The Triangle

Issue date: 4/17/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Emily Olson

President of NFL Films Steve Sabol knows all about being a risk taker and not being afraid to make mistakes. After all, some of his greatest works of art came as a result of his many follies during his filmmaking career.

"Creativity is making mistakes," Sabol, a 32-time Emmy Award winner, said. "But art is being able to pick out the right ones."

The motto has stuck with Sabol throughout his time at NFL Films - and is something he wanted to instill in inspiring students looking to enter into the field as Sabol made a special appearance at Drexel's Bossone Auditorium April 16 and gave a lecture and video presentation.

"I usually don't do these things anymore," Sabol said. "But I thought that it was in the area and I'd much rather speak to students than these sport banquets that are just a lot of these guys with bad breath and clammy handshakes. I just thought that it would be a more productive way to spend the evening."

Sabol began his lecture by talking about the modest beginnings of NFL Films. The company was founded by Steve's father Ed, who went from being an overcoat salesman to acclaimed filmmaker and producer, honing his skills by shooting his son's high school football games.

Ed was addicted to capturing his son's games on film, and decided to take his craft to the next level when he bid $5,000 and won the rights to shoot the 1962 NFL Championship game.

Ed impressed NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle and convinced the league's owners to back a project to shoot the entire 1965 season.

The project was a huge success - and the rest as they say, is history.

Ed and Steve turned what was once a small family-run enterprise into an NFL filmmaking giant.

For over 40 years NFL Films has revolutionized the viewing experience with its unique approach as it introduced slow motion replays and multiple camera angles for the first time.

But as Steve alluded throughout his entire presentation, the only reason NFL Films was able to garner all its accolades - 95 Emmys in all - was its uncanny ability to innovate - without facing any adversity for its unorthodox methods.

"We've had one continuous creative vision since 1962," Steve said. "My first boss Pete Rozelle always said 'quality is brand,' and that was important. We had freedom to come up with ideas and we had freedom from interference from other people."

After giving the history of NFL Films, Steve showed the audience three videos ­- one of which was a six-minute video entitled "The Season."

Then he opened up the floor for a short question-and-answer session.

Sabol ended by saying that what separates NFL Films from the competition is that it is not connected to the media, but rather about a group of "romanticists" that just appreciate football for what it is.

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