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Tony Verna | Instant replay inventor, 81

Tony Verna, 81, a television director and producer who invented instant replay for live sports 51 years ago, died Sunday at his Palm Desert home after battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia, daughter Tracy Soiseth said.

Philly native Anthony Verna debuted instant replay during CBS' telecast of the Army-Navy Game from Philadelphia in 1963. Before it was first used, Verna had announcer Lindsey Nelson explain to the audience that "this is not live! Ladies and gentlemen, Army has not scored again."
Philly native Anthony Verna debuted instant replay during CBS' telecast of the Army-Navy Game from Philadelphia in 1963. Before it was first used, Verna had announcer Lindsey Nelson explain to the audience that "this is not live! Ladies and gentlemen, Army has not scored again."Read morePhoto by Joi Ito
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Tony Verna, 81, a television director and producer who invented instant replay for live sports 51 years ago, died Sunday at his Palm Desert home after battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia, daughter Tracy Soiseth said.

CBS used instant replay for the first time in the Dec. 7, 1963, Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia, after Mr. Verna developed a method to cue the tape to pinpoint the play he wanted to immediately air again. He said he was looking for a way to fill those boring gaps between plays during a football telecast.

The concept was so new that when Army quarterback Rollie Stichweh scored a touchdown, announcer Lindsey Nelson had to warn viewers: "This is not live! Ladies and gentlemen, Army did not score again!"

Instant replay quickly became a staple of sports broadcasting, and Mr. Verna's innovation gave fans a new way to look at the games. "Not many things you can do in life where you can change the way things were happening before," Mr. Verna told the Associated Press in 2008. - AP

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