Zebra Blog

It didn’t take long, but I had to make a slight modification to the site organization, based on a miscalculation on my part. We have a category that we place stories that profile a particular official or his off-the-field accomplishments titled, “Men in Black & White.” I thought it was a slightly clever way to name the category, with a little, if not slightly outdated, pop-culture reference. Nothing sexist implied.

So, now, we correct this to reflect an emerging, and welcome, change.

No fewer than five women have worked their way up in the ranks to NCAA Division I ball. The first female official to work a collegiate game was Sebrina Brunson last year in Div. II Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. One of the five women starting in Div. I this weekend is profiled in The New York Times, Sarah Thomas of Conference USA. Thomas was scouted by former NFL referee and current C-USA coordinator, Gerry Austin.

“She made one tough call after another and nailed every one of them,” Austin said. “There was no reason not to hire her.”

As for the prospect of seeing women in the NFL stripes, current guidelines require 10 seasons of collegiate experience to be considered. That means 2017, at the earliest.

Walt Coleman is now a Hall of Famer.

Don’t expect to find a bust of him in Canton — there are currently no referees enshrined, despite many qualified candidates. Instead, the NFL head referee got a brief moment, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, to accept induction into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. His father, Buddy Coleman, an NCAA official in the former Southwest Conference, was inducted in 1995.

When he is off the field, Walt Coleman is the fifth generation operator of the family business: Coleman Dairy in Little Rock. There must be something in the milk, as the dairy is, in addition to the two Colemans, home to a third Hall of Famer, Cliff Shaw, also a former zebra from the SWC.

It was the family business, in fact, that drove Walt Coleman to the NFL. The Southwest Conference allowed native Arkansans to officiate University of Arkansas games. Coleman, not wanting to affect the business, applied for work in the NFL. He was hired as a line judge in the big league in 1989 and promoted to referee in 1995. He served as an alternate for Super Bowl XLII to Mike Carey.

Coleman hinted about a possible retirement in 2013 in a very fascinating Arkansas Democrat-Gazette profile back in January:

“I’d be 61 if I’m in the league 25 years,” Coleman said. “Not many people can say that they’ve been in the league 25 years, so that would be nice.”

Fortunately, the Coleman family business is more than milk. Coleman’s retirement could make room for his son, Walter Coleman IV, who is working as a line judge in the Big 12 Conference.

The Ada Evening News of Ada, Okla., has a story on resident headlinesman Derick Bowers, who officiated Super Bowl XLIII. He provides an interesting read on the off-the-field work of an NFL official and about his officiating career.

As for the Big Game, Bowers offered this assessment:

“We were pleased with how it went,” Bowers recalled. “We’re only human. There are times when we’ll miss some (calls).

“There were some penalties we probably shouldn’t have called that we did and some that could have called that we didn’t,” he added, “but overall I think it went pretty well.”

Bowers worked with referee John Perry’s crew. He was the only member of that crew selected to this year’s Super Bowl.