Steve Sabol

He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020, due to his works with NFL Films.

• Birth Name — Stephen Douglas Sabol • Name — Steve Sabol • Born — 2 October 1942 • Birthplace — Moorestown, New Jersey, U.S. • Died — 18 September 2012 • Place of death — Moorestown, New Jersey, U.S. • Occupation — * Sports filmmaker • narrator • cameraman • entrepreneur • artist • co-founder of NFL Films with father Ed Sabol Pro Football Hall of Fame 2020 Class • Years Active — 1962–2012 • Spouse — Lisa (divorced; 1 child) Penny • Parents — Ed Sabol (1916–2015) Audrey Sabol

Sabol was born in Moorestown, New Jersey, the son of film-maker Ed Sabol and art collector Audrey Sabol. He attended Colorado College, where he majored in art history and was an All-Rocky Mountain Conference in football as a running back and was a member of Kappa Sigma fraternity. He was the subject of a humorous article about his self-promotion exploits in the November 22, 1965, issue of Sports Illustrated.

After graduation, he began his career in 1964 as a cameraman alongside his father Ed Sabol (1916–2015) when his father got the filming rights to the 1962 NFL Championship Game, played in Yankee Stadium. With his degree in art history and experience playing football, Sabol was, as his father put it, "uniquely qualified to make football movies." This company eventually grew into NFL Films, with Sabol serving mainly as a cameraman, editor, and writer in the 1960s and 1970s. When ESPN was founded in 1979, they soon signed NFL Films as a production company and Sabol became an on-air personality in the 1980s. He won 35 Emmy Awards and was featured in an episode of 60 Minutes Sports. Sabol played a part in founding the NFL Network. In 1985, Sabol took over NFL Films from his father, Ed Sabol. NFL Films was the first company to wire coaches and players for sound as well as the first to use slow motion and montage editing in sports. The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia inducted Sabol into their Hall of Fame in 1996. In March 2011, NFL Films was recognized with the Lamar Hunt Award for Professional Football.

• Illustration — Sabol's desk in his office at NFL Films, which has been left untouched since his death. Sabol was married for over a decade to his first wife, Lisa, mother of his only son, Casey Sabol. After their divorce, Lisa married John DeBella. Sabol then married his second wife, Penny Sabol. He was of Romanian descent. Sabol was the author of the poem "The Autumn Wind", later adopted by the Oakland Raiders as an unofficial anthem.