Getting the red light
By Joe Kleinsasser
 Greg Matthias zooms in on some action during a WSU-Kansas State baseball game last spring. |
Greg Matthias likes sports. But it’s his skill and experience as a TV camera operator, not his athletic ability, which enables him to get paid at sporting events.
The athletes he has covered are a virtual "who’s who" of college and professional sports.
Matthias once covered a NFL pre-season game with record-setting receiver Jerry Rice of the San Francisco 49ers.
He has worked numerous University of Kansas basketball games and has watched players who have gone on to professional careers – players such as Danny Manning and Raef LaFrentz.
Matthias has covered New York Yankees games in Kansas City, and he’s been behind the camera for interviews with pro baseball manager Joe Torre and players Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Roger Clemens and Andy Pettite. He also has videotaped former Seattle Mariners star Alex Rodriguez.
There are some additional perks to being behind the camera. When the St. Louis Cardinals played the Kansas City Royals, Matthias was working the center field camera when Mark McGwire hit a home run into the camera area. He retrieved the ball and gave it to his daughter.
Matthias also has worked with ESPN color commentator Dick Vitale, an experience Matthias calls "an adventure in itself," and CBS sportscaster Jim Nance.
"We (Nance and the production crew) played a game of pick-up basketball on KU’s court the night before the UCLA-Kansas basketball game," says Matthias.
His resumé includes working the first basketball game in Kansas State’s Bramlage Coliseum, several Big 12 men’s and women’s championship basketball games, and an NCAA women’s Division II national championship game.
Matthias also has experienced the unusual. He worked a baseball game in Wichita when former Shocker standout Darren Dreifort was on the USA baseball team. The game between the USA and Japanese all-stars was aired by a Hispanic network.
"You had the American pastime with Hispanic announcers speaking about Japanese ballplayers," says Matthias. "That was a challenge."
He also worked a Yankees game that was aired in Japan. "It was interesting that my camera shots were being seen in two of the largest cities in the world – New York and Tokyo," says Matthias.
Matthias has worked full time in the Media Resources Center as a producer/director since January 1991, but his work as a sports cameraman qualifies as a serious hobby.
"It’s always fun to work with the major networks because there’s always so much more stuff – there’s more people, more equipment," he says.
Even though his work is behind the scenes, there’s still pressure. "Each camera has a certain responsibility depending on what the situation is," says Matthias.
After an athlete makes a good play in football, a camera operator is expected to follow him back to the huddle or sideline. Matthias knows if he loses track of a player, he could get an earful from the director.
"The director is going, ‘Where’s he at? Where’s he at?’ You’re like, ‘I don’t know. There are 80 people down there.’ So there’s stress like that."
Generally though, Matthias enjoys the challenge. "Maybe I’m more used to it now, but it’s kind of fun to be in a pressure situation."
According to Matthias, the goal is to be the camera of choice for the director and producer. "You always want to be on air. We always want to get a light – your little red light comes on. If you get more red lights than everybody else does, you feel like you’re doing a better job. You always want them to run your replay."
While you watch games from the comfort of your living room, camera operators work in all kinds of weather conditions from hot to cold, rain to snow.
Matthias’ hobby ties up 40-45 days a year. Although Matthias has had opportunities to turn his hobby into a full-time job, he says being on the road full time isn’t for him.
The money isn’t bad, but the days are long. He’s earned as much as $290 for a 10-hour day along with a per diem for travel, food and lodging.
"You have a call time, usually 6 1/2 hours before the event starts," says Matthias. "It’s a long day, especially if you’re traveling.
"Sometimes they have set days. If it’s a bigger event, you have a set day the day before. You get everything set up – cameras, cables – and make sure everything is working. Then you secure everything the next day. You get to focus more on the game instead of making sure everything is ready."
Before the game starts, there’s a meeting where the producer and director explains what the focus is and what story they’re trying to tell during the game.
For example, when Matthias worked the KU-University of North Dakota basketball game this season, the focus was on KU player Jeff Boschee because he’s from North Dakota.
Matthias never knows who he’ll work with until he shows up at an event, but everyone is generally helpful.
"Somebody said once that this type of TV production is the only place that people show up who don’t know each other. They take all the equipment out of the truck, set it up, and make sure it works. They do the game and then put it all back and go away. They might not even see each other again. But for a certain point of time, they’re a team. That’s pretty strange. I don’t think that happens anywhere else really."
His hobby has changed how he watches sporting events on TV. "My wife doesn’t enjoy watching TV with me. I’ll say, ‘Did you see that? Why did they do that?’" referring to the cameraman’s actions, not the players.
Operating a camera from the sidelines is a good experience, but Matthias is happy to be at WSU. "You get to do more stories and you have a little more time to develop your project. You get to work for some pretty nice clients on campus and some pretty good projects."
Those projects range from producing a video for WSU’s annual economic outlook conference, to faculty profiles, to a recruiting video for cooperative education and admissions, to working with the athletic department, to taping a trip last year in Poland with Nicholas Johnson, director of dance.
As a cameraman at sporting events, Matthias prefers to be behind the scenes, but on rare occasions, even he becomes the center of attention. One such incident occurred while he shot a high school basketball all-star game in Kansas City.
"I was under the basket doing one of the low cameras. The ball was coming toward me and I thought ‘I’m shooting the ball. That’s a pretty good shot.’
"The ball came and hit the lens and the eyepiece (of the camera) came back and cut the top of my eye. Here I was bleeding. One of the trainers had to come over and stitch me up. So they put me on camera. Then they played it back and showed it again."
Matthias enjoys sports, but he’d rather not be in the sports bloopers.
