Ed
Sabol is founder and president of NFL Films, Inc. Since 1964,
his company
has filmed every National Football
League game.
A men’s clothing salesman, Sabol
created the Blair Motion Pictures company
in 1962 (named for daughter
Blair) and made a successful bid (of
$3,000) to film the National Football
League’s Green Bay Packers–New York
Giants championship game that year at
Yankee Stadium. The film, entitled Pro
Football’s Longest Day, was such a success
that he was given the rights to film
the NFL’s championship contests the
following two seasons. In 1964, Sabol
persuaded the NFL that it needed its
own motion picture entity to promote
and preserve the history of the game.
Thus, NFL Films was born.
Sabol’s concept not only achieved
its original goals, but has developed into an award-winning
genre of filmmaking,
a staple of sports coaching,
and a multimillion dollar industry.
Often honored, Sabol’s NFL Films
has to date won 65 television Emmy
awards and numerous international
awards. And Sabol himself has received
numerous personal honors. In
1987, the National Football League
Alumni Association presented him
their Order of the Leather Helmet
Award, given to “those who have made
deep and lasting contributions to the
game of professional football.” That
same year, he received the NFL’s Bert
Bell Memorial Award for his “outstanding
contributions” to the League.
And, in 1991, Sabol was the third person
to be honored by the NFL Hall of
Fame with the Pete Rozelle Award, presented
“for exceptional long-time contributions
to radio and television in
professional football.”
As an All-America athlete in the
mid-1930s, Ed Sabol was a World
class swimmer (50- and 100-yard
freestyle) at Ohio State University
when he was selected for the 1936
United States Olympic Team. He declined the honor, publicly
stating that
he would not swim in a pool built by
Adolf Hitler!
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