Survived by his wife of 45 years, Carol Verna; daughters Tracy Soiseth and Jenny Axlerod of Los Angeles; son Eric Verna of Palm Desert; and three grandchildren.
In 1963, he was directing the Army-Navy football game for CBS Sports when he ran the first immediate videotape review of a play in television history. When the technology was used again in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1, 1964, sportscaster Pat Summerall referred to it as "instant replay", and the term stuck.
Before leaving CBS in 1981, he directed or produced virtually every kind of sporting event, including football, tennis, figure skating, hockey, basketball, and horse racing.
I didn't invent instant replay to improve officiating, or anything like that. I invented it for a better telecast. [in an interview with Pacific Standard magazine in 2013]