Bob Hinton: 1928-2007 'Hernando bob' captured the moment

By JACOB H. FRIES, Times Staff Writer
Published August 23, 2007

Bob Hinton, a famed local videographer known around Tampa Bay as "Hernando Bob," died on Wednesday (Aug. 22, 2007) after a long battle with cancer. He was 78.

Mr. Hinton had known he had little time left but kept fighting.

"I'm not giving up yet," Mr. Hinton told the Times in March. "When things are out of control, you fight. But I know it's in God's hands."

Over the past decade, Mr. Hinton emerged as a legend of sorts among local media figures as well as among cops, firefighters and ambulance drivers - whom he often beat to the latest disaster or newsworthy car crash to capture the moment on video.

At first, Mr. Hinton had an exclusive contract with WTVT. But when Fox bought the station, he was free to sell his tapes to the other stations.

Mr. Hinton had spent eight years in the Air Force and served in Korea during the war. He came home disabled. Despite loving to talk, he would never say what happened.

"It was between God and me," he once said.

After Korea, Mr. Hinton moved to Florida and bought and sold antiques for decades. In 1990, he acquired his first videocamera. Eventually the novelty of making birthday party and vacation videos wore thin.

Soon he was listening to a police scanner and patrolling Florida roads looking for disasters.

[Last modified August 22, 2007, 23:46:16]