Today in 1963, the instant replay was invented during the Army-Navy football game after Army quarterback Rollie Stichweb ran the ball in from the two-yard line.
CBS director Tony Vera called for the videotaped recording of the touchdown. The replay ran without a hitch, prompting Vera to shout, "Oh my God, it works!" The rhythms of football turned out to be ideal for the instant replay: moments of intense action difficult to fully comprehend in real time alternate with long lulls that provide perfect times for reviewing past plays.
Ampex Corporation, which introduced the first video recorders to the National Association of Broadcasters in 1956, worked with ABC to develop a system that would allow 30 second replays within 4 seconds. They system included three speeds of slow motion and the ability to freeze frames. The technology would soon spread to other sports.
NPR:
"Here I am, a young director, and I can really be committing professional suicide if I mess up ... by attempting to showcase a new device," Verna told NPR's Day to Day in 2003.
That new device, instant replay, involved tape decks the size of refrigerators, housed in a giant truck. Verna was so unsure this would work that he didn't tell anybody else about it until just before game time.