Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Jeff Zachary, King of the Steadicam By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director
Thursday, November 9, 2023 - 1:49 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
It isn't very often that a child who finds themselves in front of the camera becomes enraptured by what is going on behind the camera, but that is what happened to Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Jeff Zachary who, as a child, appeared in Armour hot dog commercials.
I was more intrigued by the behind the scenes and shooting it, he recalls.
That intrigue at a young age resulted in a Hall of Fame career as Zachary is considered one of the all-time-great Steadicam operators. He was the first person to bring Steadicam to NFL coverage, Super Bowls, PGA Golf, MLB All-Star Weekends and the Home Run Derby, the Kentucky Derby, FIFA World Soccer Finals, college football starting in 2006 at the BCS Rose Bowl Championship Game, the XFL, and the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethons. And he also was an innovator, creating specialty camera systems as well as playing a big role in 3D handheld, Steadicam and hard camera rig designs.
I was always intrigued with adding lateral movement to a shot, says Zachary of his love of running a Steadicam. I was always thinking about if I could get 20 yards in front of the receiver so that when the ball drops in near me, I can take off and make it to the goal line with them, providing a lateral stabilized tracking shot.
Zachary says he is grateful for Director Craig Janoff deciding to incorporate the Steadicam for the National Anthem and game coverage at Super Bowl XXXIV as it then led to Don Ohlmeyer and Drew Esocoff incorporating the Steadicam for the whole next NFL season. In turn, Esocoff and Fred Gaudelli, tapped it for the next 17 years for Monday Night Football and then Sunday Night Football.
I am grateful for allof their support as well as the support of Hall of Famer Dick Ebersol, Mark Lazarus, Ken Goss, Mike Sheehan, Sam Flood, Mike Meehan, Pierre Moossa, John Roche, Tim DeKime, Diane Solomon and Rob Hyland, he says. XFL Director John Gonzalez would also embrace Steadicam.
Initially I was allowed on the sidelines, then onto the field, but only to the numbers, he says. Then after good behavior' then to the huddle then to the endzone. Getting to that point took time and the trust of the NFL.
Zachary has received 11 Sports Emmys, often working at some of the most important events in sports history. Among the highlights of his 47-year career as a camera operator and Steadicam operator are working the Ali vs. Holmes fight in 1980; FIFA World Cup Finals 1994; 26 NBA All-Star Games/Slam Dunk Contests; 12 Super Bowls; 15 Kentucky Derbys; 13 MLB All-Star Home Run Derbys; U.S. Open Golf; Indy 500; 36 years of ABC's Monday Night Football, ESPN's and NBC's Sunday Night Football, Fox NFL, CBS NFL, and TNT NFL; 25 Pro Bowls; World League Football, XFL, NFL Network's Thursday Night Football, and the College Football Association (CFA); F1 Las Vegas 1982 and F1 Phoenix 1989; nine Presidential Inaugurations; presidential debates; Democratic and Republican Conventions; four Olympics; 33 years of boxing; 7 Ironman Triathlons; The Masters, The Ryder Cup, and NCAA Final Four in 3D; X-Games; World Figure Skating; The Skins; the Goodwill Games; and two America's Cups. He has also been an operator and producer on nine 3D feature concert films.
For me, it all starts when a director, producer, and executives invite me to join them for their productions and to be able to experience some memorable moments, both in sports, historical events, and in film, he says. Without those invites, I don't have the opportunities in my career that I am so grateful to have experienced.
Key moments in Zachary's career included in 1987 when ESPN Director Marc Payton and Producer John Wildhack asked him to join the Sunday Night Football package; in 1991 when Ken Aagaard, then working for NBC Sports, asked him to use the Steadicam for the first time on a live broadcast on a vehicle mount for the Moscow Peace Marathon; in 1992 when ABC's Craig Janoff and Producer Kenny Wolfe asked him to join Monday Night Football; and working with legendary Director Roger Goodman with ABC on Super Bowl half time shows, Rose Bowl parades, Presidential inaugurations and funerals, and the Oprah Winfrey special with Michael Jackson. Zachary continues to this day to work on high-level historic and special events with Director Jeff Winn. And then there were 26 years working on the NBA Slam Dunk contest with Director Lonnie Dale and Producer Peter Lasser.
Says Gaudelli: Jeff is one of the finest camera operators I ever worked with. He has many qualities that earned him induction to the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame, but none larger in my book than creating a position that didn't exist and then turned into a mainstay camera on all major sports telecast.
Lighting the Spark
It was a few years after the Armour hot dog commercials, in 1969, that Zachary's future career came into sharper focus. His family was living in Las Vegas and his mother, Joyce Wilson-Zachary, took him to The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon.
Susan Anton was singing and I told my mother, I want to do that!' and she then asked, being a singer herself, be a singer?' and I said, To be a cameraman, says Zachary. Zachary watched the floor monitors and the big screen on stage and what the camera operators were focusing on. He was intrigued.
I was seeing the line cut when they were coming in and out of breaks, he says.
Zachary's formative years had several kismet moments, like attending the telethon or, getting a Super 8 film camera with a Slow Motion Feature at 12 years old. And in the seventh grade another teacher, Stan Johnson, asked if Zachary and some classmates want
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
28/11/2025
Nadia Fall attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Brides at the Egyptian Theatre on January 24, 2025, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Donyale West/...
28/11/2025
It's easy to ignore those little red update available badges. But when it ...
28/11/2025
WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission has released a tentative agenda for the December Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Thursday, December 18, 2025 ...
28/11/2025
The Professional Fighters League is looking to super-serve fans of mixed martial...
28/11/2025
Fubo has released in beta on select Roku devices a new feature that lets users display up to four simultaneous streams at once....
28/11/2025
The WNBA playoffs and Week 4 of the NFL regular season highlight the list of live sports events airing on television this weekend....
28/11/2025
The 32nd class of honorees to the B+C Hall of Fame took to the stage at New York's Ziegfeld Ballroom on September 26 for a gala induction event. Click below...
28/11/2025
We hold in our hands the very last Next Text for Next TV, the weekly back-and-fo...
28/11/2025
DirecTV said it made a deal with EchoStar to buy EchoStar's video businesses, including satellite-TV provider Dish TV and virtual MVPD Sling TV, for $1 plus...
28/11/2025
The Broadcasting+Cable Hall of Fame, the premier industry event paying tribute to the influencers, innovators and shining lights of broadcast, cable and streami...
28/11/2025
Friday 28 November 2025
Sky Sports x Slawn drop limited-edition football jersey...
28/11/2025
Rohde & Schwarz shows resilience in a challenging environment, revenue exceeds t...
28/11/2025
Unwrapped: The Toy Show Appeal - airing this Sunday on RT One and RT Player- s...
27/11/2025
LONDON Vizrt has added several AI-driven advanced features offering improved speed, intelligence and accuracy in the newest version of its media asset managemen...
27/11/2025
Prime Video has launched AI-powered video season recaps in a beta version for select English-language Prime Original series in the U.S., a move Amazon is callin...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Netflix's Raat Akeli Hai: The Bansal Murders Marks a Grand...
27/11/2025
27 Nov 2025
GSMA brings M360 Eurasia 2026 to Samarkand in partnership with VEON...
27/11/2025
Tahar Rahim and Izuka Hoyle star in the gripping six-part Sky Original from Acad...
27/11/2025
Thursday 27 November 2025
Sky Arts Reveals the Nation's Greatest Basslines - and Queen Reign Supreme
The UK's most iconic basslines have been revealed...
27/11/2025
Back to All News
Stranger Things 5': Prepare for One Last Adventure With O...
27/11/2025
The media industry has a paradox at its core. It's an industry built on light, color and imagination, yet behind the scenes, it's powered by one of the ...
27/11/2025
Rating reflects rating progress across areas including policies, diversity & inclusion, health & safety and Net Zero leadership
Winchester, UK, 27 November 202...
27/11/2025
What are the industry standards for Retail Media? Kathryn explains that certification is based on the IAB Europe Retail Media Measurement Standards and the IAB ...
27/11/2025
World champion boxer and Irish sporting icon Katie Taylor will be in studio this...
27/11/2025
Roblox, one of the world's most popular online gaming platforms for primary ...
27/11/2025
Black Friday is leveling up. Get ready to score one of the biggest deals of the season - 50% off the first three months of a new GeForce NOW Ultimate membership...
26/11/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Prime Video EP Mike Muriano Previews Massive Black Friday Slate Fe...
26/11/2025
A cinematic snow sculpture at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Photo by Randall Michelson...
26/11/2025
Book podcasts are booming. On Spotify, you'll find everything from celebrity book clubs to deep dives with bestselling authors. And in markets where audiobo...
26/11/2025
Mumbai, November 24, 2025: In a first-of-its-kind initiative, JioStar, in collab...
26/11/2025
LONDON Factual content producer ITN Productions has launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins....
26/11/2025
MIAMI TelevisaUnivision said it struck a new multiyear distribution agreement with YouTube TV that includes distribution of TelevisaUnivision's U.S. network...
26/11/2025
OpenDrives, Inc., a leader in software-defined data storage and data services, today announced the launch of the Atlas Corporate Creative Solution. This new Atl...
26/11/2025
Disguise, the industry-leading company powering the world's biggest live performances, is partnering with pioneering LED wall manufacturer DVS to give atten...
26/11/2025
HighField AI, the pioneer in agentic and multimodal automation for broadcast and media production, today announced the expansion of its global channel partner n...
26/11/2025
As high-stakes Premier League fixtures approach and additional premium content launches, with MONO positioning themselves to dominate Thailand's sports stre...
26/11/2025
Hosting a wide variety of events from high-intensity NHL games to complex live music concerts and major entertainment productions, Montreal's 21,000 capacit...
26/11/2025
Vizrt, the leader in live production technology revolutionizing viewer engagement and experience, releases AI-driven advances focusing on speed, intelligence, a...
26/11/2025
ITN Productions, an award-winning factual content producer, today launched a new low-latency IP gallery for news bulletins. Responsible for delivering a leading...
26/11/2025
Ikegami reports ongoing advances throughout 2025 in developing and delivering coordinated television production solutions that maximize quality, versatility and...
26/11/2025
Following the Nov. 21 blackout of NBCUniversal channels on Fubo, the two sides have traded barbs about their inability to reach a new carriage deal....
26/11/2025
LONDON As TV sports rights become increasingly important for both broadcasters and streamers, Ampere Analysis predicts global investment in the genre will surpa...
26/11/2025
LOS ANGELES Vubiquity said it has achieved the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Media & Entertainment Competency as part of the AWS Partner Network (APN). This designa...
26/11/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Enforcement Bureau said it has entered into a consent decree with Comcast calling for the cable company t...
26/11/2025
Berklee Named to the Hollywood Reporters Top Music Schools List The publication highlights the college's screen scoring program, industry partnerships, and ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
Animated Series Love Through a Prism' Casts New Light on ...
26/11/2025
Back to All News
NALIP Unveils Fifth Cohort of Director Incubator
Social Impact
26 November 2025
United States
Link copied to clipboard
The National Assoc...
26/11/2025
YouView Achieves Greenly Gold Certification for SustainabilityNov 26, 2025
YouView is proud to announce a Gold Certification award from Greenly for our perform...
Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Jeff Zachary, King of the Steadicam By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director 
