Letcher native to work at Super Bowl

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A Letcher native will spend his Super Bowl Sunday not on a couch, but on the sidelines at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Greg Latza, a freelance photographer who now lives in Sioux Falls, will spend his Sunday as a photo messenger for USA Today, which is owned by Gannett Co.

He will carry gear for Gannett Co. photographers along the sidelines and gather memory cards to take back to the company lab.

“I’ve wanted to shoot the Super Bowl for many years,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll get to take a few pictures.”

Latza has been a freelance photographer for USA Today since the 1990s. The newspaper was founded by Al Neuharth, an Alpena native.

As a photo messenger, Latza is not allowed to take a camera on the field, but he may be able to take photos during the pre- and postgame festivities.

Latza has photographed other NFL games and despite not being a photographer for the big game, he is still excited about the opportunity to be a photo messenger.

“Usually you start as a photo messenger and work your way up to photographer,” he said. “I guess I’ve done that backwards.”

He passed on a chance last year to be a messenger at the Super Bowl, which would have been perfect since he is “a huge Packers fan.”

So, when he was offered the chance to be a messenger this year, he said, “I’m not going to pass up that chance again.”

He’s still fairly high on the list of freelancers to shoot the big game in the future, he said, but will have to wait until it’s hosted in a city with few Gannett Co. newspapers or media services.

Tags: super bowl, sports, updates, football, letcher