every win. It makes me wish that much more for a victory.

    And Sabol… NFL Films was just unbelievable. The music, the narration… RIP to one of the good guys.

  40. 40.

    1badbaba3

    September 20, 2012 at 10:28 am

    @Temporarily Max McGee (Soon Enought To Be Andy K Again): Meeeeeeesheeegen! ! ! ! Gotta luv the Ufer. Gone much too early. I used to turn the teevee sound down and listen to Ufer on the radio while watching th game. Or be in the stands surrounded by people with transistor Radios tuned in to the Yoof. He was truly magical, partisan as fuck, but tthen again so were we.

    Oh, and fuck the buckeyes. Man, do I feel better now.

    As for Sabol, he and his dad did so much to transition the game to the modern era, the modern way of seeing the game. The NFL owes them a debt that can never be repaid. Too bad the beer commercial mentality of today’s sports media shits all over that daily.

  41. 41.

    ThresherK

    September 20, 2012 at 10:41 am

    @dance around in your bones: Did you also spend an inordinate amount of time watching mens’ diving in the Olympics, as did some people in my home?

    @Chris: I read somewhere (no cite, sorry) that there was pushback on budgeting for twice the amount of film when the Sabols were in the process of getting the whole shebang started.

    Speaking of what used to be better when I was a kid*: And am I the only one here who doesn’t need the instant halftime recap videos set to rock music? The second half is coming, TV folks. If I’m interested in the game I’m tuned in; if not then I can’t be captured by a music video.

    (*Wow, I am getting older.)

  42. 42.

    burnspbesq

    September 20, 2012 at 11:59 am

    @encephalopath:

    There is no one like him in broadcasting now.

    Vin Scully. Martin Tyler.

  43. 43.

    tomvox1

    September 20, 2012 at 1:11 pm

    they don’t make them like Facenda, Harry Kalas, or Jack Fleming anymore.

    True that. But also not as many broadcasters are 3-pack-a-day men/women anymore either. So gotta take the good with the bad on that one.

    RIP Steve Sabol–where would the NFL and its fans be without NFL Films?

  44. 44.

    flukebucket

    September 20, 2012 at 1:30 pm

    Larry Munson.

    Peerless. Without peer.

  45. 45.

    Exklusive Kindermode

    September 20, 2012 at 1:41 pm

    Every death is a big loss for the family and friends. In game and life. RIP

  46. 46.

    Uncle Rich

    September 20, 2012 at 3:05 pm

    I was always an AFL fan myself. NFL films always came across (helped mightily by the portentous Mr. Facenda) as even more stuffy and pompous than the league itself. If my fading memory is correct, they managed to turn Super Bowl III into a celebration of Johnny Unitas, with Broadway Joe relegated to a supporting role.

  47. 47.

    Tripod

    September 20, 2012 at 9:03 pm

    The bodies of the athletes in the immaculate conception video…. are PEDs that pervasive in modern sport?

    RIP Steve Sabol.

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