Dan Endy Sr., a co-founder of the mammothly successful NFL Films who moved his family who left the company to move his family to Minnesota and became a fixture on the Twin Cities sports scene, has died. He was 95.

Dan Endy Jr., one of six surviving children, said his father was suffering from pulmonary fibrosis and died peacefully in his sleep surrounded by family, including his wife Jackie, in Minnetonka.

“I’m biased, but my dad, at least as relates to the early days of NFL Films, was remarkable,” Dan Jr. said Monday.

The late Ed Sabol and son Steve became synonymous with NFL Films, the innovative company that began documenting games in 1962 and helped turn generations onto NFL football and helped make John Facenda and Howard Cosell icons, but it wouldn’t have happened without Endy.

He co-founded the project with “Big” Ed Sabol in 1962 and, as the company’s general manager, hired Facenda to be the voice of NFL Films.

“It wasn’t a stretch; he was a longtime news broadcaster in Philadelphia, but my dad was sitting in a bar and saw Fascenda and handed him his card,” Endy Jr. said. “He said, ‘If you ever get tired of doing what you’re doing, call me.’ It didn’t take long, and that voice became iconic.

“Super slow-motion, mics on players and coaches, they might have done earlier, but not that much, and not with the degree of enthusiasm. Ed and Steve Sabol were great storytellers, but maybe the greatest story they never told, at least publicly, was my dad’s role in it.”

When Steve Sabol joined the company after graduating from college, Endy was going to be sent to New York to work with the NFL, which bought the company. But he wanted to keep working in the trenches, so he moved his family to Wayzata to work for Sports Film Talents Inc.

He got what he wanted, working on location shooting and editing highlights for the Vikings, Twins, North Stars, Gophers and other local sports teams. He also got a part-time job working for the Vikings, collecting defensive stats on gamedays.

Endy Jr., in fact, hired Bob Hagan, who worked for the Vikings for 32 years before retiring from fulltime work as the team’s public relations director.

“All these shows, all the programming and everything the NFL is doing is all related to NFL Films,” Hagan said. “He was one of those guys that started something tiny that grew into something massive.”

NFL Films was behind the Monday Night Football “Halftime Highlights” show, required viewing for fans starting in 1973 with Cosell narrating, and remains the force behind such content as the Kirk Cousins Netflix documentary “Quarterback.”

Dan Jr., a communications project manager at U.S. Bank, usually accompanied his father on location at Twin Cities sports events. “I can’t watch a sporting event from the stands anymore,” he said. “I got spoiled.”

“I watched from the press box, the roof, from the field,” he added. “That old perch they had at Mariucci, I would sit up there while he worked the camera. My job was to make sure he didn’t get hit by a puck.”

Longtime Twin Cities residents also might remember commercials Endy directed for Twin Cities Federal featuring former Vikings player Bob Lurtsema.

Endy Jr. said he once asked his father if he had any regrets, specifically wondering about leaving NFL Films.

“He looked at me and said, ‘You know, I really don’t think so,’ ” Dan Jr. said. “I know he loved the Twin Cities. He felt like he had a blessed life.”

Endy is survived by his wife, Jackie; children Dan. Jr., Debbie, Diane, David Donna and Dennis, and nine grandchildren. Funeral arrangements are pending.

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