Millions of people will watch the Paris Olympic Games, which start with the opening ceremonies on July 26.

And a Patchogue-Medford High School graduate will play a major role in making sure NBCUniversal’s coverage goes off without a hitch.

Darryl Jefferson, a 1989 Pat-Med graduate and member of the school’s Hall of Fame, is senior vice president, engineering and technology, for NBC Sports & Olympics. Jefferson oversees all technical aspects of NBC’s Olympics games coverage.

It’s a massive effort, more than two years in the planning, involving 3,000 people. It includes setting up a broadcast center in Paris and broadcasting from dozens of locations in and around the city.

“If you like live TV and problem solving, as I do, it’s an exciting time,” said Jefferson, who’ll be leaving for Paris later this month to oversee NBC’s technical preparation for the games.

Once the Olympics start, he’ll be back at the NBC Sports operations center in Stamford, Conn., overseeing the technical aspects of the broadcasts, things like making sure the audio and video come through from the various venues, that the broadcast signal is strong, and the graphics appear on screen. He’ll be putting in long days during the coverage of the games, which will start in the early morning and run through a late-night highlights show.

“It’s intense,” Jefferson said. “It’s not for everyone, but it’s very gratifying.”

Jefferson, 53, is a TV sports veteran and the winner of 21 Emmy Awards.

The Paris Games will be Jefferson’s ninth Olympics, starting with the Beijing Olympics in 2008. He’s also worked on NBC’s coverage of a host of other high-profile sporting events, including Thursday and Sunday Night Football, horse racing’s Triple Crown races, and English Premier League soccer.

Jefferson got a strong start from his days at Pat-Med, where he was active in student government, ran track, and played forward on the basketball team.

He remembers English teacher, Dominic Dalfonso, as an important influence.

“He knew how to intrigue us and pushed us to ask deeper questions,” Jefferson said. 

Johnson’s sister, Denise Jefferson Casper, was three years ahead of him at Pat-Med. She is now a U.S. District Court Judge in Boston and is also in the Pat-Med Hall of Fame.

“We both experienced a supportive community that encouraged us to push ourselves,” Jefferson said.

When Jefferson graduated from Pat-Med, he wasn’t thinking of a career in broadcasting.

He went to Rutgers University, where he was Student Body president, and graduated in 1993 with a dual major in English and sociology.

The career turning point for Jefferson came when he landed an internship with Linda Ellerbee’s Lucky Duck Productions. That led to Jefferson to getting a job at Children’s Television Workshop and building an impressive broadcasting industry career, which includes running NBC’s TV and movie production facility in New York at Chelsea Piers, where TV shows like “Spin City” and movies like “The Preacher’s Wife” were filmed.

Jefferson later worked for cable TV channel Lifetime Television before joining NBC’s Olympics team in 2008.