Inventor of TV instant replay dies

PALM DESERT, Calif. -- Tony Verna, a television director and producer who invented instant replay for live sports 51 years ago, has died. He was 81.

Verna 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 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 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 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," Verna told The Associated Press in 2008.

Verna would go on to produce or direct five Super Bowls, the Olympics, the Kentucky Derby and even the "Live Aid" concert in 1985.

His lasting legacy, though, is pulling back the curtain on sports and revealing what really goes on.

Verna is survived by his wife of 45 years, Carol, daughters Tracy Soiseth and Jenny Axelrod, son Eric Verna and three grandchildren.