Ed Sabol | 1916-2015: NFL Films founder revolutionized game

NEW YORK — Ed Sabol, the NFL Films founder who revolutionized sports broadcasting and reimagined pro football from an up-and-coming league to must-watch theater, has died. He was 98.

Sabol died yesterday at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., the NFL said. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011. During Sabol’s tenure at NFL Films from 1964 to 1995, the organization won 52 Emmy Awards.

Working with his son, Steve, Sabol introduced a series of innovations taken for granted today, from super slow-motion replays and blooper reels to sticking microphones on coaches and players.

Born Edwin M. Sabol on Sept. 11, 1916, in Atlantic City, N.J., he grew up in Blairstown, N.J., and excelled in several sports, most notably swimming. He continued his aquatic pursuits at Ohio State and made the U.S. Olympic team for the 1936 Games in Berlin.

But he refused to swim before Adolph Hitler in Nazi Germany.

After graduation, Sabol acted on Broadway, got married and served in the Army under Gen. George S. Patton during World War II.

Sabol was in the overcoat business with his father-in-law in Philadelphia before he formed Blair Productions, a film company named after his daughter.

He won the rights to chronicle the 1962 NFL championship game for $3,000, changing the course of his film career and — very possibly — the league’s fortunes.

Steve Sabol, who succeeded his father as NFL Films president in 1985, died in 2012 at age 69 of brain cancer.