With football season quickly coming to an end, it would be a travesty for me to fail to describe the most embarrassing moment of my 35-year career as a high school football official.
The year was 2002. I had been selected to officiate the Championship game for the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools. Being selected to work a state championship is what every official works for during the long season and why years of study of the rule and case books finally pay off.
I was told to meet in the locker room at Robinson-Hale Stadium on the campus of Mississippi College at 10:30 AM. But complicating the exciting day was the fact that I was on my cell phone all the way to the stadium on a conference call with a potential buyer of our debt-ridden company. There were two attorneys, two CPAs, and me.
The conversation was intense.
I arrived at the MC locker room to change into my uniform and begin a pregame conference, which usually lasted nearly an hour as we discussed our positions on kickoffs, punts, scrimmage plays and extra points.
The initials on the whiteboard showed me working as a back judge, whose responsibility included covering long pass plays and running with the deepest receiver. Now, for several years my position was umpire, since it required very little running and is usually where the oldest and the fattest official was placed.
“There is no way I can do back judge,” I exclaimed. “I haven’t done that position in decades, and I was 20 years younger and 75 lbs.. lighter.”
“No problem,” our assigning secretary Tom Rice replied. “These teams never throw a pass and you have two guys working as side judges and you won’t have to move much.”
“You’ll be fine!” Famous last words…
The game started and all seemed good for the first few series. But then, both teams cranked it up and began throwing on what seemed every play. I was gasping for breath as I returned after each series to set up in my position way back in the middle of the field.
All the while my mind was filled with the conversations on the way to Clinton discussing business, ratios, ROIs, EBITA, and all these other financial and accounting terms I had been forced to learn the hard way over the preceding decade…way over the head of a political science graduate at MSU back in 1973.
My mind was not nearly focused on the championship game at hand!
Suddenly, there was a long pass play to the south end of the field. I lumbered the 50+ yards downfield doing my best to be in good position. Two players were in the area. The ball bounced around in the air and one player finally came down in possession.
I looked down and ceremoniously threw my arms up signaling “touchdown.”
Suddenly, our side judge, Derion Scheider, came running in, looked me in the eye and said, “what are you doing?”
“This is the five yard line…and on top of that, it is an interception for the red team.”
Talk about humiliation! There were over 10,000 fans in Robinson-Hale Stadium…half of which…and probably all of them…questioning what idiot they found to call this game.
The game is still legendary in football officiating within the MSAIS athletic family.
I heard a quote one time that says…”we should never judge a person on the single worst decision they ever made.”
Be gracious my friends…be gracious!
Kendall Smith is a Northsider.
