Remembering Steve Sabol

Very sad news today as Steve Sabol passed away from cancer at 69 years old. Anybody who is a true football fan knows who Steve Sabol is. He and his father Ed, created NFL Films in 1962. There first game they ever filmed was the 1962 NFL Championship Game between the Giants and the Packers. Over time, NFL Films became a soundtrack for what pro football is. It could be the music that they used and was created by Sam Spence or just the dialogue said by greats like Harry Kalas and John Facenda. I think to this day, there are goosebumps whenever you hear Facenda, Kalas or any of the popular NFL music. Its a part of the NFL just like the Super Bowl is.

Now in the art of full disclosure, I owe a lot to Steve Sabol and NFL Films. For those who know me and for people that don't, in high school I had a special talent. I could name all the Super Bowls. I can name when they were located, where, what year etc. My high school was dumbfounded when they knew I could this. Hey, it even made me popular with the ladies. I'll never forget that I was in my keyboarding class, sophomore year, 1997. Now to make a long story short, one of the people in my class was in my science class the year before. He was a grade or two higher than me. Well, anyway, he knew who I was and he was friends with a lot of people in my keyboarding class. I made an overture toward him and his friends one day and just started reciting Super Bowls. The location, the date, etc. One of the people I recited the Super Bowls with did the morning announcements on tv.  So the next thing I know, I'm on the school tv reciting the Super Bowls and it changed me forever because people knew me after that. I would tell 2 friends about the Super Bowls and they'd tell 4 of there friends, etc., etc. The point of this story is that NFL Films, The Sabols, John Facenda, Sam Spence made that happen for me. I would come home from school and I would watch "Super Bowl Highlights" hosted by Steve Sabol and would be in awe of it. I just love when NFL Network shows those highlight shows every year because I enjoy so much. That's how I learned about the Super Bowls by watching those shows year after year.

It was Ed and Steve Sabol who laid the groundwork for NFL Films. They came upon and thought of a gold mine like NFL Films. They both are truly geniuses for what they did for people like me and the NFL in general. All these highlight shows you see now on ESPN or NFL Network wouldn't be possible without Ed and Steve Sabol. Sam Spence who did a lot of NFL Films music is a genius because of how good the music is and a lot of credit go to the Sabols for hiring him for making John Facenda and Harry Kalas the voices of NFL Films. If you want to know about a game or team, NFL Films was there. If you wanted to remember a game from the 1970s or remember a team from the 1970s, NFL Films was there to help you. Almost like a cliff notes for an NFL fan.

In closing, I'm sure Steve Sabol is talking football now with Art Modell, John Facenda, Harry Kalas, Pete Rozelle, Lamar Hunt and the countless others that helped build the NFL into a powerhouse that it is today. Steve, rest in peace and we sit down and watch the NFL on Sundays, Thursdays and Mondays, we will think of you. Its because of you we are able to do that. RIP.