After photographing every Super Bowl since the first game in 1967, John Biever is retiring from his legendary career capturing NFL history.
Biever is the only photographer to document all 60 Super Bowls and will conclude his remarkable run at this weekend's championship game.
His extensive collection, partly housed in his brother's basement, is considered the largest archive of NFL photographs in existence.
"It doesn't seem like 60 years, but it has," Biever said during a recent conversation with his brother Jim, also a former Green Bay Packers team photographer. "We got 36 exposures on a roll."
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The photography has evolved dramatically since Biever began his career. Where he once had 36 shots per roll of film, modern digital cameras can capture 36 images in a single play.
Biever's collection includes iconic moments spanning decades of NFL history, featuring Packers quarterbacks Bart Starr, Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers. His archive also features the first-ever Super Bowl touchdown by Packers receiver Max McGee, along with thousands of other historic images.
"I think the permanence of it," Biever said when asked about photography's enduring appeal. "On the printed page, you can always go back and look at a book."
Jim Biever carefully preserves the family's photographic legacy at his home. The collection includes slides from Super Bowls I, II and III, images that "look like they were just shot yesterday."
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John Biever received permission to leave high school to photograph the earliest Super Bowls, beginning a career that would span six decades and document the evolution of professional football.
For this year's Super Bowl, Biever expects to be positioned on the field, giving him a chance to say goodbye to colleagues and capture his final championship images.
"I guess all I have to do is get to the opening kickoff to make it 60, but hopefully, I make it to the end," Biever said.
This story was originally published by Alex Gaul with the Scripps News Group in Milwaukee.
