Tony Verna 

Instant replay is the replaying of video footage of an event such as a televised
sports program in which an important or remarkable play may be seen again or
be reviewed if it was unclear on first sight. A CBS television director, 29- year-old
Tony Verna (above), invented the system which enabled a standard videotape
machine to instantly replay. It was used for the first time on 7 December 1963,
for the network’s coverage of the 64th annual  Army-Navy football game. 

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{Today’s Civil War game: Ducks beat the Beavers…49-21}

Philadelphia (AP) – Former heavyweight boxing champion Joe Frazier 
died Monday night after losing his fight with liver cancer. The cancer
was diagnosed in late September and he was admitted to hospice care.  

The Heisman Trophy

John William Heisman (October 23, 1869 – October 3, 1936)

John Heisman was a football player and college coach of football, basketball,
and baseball. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as coach
in 1954. The Heisman Trophy (shown above), is named for him and is awarded
annually to the season’s most outstanding college football player.

Head Coach John Heisman (far right) and the team of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama (now Auburn University) football program
in 1896.

Davey O’Brien of the Eagles

 
NBC play-by-play announcer Allen “Skip” Walz

An NFL game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Philadelphia Eagles on
October 22, 1939 was the first televised pro football game. The fortunate New
Yorkers who owned television sets viewed the game over NBC’s experimental
station W2XBS. A crowd of 13,050 were on hand at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field
when the Eagles fell to the Dodgers 23-14. According to Allen Walz (above),
the play-by-play announcer, that first  telecast was done with just eight people
and only two iconoscope cameras. One was located in the box seats on the
4-yard line and the other was in the stadiums mezzanine section. There were
no commercial interruptions during the game. 

1939