Dick Raphael, 68; sports photographer covered all 41 Super Bowls

Dick Raphael, 68, a sports photographer who was one of five photographers to have covered all 41 Super Bowls and who shot several Sports Illustrated magazine covers, died Saturday at his home in Marblehead, Mass., after a sudden illness.

Raphael got his professional start when he was photo editor of the Boston University News in the early 1960s.

He persuaded the public relations director of the Boston Celtics to allow him to shoot the team’s games on a freelance basis. He eventually became the official team photographer.

Raphael went on to shoot other pro and college sporting events in Boston and, as he told the Boston Globe in 1997, “every sport you can think of, including lacrosse, field hockey, rugby, crew, soccer, ping-pong, squash, indoor and outdoor track and cross country, sailing, golf and others.”

Raphael grew up in Marblehead and learned photography from his father, who had set up a darkroom in the basement of the family’s home.

He studied chemistry at Boston University before turning his hobby into a vocation.