Sports Illustrated - USA (2021-12-15)

EFORE THE 1981

Sugar Bowl, when No. 1

in the Superdome, photographer

Heinz Kluetmeier had a light bulb

go off over his head. His idea: Put

light bulbs over his head.

Photographers had long

hung strobes to illuminate

BRIGHT

PHOTOGRAPH BY

HEINZ KLUETMEIER

stadium. Not only is the field

to hang the lights, which then

weighed 40 pounds and had to be

connected to the shooter’s camera

If anyone deserved the spotlight

in New Orleans, it was Georgia’s

Herschel Walker, who had already

set the NCAA freshman rushing

record. Walker didn’t disappoint.

Despite a dislocated shoulder,

he rushed for 150 yards and two

touchdowns, leading the Dawgs

to a 17–10 win and the title.

Kluetmeier and his strobes didn’t

disappoint, either: Witness this

dramatically lit shot of Walker’s

second TD. While the result was

amazing, the technique remains

rare. “It’s such an ordeal to get that

stuff set up,” says former SI picture

editor Phil Jache. “I don’t know of

another football game that was

strobed like that.” —M.B.

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