Some of the earliest visual recordings of Canadian football were accomplished with bulky, hand-wound cameras which held three minutes worth of black-and-white film and had to be reloaded about 20 times per game. Ken Davey, a tireless photography aficionado who was the first person to film a Grey Cup game (in 1935), knew the craft well. He shared his passion with John Solilo, who would spend five decades as the main camera operator for Saskatchewan Roughriders home games. Solilo's cameras recorded every play so coaches such as Eagle Keys, John Gregory and Jim Daley could watch the films for pre-game preparations. In the early days, Solilo had to teach coaches how to run the reel-to-reel projectors to watch those games.
Solilo's entire family eventually got involved, forming a company, going into debt and buying their own equipment. They remained until the technology changed to the point where tiny, hand-held cameras produced high definition, digital recordings that could be instantly sent electronically to anywhere in the world. It's a far cry from shipping film canisters to CFL teams across North America via airplanes! Being involved in this evolution - from film to video cassettes to digital recordings - is an interesting, historical journey and personal commitment that Solilo and others relate through Darrell Davis, an author and long-time sports writer at the Regina Leader-Post.
