Remembering Tommy Bell on his 100th birthday

Embed from Getty Images We pause today to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of NFL referee Tommy Bell. He was born July 2, 1922, and died February 20, 1986, after a long illness. Bell worked in the NFL in 1961 and retired after the 1976 AFC Championship Game. In an

Should NFL officials be allowed to make commercials?

Commentary by Mark Schultz This past season, line judge Sarah Thomas, the first permanent female official in the NFL, was a spokesperson for Activia yogurt. The commercials told the inspiring story of her journey to the NFL and how she broke the glass ceiling for women to officiate in the pros. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLcrFzI0vlw Thomas

Happy birthday Jerry Markbreit

View image | gettyimages.com Most famous referee of the 1980s and 1990s turns 80 years old Before there was Ed Hochuli, there was Jerry Markbreit.  The former NFL referee from 1976 to 1998 turned 80 years old today. Markbreit got his start officiating while a college student at the University of Illinois.  He

Brad Allen named crew chief in 1st NFL season

First rookie-season R since 1966 On the heels of the surprise announcement that Mike Carey is retiring from the NFL, Football Zebras can confirm that rookie official Brad Allen will call his first NFL season at the referee position.  To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time a

NFL getting their stripes in a row for 2014

League has several shoes to fill in the offseason The Super Bowl is fast fading into the rear view mirror and we now enter what is called the "dark period" in regard to NFL officiating.  According to the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the NFL Referees Association, there is

Who are the next white hats?

The NFL officiating staff is heavy on experience which is great news.  The flip side to this is that we will be seeing a higher than average number of officials retiring in the next one to three years. While there are many officials at all positions on the cusp of retirement,