
Remembering Neil Flagg: The NBC Sports Mainstay Leaves an Industry Legacy in Sons Ross and Kevin By Ken Kerschbaumer
Monday, November 25, 2024 - 1:41 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Neil Flagg, 81, who spent 15 years at NBC Sports and did everything from being a line producer to innovating with robotic cameras and eventually became a technical director and even a director, died Nov. 5 following an eight-month-long battle with cancer. He worked in television for more than 50 years, making a name for himself as someone who could tackle new challenges and problem-solve and always do it with humor and without compromise.
He embraced new technology and made it work in ways no one else could, says Ken Aagaard, former EVP, operations and production services, CBS, who worked with Flagg at NBC Sports and at WMAQ Chicago. But more important than his unique tech accomplishments were his attitude and especially his sense of humor. He always made me laugh. I looked forward to hearing his raspy voice and funny one-liners. Neil was an accomplished engineer and director as time went on and an even better person.
Neil Flagg (second row, center) with his sons Kevin (second row, left), Ross (second row, right) and wife Fran. Flagg died Nov. 5.
Born in Brooklyn, Flagg spent most of his teens and 20s in Miami Beach after his family moved there. Life in Miami Beach in the '50s and '60s shaped Neil's colorful and theatrical personality.
By 1964, he had begun what would be a 50+-year career in television production. Around this time, he met Frances Weinman at the Peppermint Lounge in Florida, and the two were married in 1965. Three years later, with their first child, Kevin, on the way, Flagg accepted a job at WKBF Cleveland and moved the family north. A second son, Ross, arrived in 1970 and a daughter, Julie, in 1974.
It was in 1973 when Flagg's professional life really took off. He accepted a job with NBC Sports in Chicago and relocated his family once again. During 15 years with NBC Sports, Flagg worked a wide range of events: NFL, MLB, college football, tennis, PGA golf, horse racing and more. He worked on Super Bowls, World Series, Sportsworld, Wimbledon, Breeders Cups, and the Seoul Olympics.
Along the way, he earned four Emmy Awards: 1979 Super Bowl XIII (for which he worked in graphics), 1986 World Series (as technical director), and two for 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics (technical director).
After leaving NBC Sports in 1987, Flagg continued working in sports while slowly moving into entertainment. He worked several NBA All-Star Games and NBA Finals for NHK/NBA Entertainment and served as line producer on the All-Madden Team Show for FOX Sports in 1993. He also worked with Fletcher Chicago, where he was instrumental in bringing the use of robotic cameras to live sports coverage.
Tom Fletcher, director, marketing, Optical Devices Division, FujiFilm North America, ran Fletcher Chicago, along with his father, and first met Flagg when NBC Sports had a field shop in Chicago in the late '80s. When we first held a seminar on the new remote-control-camera technology, Neil was one of the first people to sign up. He was always very forward-thinking.
Both of Flagg's sons recall watching NBC Sports' NFL coverage and seeing their father's name on TV. Explains Ross, We would watch a random NFL game on a Sunday because we knew our dad was doing that game, and we watched all the way through to the end, just to see his name in the credits. It was like the biggest thrill for us when we were we were kids.
He adds that his father would also take his three kids to work with him, a move that greatly influenced both sons: today, Ross is a technical director, and Kevin is a camera operator.
He would take us down into the into the field shop and let us go into the trucks, Ross says. I just naturally gravitated toward sitting at a switcher. He would show me how to call up different wipes, and I would sit there and wipe from color bars to other things all day. My brother, of course, gravitated toward the cameras.
Adds Kevin, I loved hanging out with the camera guys, but my dad said he was terrible at running camera.
As teenagers, Kevin and his brother worked as utilities on their father's shows in Chicago, lugging cameras and pulling cables through the old Chicago Stadium. Both were hooked, although their father tried to dissuade them.
When we were little kids, says Kevin, he would come to us and say, Boys, don't ever go into this business; it's a terrible business. It's nights, it's weekends, it's holidays. You're away from your family. It's lots of travel and I'll see you next week and now I have to go to the Super Bowl or I'm going to be in Hawaii for a golf tournament. To us, that was just the coolest thing.
Flagg also worked on the entertainment side of the business, including several seasons as technical director on American Gladiators, and in 1991 began a 13-year run on The Jenny Jones Show in Chicago. He was a technical director and had a chance to spend a lot of time working with Kevin, who was a camera operator on the show (Flagg was director of the show for its final three years). He also directed the launch of the The Sharon Osbourne Show in 2003 and worked alongside James Cameron on his 2005 show Last Mysteries of the Titanic.
When Flagg semi-retired following the Jenny Jones Show, he got to work with Ross and Kevin, serving as a stage manager on the occasional ESPN NBA broadcast.
He did that until he was in his mid 70s, says Kevin. He would be glad-handing everyone in the compound and telling all his old stories. I can't think of my job without thinking of him. Ross and I are very fortunate we could work with him.
Flagg is survived by Fran; Kevin (and wife Jaimie), Ross, and Julie
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
16/09/2025
SVG All-Stars: Leigh Michaud, Manager, Remote Operations, ESPNThe UConn grad rose from ESPN's mailroom to become one of its most valuable ops leadersBy Bran...
16/09/2025
Live From IBC 2025: Friday's Latest From Halls 1-4, Outdoor Exhibits in Amst...
16/09/2025
Live From IBC 2025: Saturday's Latest From Halls 5-7 in Amsterdam By SVG Staff
Friday, September 12, 2025 - 17:00
Print This Story
The SVG Europe and ...
16/09/2025
Live From IBC 2025: Sunday's Latest From Halls 8-10 in Amsterdam By SVG Staff
Saturday, September 13, 2025 - 17:00
Print This Story
The SVG Europe and...
16/09/2025
Live From IBC 2025: Monday's Latest From Halls 11-14 in Amsterdam By SVG Staff
Sunday, September 14, 2025 - 17:00
Print This Story
The SVG Europe and ...
16/09/2025
Amazon Prime Video Picks Up Four Hours of Early-Round Masters Coverage in 2026By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Tuesday, September 16, 2025 - 10:15 a...
16/09/2025
VERSANT Inks Deal for League One Volleyball as Women's Sports Rights Slate G...
16/09/2025
ESPN VP, Corporate Communications, Katina Arnold Named SVP, Disney Advertising C...
16/09/2025
IBC 2025 in Review: SVG Europe's Full Collection of Video Interviews From th...
16/09/2025
Hace una d cada, la m sica latina representaba apenas el 8% de las reproducciones globales en Spotify. Hoy, constituye m s de una cuarta parte (27%) de toda la ...
16/09/2025
A decade ago, Latin music made up just 8% of global Spotify streams. Today, it a...
16/09/2025
Spotify is expanding our video lineup with a new partnership with Zoo 55, part of ITV Studios. For the first time, acclaimed content from ITV Studios is landing...
16/09/2025
At DSEI 2025, James Dunne of L3Harris Maritime UK chaired a panel on aligning the supply chain to the warfighter, where leaders discussed modernising support fo...
16/09/2025
Calrec has strengthened its collaboration with audio metering expert RTW by integrating RTW's new TMxCore metering platform across its full range of Argo IP...
16/09/2025
College Football Scores Top Telecast in August with 16M+ Viewers on FOX, Followe...
16/09/2025
Collaboration marks the first SSP integration of Gracenote IDs, enabling show-le...
16/09/2025
AMSTERDAM The organizers of IBC2025 are reporting that 43,858 visitors from more than 170 countries attended the event, which had more than 1,300 exhibitors and...
16/09/2025
Wooden Camera announces the release of its new Accessory Collection for the FUJIFILM GFX ETERNA 55. The highlights of this collection include vital power soluti...
16/09/2025
Anton/Bauer, a leading manufacturer of mobile power solutions for broadcast and cinematic equipment, has announced the launch of Anton/Bauer Fleet Management, a...
16/09/2025
Teradek, a leading provider of video transmission and live production solutions, today announced the launch of Prism Jetpack, a groundbreaking 5G video contribu...
16/09/2025
Astera, the leader in wireless LED lighting solutions, announces the ultra-versatile SolaBulb. Building on the success of the Astera bulb family, SolaBulb intro...
16/09/2025
As the world gathered at TED2025 to explore the provocative theme "Humanity Reimagined", Clear-Com , supported by NETGEAR networking infrastructure, delivered f...
16/09/2025
Bitfocus' Buttons platform celebrated as a catalyst for AV and broadcast convergence
Bitfocus has been named winner of the IABM Impact Award Pro AV Chan...
16/09/2025
Record entries and outstanding innovation celebrated at IBC2025 as the MediaTech community honors its leading people, projects and organizations
IABM announced...
16/09/2025
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation (SJC), a leading satellite operator and pay-TV provider in Japan, has partnered with H...
16/09/2025
Telestream congratulates Sky Group, which has been awarded the prestigious IBC Innovation Award for Content Distribution for its MediaMesh platform on Sunday, S...
16/09/2025
Leading space solutions company will use optical ground stations to deliver faster, more secure data from space
Luxembourg, September 15, 2025 - SES, a leading...
16/09/2025
NOVI, Mich. ENCO has unveiled Raptor, a cloud-based live streaming captioning encoder that injects the speed, power and reliability of real-time AI capabilities...
16/09/2025
NEW YORK Comcast NBCUniversal and NBCUniversal Local have announced that a total of $2.5 million has been awarded in 2025 to 69 nonprofit organizations servicin...
16/09/2025
AMSTERDAM Martin Euredjian has joined Atomos as director of advanced imaging and will lead innovation for advanced display technology....
16/09/2025
AMSTERDAM Calrec introduced a 48-faced Argo M and showcased its largest Argo software updates at the recently concluded IBC2025....
16/09/2025
AMSTERDAM Lawo introduced its HOME Audio Shuffler app, a replacement for a traditional baseband audio matrix within an IP-based Dynamic Media Facility, during t...
16/09/2025
CBS is reporting that the 77TH Emmy Awards hosted by Nate Bargatze on Sunday Sept. 14 was seen by more than 7.42 million viewers on the CBS Television Network a...
16/09/2025
The U.K. is driving investments in sovereign AI, using the technology to advance...
16/09/2025
Back to All News
Meet the Adversaries That Will Clash in Rulers of Fortune, a S...
16/09/2025
Back to All News
Would You Take 30 Million Baht from a Dead Persons Account? E...
16/09/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the Official Trailer and Poster for She Walks ...
16/09/2025
Comscore Unveils The Scoreboard: An Interactive Destination Surfacing Consumer B...
15/09/2025
Steve Zahn, Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, and Janeane Garofalo star in Ben Stiller&...
15/09/2025
Global K-Pop sensation aespa is redefining what it means to be rich with the r...
15/09/2025
Every day, millions of people around the world turn to Spotify to enjoy the audi...
15/09/2025
After months of intensive planning and implementation, Brembo SGL Carbon Ceramic...
15/09/2025
A U.S. Marine launches a Javelin shoulder-fired anti-tank missile during a training exercise. (Photo credit: U.S. Marine Corps)...
15/09/2025
AMSTERDAM TV Tech has named its Best of Show Awards winners for IBC2025, which wraps up today. Entrants were judged by a panel of industry experts on the criter...
15/09/2025
Unique sports content orchestration platform builds momentum among SES's cus...
15/09/2025
Back to All News
Over 41 Million Global Viewers On Netflix Watch Terence Crawfo...
15/09/2025
Paris, France - September 15, 2025 -- Space42 (ADX: SPACE42), the UAE-based AI-p...
15/09/2025
Back to All News
The Great Flood' Teaser Trailer Previews A Gripping Struggle for Survival
Entertainment
15 September 2025
GlobalSouth Korea
Link copi...