Television networks pay Kelly Christopher '02 to attend Super Bowls, NCAA March Madness, Major League Baseball playoffs, and yes, the more mundane midweek baseball and basketball match-ups in Phoenix, where he lives.
Christopher is a freelance cameraman working for several large networks, a job that includes plenty of travel and a field-level seat to some of the greatest moments in sports. When he covered the 2016 baseball post-season, he carried a wireless handheld camera to concentrate on David Ortiz, who then was ending what is expected to be a Hall of Fame career.
"It's me, the players, and the umps," Christopher said of his on-field position. "I was the eyes of the world on this guy's last game. Every replay I saw - SportsCenter, MLB.com - they were using my shot. The composition, the framing, the emotion. That was the shot."
'I’m living a blessed life right now. I wouldn’t be here without Ambrose and athletics.'
Kelly Christopher
Christopher got his professional start pulling cable for other camera operators or filming corporate events.
"It wasn't sports, and it wasn't pretty," he said, "but I was doing whatever I could. I'd get a game here, a game there. Athletics gives you a certain amount of drive and determination."
At St. Ambrose, he developed that drive playing football and running track. He qualified for the national track and field championships in the 60-meter and 110-meter hurdles. Working around classes, practices and athletics events, he developed his passion for the camera by filming and producing stories for Dateline SAU.
After about five years of scraping to make it in the freelance field following his graduation, Christopher received a call from ESPN with an offer to travel coast to coast for 15 weekends, the entire college football season.
That led to gigs in professional sports, indoors and out.
Christopher might be away from Phoenix and his family for the better part of six weeks during the NBA postseason. "If there's three Game 4s in one night, you don't know where you're going," he said. "Sometimes I have three flights to three different cities depending on who wins."
But that schedule balances as different leagues ebb and flow.
"Last weekend, I was gone Saturday and Sunday," he said in September. "But I was home the rest of the week with my kids. ESPN, TBS, TNT - they pick what games they want. We only go to the best match-ups. I love that. I'm living a blessed life right now. I wouldn't be here without Ambrose and athletics."
— Story and photo by Dustin Renwick '10
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