Football Zebras has confirmed that Ron Torbert will be the referee for Super Bowl LVI in Inglewood, Calif., at SoFi Stadium.
Torbert, 58, is in his 12th season and 8th as referee. This is Torbert’s 10th postseason assignment, including 3 Wild Card Playoffs and 6 Divisional Playoffs. This is his first Super Bowl assignment. Torbert was the referee for the 49ers-Packers Divisional Playoff last Saturday.
Torbert is an attorney from Hanover, Md., who began officiating in 1989 at the high school level in Michigan. After working up the small college ladder, he worked one year in the Mid-American Conference, followed by four years in the Big Ten Conference. Torbert worked in NFL Europe for the 2007 season, and was hired by the NFL in 2010. He was promoted to referee in 2014 along with Craig Wrolstad following the retirements of Scott Green and Ron Winter.
A referee must have at least 5 years of seniority, worked 3 years at the referee position, and worked a playoff game as a referee in a previous postseason. The other members of the Super Bowl crew must have a Conference Championship game on their résumé — or qualified for 3 of the last 5 postseasons — in addition to being at least a 5-year veteran.
Torbert, umpire Bryan Neale, and side judge Keith Washington will be working the Super Bowl for the first time in their careers. Down judge Derick Bowers will be working his second Super Bowl, and line judge Carl Johnson, field judge Rick Patterson, and back judge Scott Helverson will be working their third Super Bowl each.
| Yrs | 2021 crew | College | Occupation | Prev. Playoff | Prev. SB | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 62 | Ron Torbert | 12 | Michigan State | attorney | 3 WC, 6 DIV | ||
| U | 92 | Bryan Neale | 8 | Smith | Indiana | sales consultant | 4 WC, 2 DIV, 2 CC | |
| DJ | 74 | Derick Bowers | 19 | Novak | East Central | sales representative | 8 WC, 5 DIV, 2 CC | XLIII |
| LJ | 101 | Carl Johnson | 18 | Hussey | Nicholls State | retired sales manager, former full-time official | 3 WC, 8 DIV, 3 CC | XLII, LIV |
| FJ | 15 | Rick Patterson | 26 | Allen | Wofford | banker | 8 WC, 8 DIV, 3 CC | XXXVII, XXXIX |
| SJ | 7 | Keith Washington | 14 | Torbert | Virginia Military Institute | program financial analyst | 2 WC, 4 DIV | |
| BJ | 93 | Scott Helverson | 19 | Kemp | Iowa | sales, printing and promotions | 6 WC, 5 DIV, 4 CC | XLII, XLV |
| RO | Roddy Ames | 4 | Hill | Colby College | attorney | 2 DIV | ||
| RA | Sean McKee | NFL centralized replay command center | 0 | LV | ||||
| ALT | R | Bill Vinovich | 16 | San Diego | certified public accountant | 3 WC, 5 DIV, 6 CC | XLIX, LIV | |
| ALT | U | Paul King | 13 | Clark | Nichols College | teacher | 3 WC, 1 DIV, 3 CC | |
| ALT | DJ | Ed Camp | 22 | Hochuli | William Paterson | physical education teacher | 4 WC, 7 DIV, 2 CC | LIII |
| ALT | LJ | Greg Bradley | 13 | Hochuli | Tennessee | chemical engineer | 2 WC, 1 DIV | |
| ALT | FJ | Aaron Santi | 7 | Rogers | Southern Oregon | middle school principal | 2 WC, 3 DIV, 1 CC | |
| ALT | SJ | Jonah Monroe | 7 | Boger | Arkansas | engineer | 1 WC, 2 DIV, 1 CC | |
| ALT | BJ | Greg Steed | 19 | Rogers | Howard | computer systems analyst | 4 WC, 3 DIV, 3 CC | XLIV, LIV |
| ALT | RO | Mark Butterworth | 5 | Vinovich | Walsh | non-profit COO | 2 WC, 2 CC |
Image: Chad Young for Football Zebras, Larry Radloff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images, StadCo LA LLC
great choice!
Terrible choice. Tolbert heavily influenced the outcome of Chiefs-Bengals week 17 game: in the 2nd half, the Bengals had six penalties that resulted in first downs, four eventual scoring drives stopped by KC on third or fourth down converted by a defensive penalty, and the Chiefs were called for five penalties on the Bengals final two drives. Now KC has a chance of having the Super Bowl officiated by the same man?
This is a crew with 116 years of total experience, while 3 of the 4 members will be working their first SB.
i) Can you comment how these numbers compared with crews from previous SBs?
ii) Long wait for FJ Rick Patterson since his previous SB.
Cheers,
Time for Kevin Codey to get in the mix. Solid official.