Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

RIP

I think Steve and Ed beat out the Rooney's, Mara's, Brown's, etc as the most influential family in Football.

It's sad that Steve didn't have a son to pass it on to, but I think (creatively at least) the company is in good hands.

Always keep one of my TV's on NFL Network, when I saw the news come on about Ed Sabol at the same time on my main TV I was watching the Packers-Rams GOTW from 1967.

Kind of summed it up for me. Thanks, Ed.

R.I.P. Mr. Sabol...

THANKS to both Ed and Steve Sabol for the immense work they did to popularize pro football and to make the NFL the most extensively-filmed professional sports league.

Rupert Patrick wrote:It's sad that Steve didn't have a son to pass it on to, but I think (creatively at least) the company is in good hands.

Rupert, in whose creative hands is NFL Films now resting?

Sad news, but he did live a long and productive life, and I am certainly grateful for what he gave us fans. Also, I'm glad that he (unlike Steve) was alive for his induction into Canton.

Veeshik_ya wrote:

Rupert Patrick wrote:It's sad that Steve didn't have a son to pass it on to, but I think (creatively at least) the company is in good hands.

Rupert, in whose creative hands is NFL Films now resting?

What I meant to say is that I still think NFL Films is still putting out quality work, from A Football Life to the Full Color Football series and the America's Game series. Steve Sabol hired a lot of good creative people to handle NFL Films, although I don't like the way the NFL pulls the strings at times, such as only doing future NFL's Greatest Game episodes from the last ten years or so. I consider the golden era of NFL Films to be about 1969-83, which coincided with the era of John Facenda and Sam Spence, but I'll watch just about anything NFL Films puts out these days. I think Chris Willis is a good example of the creative minds who are producing NFL Films these days.

Rupert Patrick wrote:

Veeshik_ya wrote:

Rupert Patrick wrote:It's sad that Steve didn't have a son to pass it on to, but I think (creatively at least) the company is in good hands.

Rupert, in whose creative hands is NFL Films now resting?

What I meant to say is that I still think NFL Films is still putting out quality work, from A Football Life to the Full Color Football series and the America's Game series. Steve Sabol hired a lot of good creative people to handle NFL Films, although I don't like the way the NFL pulls the strings at times, such as only doing future NFL's Greatest Game episodes from the last ten years or so. I consider the golden era of NFL Films to be about 1969-83, which coincided with the era of John Facenda and Sam Spence, but I'll watch just about anything NFL Films puts out these days. I think Chris Willis is a good example of the creative minds who are producing NFL Films these days.

Thanks Rupert, I just hadn't heard who had the creative reigns of NFL Films these days.

Agree their heyday ended in the early 1980s. NFL Films puts out quality work these days, but it's no longer cutting edge, influential work. They once set the style. Now they're copying it. But as George Harrison once sang, all things must pass.

I'm glad Chris Willis is involved rather than a few of the (nameless, for now) pseudo-analytic website yahoos who would give their eyeteeth for a slice of NFL Films' reputation-enhancing pie.

Steve Sabol passing away so quickly in 2012 was really sad. His and his father's "A Football Life" are rightly two of the best in the series. Pat Summerall's was pretty fantastic as well.

It's a real shame Steve Sabol will have to go into the HOF posthumously at some point as I said on FB Ed and Steve Sabol might be the two most influential people in NFL history.

Two generations of football fans responsible for the games explosion grew up watching and worshiping NFL films.