Friday, December 7, 2012

December 7: Play it again, Tony

December 7, 1963 featured the first instant replay on TV, in the 4th quarter of the Army-Navy game played at Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia. It was invented by Tony Verna, a CBS sports director, who was 29 at the time. He figured out how to use a standard videotape recorder provide an instant replay. He wrote about it in a book, "Instant Replay: The Day That Changed Sports Forever." It completely changed the football viewing experience; you could see replays in the dead time between snaps. By having multiple cameras, you could be shown different angles and different parts of the field in the replay.
The first replay was of Army QB Rollie Stichweh running for a 1 yard TD. It was replayed at the original speed, and the announcer had to warn viewers that Army had not scored again, that this was a replay. It was the only replay shown in the game.
Roger Staubach was the Navy QB, and Navy won 21-15; Staubach also won the Heisman trophy that year. At the time of Stichweh's touchdown, Navy was ahead 21-7, with halfback Pat Donnely having scored 3 TD's. Stichweh followed the TD with a run in for 2-point conversion, and recovered the onside kick. Army then made it all the way to the 2 yard line when time ran out.

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