Legends Behind the Lens: Jerry Gepner The ambitious tech exec gave FOX Sports its identity as an innovator By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital Tuesday, July 14, 2020 - 12:00 pm
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The story of American sports television is engrained in the history of this nation, rising on the achievements of countless incredible men and women who never once appeared on our screens. During this pause in live sports, SVG is proud to present a celebration of this great industry. Legends Behind the Lens is a look at how we got here seen through the people who willed it to be. Each weekday, we will share with you the story of a person whose impact on the sports-television industry is indelible.
Legends Behind the Lens is presented in association with the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame and the SVG Sports Broadcasting Fund. In these trying times - with so many video-production professionals out of work - we hope that you will consider (if you are able) donating to the Sports Broadcasting Fund. Do so by visiting sportsbroadcastfund.org.
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By Ken Kerschbaumer
For many Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famers, the key to success is a strong understanding of what they wanted to do. Often, it is a drive to do one thing extremely well, and their HOF status was a result of their being able to do that one thing better than anyone else.
Jerry Gepner is a bit different. His story begins like many Hall of Famers': he was hooked by broadcast technology - in his case at the University of South Carolina. After graduating in 1978, he had the chance to, as he says, live a dream and play with things that made sounds and pictures, all stuff that really excited me at South Carolina Public Television. Where his career zigs, however, is in a love for accruing new skills, meeting people, and being part of the bigger world.
I have always been fascinated by learning new things; it has an overpowering appeal to me, he says. I'm also not afraid of getting it wrong. I don't like failure, but I recognize that it is even odds that, if you try something new, it won't work at first.
That fascination with the new gives him a r sum that boasts titles like EIC, tech manager, VP of field operations, president, and CEO and companies like Fox Sports, CBS, NMT, F&F Productions, Bexel, Vitec Group, Sportvision, and, way back when, Continental Color Recording (CCR).
In 1979, I had a chance to work at CCR, says Gepner. It was headquartered on Lexington Avenue [in Manhattan] and had four or five trucks, which made it a big company back then. They really were the best in the business as we did Monday Night Football and other big events like the Grammys, Oscars, Olympics, and Live From Lincoln Center.
Leaving CCR, he joined MTI in Manhattan, taking a chance to get off the road and work as a studio TD. But a meeting with Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Tom Shelbourn led him to join a new venture called NCP.
They needed an EIC, and I was ready to get back on the road, he says. I spent several years in trucks and learned a lot about diagnosing and fixing things.
It was also a time when it was a big deal to be part of the circus that rolled into town to produce an event.
It was cool, and the people I worked with were more than willing to share their knowledge to help the shows come off well, says Gepner. Live sports TV is as much a team sport as anything that is played on the field.
An opportunity to own his own truck popped up a couple of years later, and Gepner jumped at the chance. After hitting hard times, though, he decided to move to Florida and join F&F Productions, where he was eventually promoted to EIC and had a chance to work on GTX1, the company's premier network-level truck.
It was my first real exposure to life on the road with a production team that would live together for weeks at a time, he says.
He was approached by CBS in 1988, and saying no to the Tiffany Network and the big city was not an option.
The reputation that Fox Sports has as being an innovator in sports broadcasting is largely due to the efforts of Jerry [Gepner]. Gary Hartley, EVP, Graphics, FOX Sports
While there, I had a chance to work for Jim Harrington, who was probably the most influential person in my career, says Gepner. He was so damn smart and hired a lot of legendary talent. He was thoughtful, patient, and really cared about people. I could not have done better in terms of a role model.
And then, as he says, a thing called Fox happened. CBS Sports lost some key rights and some key executives, including Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Ed Goren. Goren was at the Super Bowl and called from the suite, asking Gepner to talk to Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer David Hill and answer a couple of technical questions concerning studio equipment.
We spoke for 90 seconds as he asked me what kind of switcher to buy, says Gepner. I didn't know it, but it was a job interview.
Gepner would join Fox in April 1994 as VP of field operations and engineering.
It was a weird band of brothers where everything was new, there was chaos, and we wanted to reinvent everything, he recalls. But it was quality people with top talent, and the energy was pure adrenaline. David was the general, there were true war-room meetings, and I learned a lot about getting things done in a short time.
Among the innovations that Gepner was involved with at that time were the concept of a B unit; creating software to manage crew, travel, and more; and even the use of colored bibs on the NFL sideline to identify TV-crew members.
Key among his accomplishments at Fox was implementing the on-screen clock and score. In the early 1990s. stadium scoreboards didn't have today's external data connections. We got used to the look of terror on a stadium
