“It’s the one image I’ve on my wall right here,” stated Biever from the lounge of his San Diego residence. “That was most likely my, if it’s not my favourite picture, it’s the one most remembered.”
In actual fact, Biever says it’s an iconic picture he nonetheless sees on tavern partitions in Wisconsin. The results of that Packers win over the Cowboys allowed him to journey to Tremendous Bowl II.
He’s been on a roll ever since.
For 30 Tremendous Bowls, Biever shot images for Sports activities Illustrated journal and, in all of the years since, he’s been taking footage for the NFL.
Jamie Squire, a long-time photographer for Getty Photographs, says Biever has a knack for being on the proper place on the proper time,
“Essentially the most superb factor about nonetheless images is the fleeting second. That’s what John is finest at capturing. That split-second second that lives on perpetually.”
John Biever turns 75 a bit of greater than every week after the Tremendous Bowl, on Feb. 17. He says Tremendous Bowl LX will most likely be his final, however he nonetheless seems ahead to capturing the spontaneous second everybody will bear in mind.
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Transcript:
STEVE INSKEEP: When the Seattle Seahawks play the New England Patriots in Tremendous Bowl 60 on Sunday. Photographer John Biever might be there. He’s the one one who has labored at each Tremendous Bowl. Greg Echlin experiences.
GREG ECHLIN: John Biever’s curiosity in images got here early. His father, Vern, was the Inexperienced Bay Packers staff photographer. John soaked in the whole lot his father taught and was 14 in the midst of the Packers dynasty years within the Sixties.
JOHN BIEVER: What number of children can seize an expert digital camera at that age and get on the sector on the championship sport? Not too many. However then you definitely obtained to return together with the products, too. So I assume I did that ultimately.
ECHLIN: The sport was the 1965 NFL championship. One of many images John shot was revealed in Look Journal. It was in black and white, and there was Packers quarterback Bart Starr spinning and making ready handy the ball off. The subsequent 12 months, it was Tremendous Bowl 1 on the Los Angeles Coliseum, as described on this NFL documentary on the sport.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Fast ball line-up right here. Obtained to take it down, fellas.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: This premiere spectacle of sport passed off within the carnival environment acceptable to the Hollywood setting.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
ECHLIN: It was an thrilling time for a teenage photographer.
BIEVER: Partway by way of the sport, I look subsequent to me, and there’s Bob Hope kneeling down. It’s like, oh, that’s not going to occur anymore.
ECHLIN: Biever’s favourite image from that Tremendous Bowl was one other black-and-white picture, Vince Lombardi, the Packers’ legendary coach, working off the sector after the Tremendous Bowl victory. Biever obtained the shot and says it’s particular as a result of his father can also be within the image. The subsequent 12 months, vying for an opportunity to play in Tremendous Bowl 2, the Packers performed the Dallas Cowboys within the 1967 NFL championship sport. It was known as the Ice Bowl as a result of the temperature was 13 under zero in Inexperienced Bay, Wisconsin, that day. Younger John was in the suitable spot for the game-winning landing within the last seconds, as chronicled by NFL Movies.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER: And the Inexperienced Bay Packers, in probably the most thrilling comebacks of all time, have crushed the Dallas Cowboys to win the 1967 NFL championship.
BIEVER: My dad was over photographing Lombardi. Lombardi simply turned and ran to the locker room, and that was it. He obtained nothing. I obtained the profitable play of the Ice Bowl.
ECHLIN: It was one other Black and white picture, this time from the top zone and reveals the brute drive of the blockers opening a gap, permitting Bart Starr to interrupt by way of and rating.
BIEVER: It’s the one image I’ve on my wall right here, and that was most likely my – if it’s not my favourite picture, it’s the one most remembered.
ECHLIN: In actual fact, Biever says it’s an iconic picture he nonetheless sees on tavern partitions in Wisconsin. That sport allowed him to journey to Tremendous Bowl 2, and he’s been on a roll ever since. For 30 Tremendous Bowls, he shot images for Sports activities Illustrated journal, and in all of the years since, he’s been taking footage for the NFL. Jamie Squire is a longtime photographer for Getty Photographs, he says Biever has a knack for being on the proper place on the proper time.
JAMIE SQUIRE: Essentially the most superb factor about nonetheless images is the fleeting second. And that’s what John is finest at capturing, is that split-second second that then lives on perpetually.
ECHLIN: John Biever turns 75 later this month. He says Tremendous Bowl 60 will most likely be his final, however he nonetheless seems ahead to capturing the spontaneous second everybody will bear in mind.
For NPR Information, I’m Greg Echlin.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE VALDONS’ “WHATCHA GONNA DO (FEAT. THE LAKER’S)”)
