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. 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.

Bob Austin:Supervisor of AFL Officials 1960-1965

Mel Hein: Supervisor of AFL Officials 1966-1969

College

Position

Years

No.

James Barnhill:	Marquette	--	62-65
Bob Baur:	Ohio	FJ	63-69	58
Peppy Blount:	Texas	LJ	66-67
Harold Bourne:	Missouri	--	62-64
Gilbert Castree:	Virginia	--	62-64
Al Conway:	William Jewell	U	69	27
Art Demmas:	Vanderbilt	U	68-69	78
Clyde Devine:	Oregon St	U	62-68	20
Ben Dreith:	Colorado St	R	60-69	12
Ray Dodez:	Wooster	LJ, HL	68-69	74
Dick Eichhorst:	Missouri	BJ	68-69	44
George Ellis:	Akron	--	63-64
Bob Finley:	SMU	R	62-69	14
Walt Fitzgerald:	Boston College	R	62-69	18
John Fouch:	USC	BJ	66-69	45, 34
Kenny Gallagher:	Oklahoma St	BJ	62-68	46
Hugh Gamber:	Dubuque	BJ, FJ	62-69	70
Fritz Graf:	Case Western Reserve	FJ	1960
Gerald Hart:	West Point; Kansas	LJ	68-69	62
Al Huetter:	Columbia	U	62-68	28
Elvin Hutchison:	Whittier	HL	60-69	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	--	62
Cal Lepore:	Alabama	LJ, HJ	66-69	32
Pat Mallette:	Nebraska	FJ	69	52
Bo McAllister:	Oklahoma St	HL	62-67
John McDonough:	Stanford	R	62-67	11
George McGuane:	Holy Cross	--	62-64
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	--	62
Charlie Musser:	North Carolina St	FJ	65-69	55
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	62-68	51
Al Sabato:	Cincinnati	HL	62-69	30
Amby Schindler:	USC	--	62
John Steffen:	Minnesota	LJ	68-69	61
William Stein:	Georgia Tech	--	62
Bill Summers:	Notre Dame	LJ, FJ	67-69	57
Paul Trepinski:	Toledo	U	63-69	22
Jack Vest:	East Tennessee St	R	65-69	15
Tony Veteri:	none	HL	62-69	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
Gorge Young:	Georgia	U	60-69	23

Compiled by Albert Klumpp

SOURCE: The Sporting News annual Official AFL Guides, 1962-1969. Position listings provided in 1966-1969 guides only; uniform numbers provided in 1968 and 1969 guides only.

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.

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.
There were 34 on-field officials in the AFL in 1969. Interestngly, 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. Another link from the American Football League to today's Professional Football.

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�2003 American Football League Hall of Fame All rights reserved. Duplicate in any form you like, if you're an AFL fan. You have the permission of the American Football League Hall of Fame. Please credit/link to: http://www.remembertheafl.com Last revision: 19 October 2009 ~ Angelo F. Coniglio, nospam.RemembertheAFL@aol.com