Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame 2019: Ken Woo, The Conduit to Sports' Greatest Televised Moments By Kristian Hernandez, Associate Editor Wednesday, December 4, 2019 - 11:00 am
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SVG is profiling this year's 10 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame inductees in the weeks leading up to the ceremony on Dec. 17 at the New York Hilton. For more information, CLICK HERE.
A picture is worth a thousand words. It's a saying that has become clich . For Ken Woo, though, those words have carried the world-renowned camera operator and DP to a career that has lasted more than 40 years. And, more often than not, his lens framed the iconic shots of some of sports' most memorable moments over the past four decades.
It's really knowing the game and knowing the athlete that you're with, he says. It hasn't always worked, but it's just being dialed into what's happening, understanding all of the options that you have, and just picking one. It's a roll of the dice.
Whether it was Greg LeMond's dramatic come-from-behind sprint to grab the yellow jersey by seconds at the 1989 Tour de France, Kerri Strug's run towards gold on one ankle at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, or Tiger Woods' famous fist pump for his first career win at The Masters in 1997, Woo had the knack of being at the right place at just the right time.
Kenny Woo is an artist, says veteran NBC anchor and Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Al Michaels. You know when somebody is extraordinary when you can see 10 seconds of video and say, I know who shot that.'
Before developing skills that gave him one of the greatest eagle eyes in sports history, the person lovingly nicknamed The Wooman was growing up with the dream of filming athletes on the grandest of stages. Equipped with a makeshift television camera made out of cardboard and a love for stills from the likes of famed Life magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt, he spent his younger years immersed in the act of freezing time with his photos.
When I was about 5 or 6 years old, I would run around the yard shooting like I had seen in sports, he says. I had a Kodak Instamatic camera that I got for my birthday, and then we got a Polaroid that I got to play with. But I was a television-generation kid; I literally grew up in front of the TV.
With each passing moment in front of the television set, his passion for the craft burned a little brighter, but nothing set his heart on fire more than the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. While most kids his age were interested only in the athletic feats of the individual, the young Woo was intrigued by the personal lives that made those athletes who they were. Even though this was the first time the Games received extensive coverage in color television, Kenya's Kip Keino (the eventual gold-medal winner of the 1,500-meter category) caught his attention during an off-the-track story created by ABC.
They showed a feature, an up-close and personal, of him running barefoot in Africa, Woo recalls. I said, Man, that would just be the coolest thing in the world to be able to do movies like that.' I always loved watching the Olympics, but that was really the first time I noticed a personal profile. That was really an aha' moment for me.
Known for his work behind the lens, Woo has forged friendships with the athletes he has worked with.
Like many young adults, childhood dreams often get put on the back burner. Whether it was his own decision or one influenced by someone else, sports television was almost a nonfactor as Woo headed to the University of Georgia. However during his first semester as a pre-law student, the pull of his past was too strong to keep him away from his camera and a good sports tale.
I realized that pre-law wasn't it for me and switched over to broadcasting, film, and television, he says. I was a feature editor on the college newspaper, The Red & Black, and would take pictures and write the feature stories.
To make money while I was in school, he continues, I also worked for the AV department; I'd go to class and set up projectors and video cameras for the school. In addition, I was a jazz disc jockey for WUOG-FM radio. I had a shift three days a week from midnight until 3:00 a.m.
By the time he graduated, Woo had achieved an artistic mentality and a work ethic that would take him to the far reaches of the globe. With a keen eye for a shot, ease in front of a microphone, tangible experience with industry-grade equipment, and writing prowess, his bag of tricks would expand after graduation.
My first job was at WSPA-TV in Spartanburg, SC, he says. It was in an old converted supermarket; my starting pay was $168 a week. I was hired as a cameraman. I shot the local news and the gospel shows that aired on Sunday. From there, I went to A1 mixer of local news and on-air switching, which meant cutting all the programming from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. like Gilligan's Island and The Flintstones. Then I had to hit the network at 6 p.m. for the news every day. I got tons of experience, because not only did I get to learn how to use a camera but I had to learn lighting, audio mixing, and editing.
With a steady news gig right out of the academic ranks, Woo satisfied his appetite for sports with the weekend hustle of shooting high school football and basketball for the station's sports department. Accustomed to his old ways of shooting, he began learning new technologies and mastering his preferred weapon of choice with a bit of hijinks.
None of the film guys who were there wanted to use new electronic media, he recalls. When the RCA TK-76 came out, they said, Do you know how to use this thing?' I said, Yes,' when I actually didn't. I had used video cameras in college but nothing as sophisti
