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Couple helps Craig from behind the lens

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Photo by Dan Lassiter

Don and Pearl Casanova video tape all Craig football games and all Craig boys basketball games as well as keeping score at all the Craig girl home basketball games.

JANESVILLE — Don Casanova and his wife, Pearl, never have worked for NFL Films, but their game videos are the benchmark for Janesville Craig High School’s football and boys basketball teams.

The Casanovas, both retired Craig teachers, have captured the action on tape since 1990.

When the Casanovas are not doing video, Don is a timekeeper and Pearl is a scorekeeper for Craig girls basketball games.

The Casanovas have gone through more than a couple miles of videotape in nearly 30 years without the benefit of a screening room.

“I never get to see my work,” said Don, who taught physics and chemistry at Craig from 1968 until he retired in 1999. “A coach just takes the tapes after the games, and I ask if there is anything that needs to be changed, and they say, ‘No, everything is fine.’ ”

Bob Suter, the Craig boys basketball coach for the past 22 years, has had no problem with the Casanovas’ cinematography.

“If there was something wrong, he’d hear about it,” said Suter, who spends hour and hours studying Casanova’s work.

Don said he received his sports movie-making training on the job.

“It was trial and error,” Casanova said.

The coaches’ directions were simple.

“All they wanted to see was the plays,” Casanova said. “They would give me some hints as to what they wanted to see.”

The Casanovas turned to their own teamwork when they used two cameras.

“Last year, for a little while, Pearl would do the line, and I would follow the ball,” Don said. “But then they decided two cameras weren’t needed.’’

Pearl, a biology and chemistry teacher, who retired the same year as Don, helps Don capture the action with quiet confidence.

“We usually don’t talk too much,” Pearl said of their experience while both are working on game day. “I just make sure everything is going OK.’’

Since there is a lot action during football—offensive and defensive line play, backfield, pass routes—it’s easy to miss a play or two, but missing the action is something Don and Pearl don’t take lightly.

“I just say, ‘Get the next play,’ ” Pearl said.

Don said he still is learning the sports film business.

“I still make mistakes,” he said. “You can’t follow a pass. The pros do it, because they have two or three cameras. But coach knows that, I’m sure.”

Pearl said they usually don’t exchange hints on taping games, because they seem to be the most experienced people with a camera.

“Most of the time, it’s a student at the football games,” Pearl said of others filming the action. “Sometimes it’s a parent or a coach or nobody.’’

The Casanovas tape home and away games and rarely miss a date.

While the football season is nine weeks, minus the playoffs, the Casanovas are now gearing for the long haul through the basketball season.

“Basketball is a long season,” Pearl said. “You may have a girls game on a Friday, and then boys games on Thursday and Saturday. I’ve decided football goes so fast, I don’t mind it.’’

Not that he doesn’t have enough to do, but Don works the discus in home track and field meets for Parker and Craig plus he works Special Olympics in the summer.

From camera and action to marking time and scores, life is definitely not moving in “slow-mo” for Don and Pearl Casanova.