Behind the Lense with a Telly Award Winner
May 28, 2024 | Sports Extra, Athletics
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Cam Bradley had a wedding to go to that weekend. It was Monday, April 27, 2023. That meant that he had 40 hours over the course of five days to get it done. He had to hurry. He had video from five different cameras, including the Sony A7S that he knew like his own face in a dark arena. There were 36 Kansas State men's basketball games, including 18 in the Big 12 Conference, and four NCAA Tournament games. There was an airplane, an introductory news conference speech, summer workouts, no-look passes, dribbles, dunks, court stormings, celebratory water-bottle showers, more airplane rides, pageantry and tournament brackets, and victories. There was a story, all right. Condensed into 4 minutes and 20 seconds. One-hundred-and-sixty video clips. All dancing across the screen as the Alternative/Indie selection "Blood Runs Red" by Matt Maeson (2022) fueled scene after scene before sudden quietness ripped through to the lasting image and a phrase hit harder than a Markquis Nowell-to-Keyontae Johnson alley-oop: "IT'S A GREAT DAY TO BE A WILDCAT!"
And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the "Jerome Tang Naismith National Coach of the Year Recognition Video." When Bradley hit save for the final time on Adobe Premier Pro inside his office on the sixth floor of the West Stadium Center at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, the 25-year-old Wichita native and K-State graduate had no idea the phenomenal depth of the production that he had created. He knew it was good. Had to be good. It captured every moment. Yet he measured the potency of the high-energy voyage only by the number of tears shed as the video neared its completion. And as he put the final touches on the clip of Tang proclaiming, "It's a great day to be a Wildcat!" it marked the final verse to brilliant on-screen poetry. The video was launched by the K-State Men's Basketball social media account on April 2, 2023 — eight days after the Wildcats completed their magical season in the Elite Eight and five days after Bradley had begun production.
Bradley made it to the wedding. Meanwhile, K-State loyalists paused, marveled and were left to digest fully the marriage between Tang and a university, Tang and a community, Tang and his players, and Tang and his fans, all close up, then pulled back, a recorder recording, a camera capturing, as everyone witnessed together the specialness in its infancy — a season that put a leader of men and a basketball program in lights, so raw, less than 10 days removed from the end of the first chapter to a book yet to be written. (Video)
The "Jerome Tang Naismith National Coach of the Year Recognition Video" has garnered 871,000 views on X (formerly Twitter) and features assistance from Cody Isern (Assistant Producer); Denver Morris, Dylan Johnson, Alec Hanlin and Max Sene (Camera); Brian Smoller and Wyatt Thompson (talent); and Andy Liebsch (Production Director).
Last Wednesday, the video earned a Telly Award.
To be more exact, the video was named the Silver Winner in the "Sports — Social Video" category for the Telly Awards, which is the premier award honoring video and television across all screens. Established in 1979, The Telly Awards receives over 13,000 entries globally. Winners are selected for recognition based on excellence in Branded Content, Commercials & Marketing, Immersive & Mixed Reality, Non-Broadcast, Online and Television Series, Shows & Segments, and Social Video. Entrants are judged by an industry body of over 250 experts.
"Blood Runs Red was going to be the song of the season and the video just flowed the rest of the way," Bradley says. "It all just came together. It wasn't crazy difficult to make, but the impact — you could really feel it."
He pauses.
"Coach Tang won the Naismith National Coach of the Year award, which allowed me to make the video."
Bradley will forever be linked to the video that chronicled one of the most special seasons in K-State men's basketball history and honored the first K-State head coach to earn the Naismith. Placed in such a perspective, Bradley replies, "I mean, it's awesome."
"I have people to this day who ask me, 'You made the Coach Tang video?' I'm like, 'Yeah.' And they're like, 'That's my favorite video I've ever watched.' That's awesome," he says. "I remember when I was a kid getting into this, I found my favorite video and that drove me to do this now, and I've had so many people reach out to me who are interested in doing videos. They say, 'I want to do what you do.'
"I'm like, 'Come on, let's do it.'"
Bradley's passion began with an old hand-held VHS Canon camcorder with the fold-out screen that he used to film friends for YouTube videos. He was always the one taking videos or photos at family events or over the holidays. It wasn't until he took an introduction to journalism class his freshman year at Eisenhower High School that he truly fell in love with video production. He and his friends filmed a spoof of the song "I'm Awesome," which was written and recorded by American hip hop artist Spose in 2010. He edited the spoof on Final Cut Pro on a high school Mac. It was his first video production. His sophomore year, he was elected as a lead producer for the monthly high school news broadcast — an unprecedented position for a sophomore at Eisenhower High — and maintained the duties until his high school graduation in 2017.
A tight end on the football team at Hastings College in Nebraska in 2017-19, Bradley, born into a K-State family, transferred to the journalism program at K-State after Hastings discontinued its journalism curriculum. He worked at K-StateHD.TV and graduated as a journalism major at K-State in 2021, then he took a full-time job as men's basketball, softball, and spring sports videographer at the University of Tulsa. That didn't last long. He jumped at the opportunity to return to K-State — this time while serving in a full-time capacity as men's basketball videographer — last July.
"You're with the men's basketball team almost all the time, and you're traveling with them," he says. "As a kid, I wanted to play college sports. I wanted to be around sports. So being a part of a team, feeling like you're a part of a team — they make me feel like I'm a part of the team — is such a cool feeling. It's such an amazing feeling. Coach Tang treats everybody like you're a part of his family. It's a sense of honor that I feel."
Bradley had the honor of capturing Tang's first victory as head coach — a 93-59 win over UTRGV — followed by his first road win — a 63-54 win at California. But when K-State pulled out a thrilling 83-82 overtime win against No. 2 Kansas at Bramlage Coliseum, it proved to be video gold. In one frame, Nowell hit Johnson with a sick alley-oop dunk, and in the next frame Tang stood atop the scorer's table holding a mic, shouting to the fans as they spilled onto the court, "I told you all, you get one court storming! From here on out, expect to win!" Caught in the celebratory mob, Bradley miraculously kept his camera steady to capture a signature moment in K-State men's basketball history.
"It's funny because I'll look through that footage and it's almost like I blacked out during that time," he says. "Like, I don't remember a whole lot of it. I just remember running onto that court and sprinting after the team and filming everything. It was all a blur. Then all of a sudden I hear Tang on the mic, and I don't know how I held it still. I really don't know. It was just surreal."
Then there are closeups of hands slapping "KANSAS ST" nameplates upon NCAA Tournament brackets as the Wildcats went on their tournament run to Madison Square Garden.
"I couldn't believe I was sitting courtside at Madison Square Garden," Bradley says. "Never in my life did I think that would happen. Just to be able to witness the game, I mean, that was another moment where it was surreal to be there, because being a K-State fan growing up, you always wanted to see them succeed, and now their succeeding, and it's like you're there to do your job still, so you have to lock in and everything. But it was just so cool. Then after the game, the locker room celebration — unbelievable."
Then came the flight back to Manhattan Regional Airport.
Then it was time for Bradley to get to work.
"I wouldn't really take credit for making the idea," Bradley says. "Coach Tang winning Coach of the Year was the idea. This was a historical moment in K-State history, a first-year coach winning the honor, and I mean, that doesn't happen in college basketball. I wanted to make something for it. I also had an idea of making a full season recap. Then Cody (Isern) and I were talking about it and decided to combine the two concepts and show the season along with everything that Tang did. That's how the idea was born. So, it began with Day 1 footage of the day that Tang arrived and went all the way through the season until we were in the airport. That took some time."
In the airport, Tang grabbed a mic and told the throng of K-State fans that packed the lobby: "I promise you all, one day we're going to have a parade through Manhattan."
There's no parade for creating award-winning videos, but there are awards. Someday soon, Bradley will have to clear a spot next to his editing equipment inside his office. For all his efforts in capturing Tang and a magical basketball season — 160 video clips in 4 minutes, 20 seconds — he captured the national championship of sorts for sports videography.
He won a Telly Award.
A great day to be a Wildcat, indeed.
"This is an unbelievable blessing. I've lived a blessed life, but this is just the start of some really, really big things that's going to happen, and with everyone's help, with all of the K-State family, Wildcat Nation, we are going to accomplish great things together, and it's not going to take long…It is not going to take long. I didn't come to rebuild. I came to elevate." — Jerome Tang, March 24, 2022
Cam Bradley had a wedding to go to that weekend. It was Monday, April 27, 2023. That meant that he had 40 hours over the course of five days to get it done. He had to hurry. He had video from five different cameras, including the Sony A7S that he knew like his own face in a dark arena. There were 36 Kansas State men's basketball games, including 18 in the Big 12 Conference, and four NCAA Tournament games. There was an airplane, an introductory news conference speech, summer workouts, no-look passes, dribbles, dunks, court stormings, celebratory water-bottle showers, more airplane rides, pageantry and tournament brackets, and victories. There was a story, all right. Condensed into 4 minutes and 20 seconds. One-hundred-and-sixty video clips. All dancing across the screen as the Alternative/Indie selection "Blood Runs Red" by Matt Maeson (2022) fueled scene after scene before sudden quietness ripped through to the lasting image and a phrase hit harder than a Markquis Nowell-to-Keyontae Johnson alley-oop: "IT'S A GREAT DAY TO BE A WILDCAT!"
And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the "Jerome Tang Naismith National Coach of the Year Recognition Video." When Bradley hit save for the final time on Adobe Premier Pro inside his office on the sixth floor of the West Stadium Center at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, the 25-year-old Wichita native and K-State graduate had no idea the phenomenal depth of the production that he had created. He knew it was good. Had to be good. It captured every moment. Yet he measured the potency of the high-energy voyage only by the number of tears shed as the video neared its completion. And as he put the final touches on the clip of Tang proclaiming, "It's a great day to be a Wildcat!" it marked the final verse to brilliant on-screen poetry. The video was launched by the K-State Men's Basketball social media account on April 2, 2023 — eight days after the Wildcats completed their magical season in the Elite Eight and five days after Bradley had begun production.
Bradley made it to the wedding. Meanwhile, K-State loyalists paused, marveled and were left to digest fully the marriage between Tang and a university, Tang and a community, Tang and his players, and Tang and his fans, all close up, then pulled back, a recorder recording, a camera capturing, as everyone witnessed together the specialness in its infancy — a season that put a leader of men and a basketball program in lights, so raw, less than 10 days removed from the end of the first chapter to a book yet to be written. (Video)
The "Jerome Tang Naismith National Coach of the Year Recognition Video" has garnered 871,000 views on X (formerly Twitter) and features assistance from Cody Isern (Assistant Producer); Denver Morris, Dylan Johnson, Alec Hanlin and Max Sene (Camera); Brian Smoller and Wyatt Thompson (talent); and Andy Liebsch (Production Director).
Last Wednesday, the video earned a Telly Award.
To be more exact, the video was named the Silver Winner in the "Sports — Social Video" category for the Telly Awards, which is the premier award honoring video and television across all screens. Established in 1979, The Telly Awards receives over 13,000 entries globally. Winners are selected for recognition based on excellence in Branded Content, Commercials & Marketing, Immersive & Mixed Reality, Non-Broadcast, Online and Television Series, Shows & Segments, and Social Video. Entrants are judged by an industry body of over 250 experts.
"Blood Runs Red was going to be the song of the season and the video just flowed the rest of the way," Bradley says. "It all just came together. It wasn't crazy difficult to make, but the impact — you could really feel it."
He pauses.
"Coach Tang won the Naismith National Coach of the Year award, which allowed me to make the video."
Bradley will forever be linked to the video that chronicled one of the most special seasons in K-State men's basketball history and honored the first K-State head coach to earn the Naismith. Placed in such a perspective, Bradley replies, "I mean, it's awesome."
"I have people to this day who ask me, 'You made the Coach Tang video?' I'm like, 'Yeah.' And they're like, 'That's my favorite video I've ever watched.' That's awesome," he says. "I remember when I was a kid getting into this, I found my favorite video and that drove me to do this now, and I've had so many people reach out to me who are interested in doing videos. They say, 'I want to do what you do.'
"I'm like, 'Come on, let's do it.'"
Bradley's passion began with an old hand-held VHS Canon camcorder with the fold-out screen that he used to film friends for YouTube videos. He was always the one taking videos or photos at family events or over the holidays. It wasn't until he took an introduction to journalism class his freshman year at Eisenhower High School that he truly fell in love with video production. He and his friends filmed a spoof of the song "I'm Awesome," which was written and recorded by American hip hop artist Spose in 2010. He edited the spoof on Final Cut Pro on a high school Mac. It was his first video production. His sophomore year, he was elected as a lead producer for the monthly high school news broadcast — an unprecedented position for a sophomore at Eisenhower High — and maintained the duties until his high school graduation in 2017.
A tight end on the football team at Hastings College in Nebraska in 2017-19, Bradley, born into a K-State family, transferred to the journalism program at K-State after Hastings discontinued its journalism curriculum. He worked at K-StateHD.TV and graduated as a journalism major at K-State in 2021, then he took a full-time job as men's basketball, softball, and spring sports videographer at the University of Tulsa. That didn't last long. He jumped at the opportunity to return to K-State — this time while serving in a full-time capacity as men's basketball videographer — last July.
"You're with the men's basketball team almost all the time, and you're traveling with them," he says. "As a kid, I wanted to play college sports. I wanted to be around sports. So being a part of a team, feeling like you're a part of a team — they make me feel like I'm a part of the team — is such a cool feeling. It's such an amazing feeling. Coach Tang treats everybody like you're a part of his family. It's a sense of honor that I feel."
Bradley had the honor of capturing Tang's first victory as head coach — a 93-59 win over UTRGV — followed by his first road win — a 63-54 win at California. But when K-State pulled out a thrilling 83-82 overtime win against No. 2 Kansas at Bramlage Coliseum, it proved to be video gold. In one frame, Nowell hit Johnson with a sick alley-oop dunk, and in the next frame Tang stood atop the scorer's table holding a mic, shouting to the fans as they spilled onto the court, "I told you all, you get one court storming! From here on out, expect to win!" Caught in the celebratory mob, Bradley miraculously kept his camera steady to capture a signature moment in K-State men's basketball history.
"It's funny because I'll look through that footage and it's almost like I blacked out during that time," he says. "Like, I don't remember a whole lot of it. I just remember running onto that court and sprinting after the team and filming everything. It was all a blur. Then all of a sudden I hear Tang on the mic, and I don't know how I held it still. I really don't know. It was just surreal."
Then there are closeups of hands slapping "KANSAS ST" nameplates upon NCAA Tournament brackets as the Wildcats went on their tournament run to Madison Square Garden.
"I couldn't believe I was sitting courtside at Madison Square Garden," Bradley says. "Never in my life did I think that would happen. Just to be able to witness the game, I mean, that was another moment where it was surreal to be there, because being a K-State fan growing up, you always wanted to see them succeed, and now their succeeding, and it's like you're there to do your job still, so you have to lock in and everything. But it was just so cool. Then after the game, the locker room celebration — unbelievable."
Then came the flight back to Manhattan Regional Airport.
Then it was time for Bradley to get to work.
"I wouldn't really take credit for making the idea," Bradley says. "Coach Tang winning Coach of the Year was the idea. This was a historical moment in K-State history, a first-year coach winning the honor, and I mean, that doesn't happen in college basketball. I wanted to make something for it. I also had an idea of making a full season recap. Then Cody (Isern) and I were talking about it and decided to combine the two concepts and show the season along with everything that Tang did. That's how the idea was born. So, it began with Day 1 footage of the day that Tang arrived and went all the way through the season until we were in the airport. That took some time."
In the airport, Tang grabbed a mic and told the throng of K-State fans that packed the lobby: "I promise you all, one day we're going to have a parade through Manhattan."
There's no parade for creating award-winning videos, but there are awards. Someday soon, Bradley will have to clear a spot next to his editing equipment inside his office. For all his efforts in capturing Tang and a magical basketball season — 160 video clips in 4 minutes, 20 seconds — he captured the national championship of sorts for sports videography.
He won a Telly Award.
A great day to be a Wildcat, indeed.
"This is an unbelievable blessing. I've lived a blessed life, but this is just the start of some really, really big things that's going to happen, and with everyone's help, with all of the K-State family, Wildcat Nation, we are going to accomplish great things together, and it's not going to take long…It is not going to take long. I didn't come to rebuild. I came to elevate." — Jerome Tang, March 24, 2022
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