AFL On-Field Officials



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American Football League
ON-FIELD OFFICIALS

Just is it did in many other innovative ways, the American Football League had a unique take on the uniforms of referees, umpires, linesmen, field judges and back judges. With their red-orange stripes, black collars and cuffs, and AFL logos on their shirt fronts, sleeves and caps, they were not only more colorful, but easier to see than those of the other league. This page is to recognize an important but seldom credited part of the game: the American Football League's on-field officials.

In his book COLORS, Jim Finks Jr., son of the Hall-of-Famer, shows the original uniform of AFL official Jack Reader, who was a Back Judge in both the first and third World Championship games, and who was in an iconic Sports Illustrated photo, signaling touchdown after Matt Snell's 4-yard plunge against the Colts. Finks sent us the images below, of Reader's original uniform. I hope to add below the name of every man who officiated in the American Football League, the genesis of modern Professional Football. I am indebted to Albert Klumpp for the major portion of this list, and to Dave Owczarzak, a.k.a. AFL collector bflodave. If anyone has 1960 and 1961 records of AFL officials, please help me complete the list. Thanks, too, to Jim Tunney, former NFL supervisor of officials, who provided contact information.

Walt Fitzgerald, Referee
1965

Al Huetter's winter uniform shirt and cap.
1961 - 1968 (Courtesy John Boutet)

Bob Austin:Supervisor of AFL Officials 1960-1965

Mel Hein: Supervisor of AFL Officials 1966-1969

College

Position

Years

No.

James Barnhill:	Marquette	R	60-65	15
Bob Baur:	Ohio	FJ	63-69	58
Peppy Blount:	Texas	LJ	66-67	64
Harold Bourne:	Missouri	R	60-64	12
Gilbert Castree:	Virginia	U	60-64	24
Al Conway:	William Jewell	U	69	27
Art Demmas:	Vanderbilt	U	68-69	78
Clyde Devine:	Oregon St	U	60-68	20
Ben Dreith:	Colorado St	FJ, R	60-69	53, 12
Ray Dodez:	Wooster	LJ, HL	68-69	74
Dick Eichhorst:	Missouri	BJ	68-69	44
George Ellis:	Akron	--	63-64	9, 44
Bob Finley:	SMU	U, R	60-69	22, 14
Walt Fitzgerald:	Boston College	R	61-69	18
John Fouch:	USC	BJ	66-69	45, 34
Kenny Gallagher:	Oklahoma St	BJ	61-68	36, 46
Hugh Gamber:	Dubuque	BJ, FJ	60-69	33, 70
Fritz Graf:	Case Western Reserve	FJ	1960	55
Gerald Hart:	West Point; Kansas	LJ	68-69	62
Al Huetter:	Columbia	U	61-68	52, 28
Elvin Hutchison:	Whittier	HL	60-69	32, 33
Hunter Jackson:	East Tennessee St	LJ, BJ	66-69	49
Harry Kessel:	Ohio	HL	63-69	34
Bill Kestermeier:	Rose Poly Inst	BJ	69	43
Frank Kirkland:	Cal-Santa Barbara	FJ	63-69	53
Joe Kraus:	Hobart	HL	60-62	34
Cal Lepore:	Alabama	LJ, HL	66-69	32
Charles Liley	Denver	FJ	60	52
Pat Mallette:	Nebraska	FJ	69	52
Bo McAllister:	Oklahoma St	HL	60-67	35
John McDonough:	Stanford	R	60-69	11
George McGuane:	Holy Cross	--	61-64	54
Jack McLain	Northern Arizona	R	60	14
Carl Mellinger:	NJ St Teachers	LJ	66	61
Leo Miles:	Virginia St	HL	69	35
Tommy Miller:	Milligan College	LJ	68-69	67
John Morrow:	Texas A&M	R	60-62	16
Charlie Musser:	North Carolina St	FJ	65-69	55
George Parker	St. Louis	BJ	60	40
Walt Parker:	North Texas St	U	60-69	25
Jack Reader:	Holy Cross	BJ, R	60-69	42
Bob Rice:	Denison U	BJ	69	48
Frank Rustich:	Canisius	FJ	61-68	14, 51
James Ryan		FJ	60	50
Al Sabato:	Cincinnati, Xavier	HL	60-69	30
Amby Schindler:	USC	BJ	60-62	43
John Steffen:	Minnesota	LJ	68-69	61
William Stein:	Georgia Tech	--	61-62	27
Bill Summers:	Notre Dame	LJ, FJ	67-69	57
Paul Trepinski:	Toledo	U	63-69	22
Price Truitt	North Texas St	FJ	60	54
Dick Ulrich	Grinnell	HL	60	54
Jack Vest:	East Tennessee St	R	65-69	15
Tony Veteri:	none	HL	61-69	26, 36
Aaron Wade:	Los Angeles St	LJ	66-69	65
Bob Whetstone:	Ohio St	BJ	65-68	40
Bob Wortman:	Findlay	FJ	65-67, 69	54
Bill Wright:	High Point	LJ	68-69	68
George Young:	Georgia	U	60-69	26, 23

Compiled by Albert Klumpp

SOURCES: 1960 AFL Game Program - Oilers at Texans 9/2/60; 1961 AFL Game Program - Broncos at Titans 9/24/61; The Sporting News annual Official AFL Guides, 1962-1969.

NOTES: Position listings provided only in 1960 Program and 1966-1969 Guides; uniform numbers provided only on 1960 and 1961 Programs and 1966-1969 Guides; colleges not provided in 1960 Program.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: 1960 list provided by AFL fan Jim Fulton; 1961 list provided by memorabilia dealer Jack Wallin ('hull9howe999' on e-bay).

The nine men highlighted in the above list officiated in the American Football League for the entire ten years of its existence, 1960 through 1969. They were: Ben Dreith (FJ, R); Bob Finley (U, R); Hugh Gamber (BJ, FJ); Elvin Hutchison (HL); John McDonough (R); Walt Parker (U); Jack Reader (BJ, R); Al Sabato (HL) and George Young (U). Imagine the stories these men could tell about the AFL!

I have created a page about AFL officials, on Wikipedia. Click here to see it. See individual official's pages there, to read more tidbits like those below.

Jim Tunney received an offer from the AFL to be a referee in 1960, but chose to go to the NFL as a field judge.

Years before Pete Gogolak, Fritz Graf was the first "jumper" from the AFL to the NFL. He was in the AFL in 1960, officiated its first Championship, then went to the NFL in 1961.

Jack Reader, who died in 2008, was a ten-year AFL official who worked the league's first game (Broncos-Patriots) on September 9, 1960 and the first Super Bowl.

Bob Wortman was the first man to officiate both a Super Bowl and an NCAA basketball championship.

Frank Rustich was an AFL line judge and also a boxing referee who officiated at the 1973 Ken Norton-Muhammad Ali Heavyweight Boxing Championship.

AFL Referee 1961 - 1969
#18 ~ Walt Fitzgerald

The article below is from a 1970 Buffalo Bills game program. It lists all Professional Football officials who worked games in 1970. Former American Football League officials' names are highlighted. Uniform numbers and positions listed in this table may have changed from those in effect while in the AFL. The photo is of Frank Rustich, an AFL line judge in an AFL uniform, number 51. Some of the officials wore different numbers after the merger. The above list shows only the numbers they wore in the American Football League.
There were 34 on-field officials in the AFL in 1969. Interestingly, 32 of them, from an "inferior league", were good enough to continue to officiate after the merger. One of them was Cal Lepore, now known as "the father of instant replay". He also promulgated the use of replay to review the accuracy of on-field calls, for the evaluation of officials' performance. Another important link from the American Football League to today's Professional Football.

The photo below is was taken at Buffalo's War Memorial Stadium in 1962. AFL officials: Bob Wortman, Jack Reader, Walter Fitzgerald, Tony Veteri, and Al Huetter. Photo from Huetter's son Jim, courtesy of Marinaro's Larkin Tavern, 131 Van Rensselaer Street, Buffalo.

2009 "Legacy" cap, no longer available.	Original AFL Official's cap, image courtesy of Scott Davis. More RED than ORANGE, wasn't it?

Image may contain: people standing and stripes


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