Bob McElwee

Last updated

Bob McElwee
Born (1935-08-20) August 20, 1935 (age 88)
Camden, New Jersey, U.S.
Education United States Naval Academy [1]
Occupation National Football League official (1976–2003)
Spouse
Bette
​
(m. 1957)​
ChildrenScott, Suzanne, and Tommy

Robert T. "Bob" McElwee (born August 20, 1935) is a former American football official, who served for 42 years, with 27 of those years in the National Football League (NFL) from 1976 to 2003. In the NFL, he wore the uniform number 95 for most of his career.

Contents

Education

McElwee graduated from Haddonfield Memorial High School, [2] where he was a three sport letterman, and a 1957 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, where he played linebacker for the football team and was a member of the Sugar Bowl championship team in 1955. Following graduation, McElwee was commissioned in the United States Air Force serving as a pilot and utilities engineer.

McElwee began officiating in 1961 while stationed at Hamilton Air Force Base in California. Upon discharge from the military, he returned home to the Philadelphia area and began officiating high school football. In 1966, McElwee received his first college assignment from the Eastern College Athletic Conference. He also spent 10 years officiating in the Ivy League.

Career

McElwee was the referee for Super Bowl XXXIV Super Bowl XXXIV One Yard Short.jpg
McElwee was the referee for Super Bowl XXXIV

McElwee joined the NFL in 1976 as a line judge and became a referee for the start of the 1980 NFL season. He was the referee for three Super Bowls [1] (XXII in 1988, XXVIII in 1994, and XXXIV in 2000) and has officiated in numerous playoff games. McElwee is one of only 7 referees who have officiated 3 or more Super Bowls, along with Norm Schachter, Jim Tunney, Pat Haggerty, Jerry Markbreit, Terry McAulay and Carl Cheffers. He is also the only referee to officiate a Super Bowl in 3 different decades. He was also the alternate referee in Super Bowl XVII in 1983. His final game was the 2003 Pro Bowl.

He was the last NFL official to work on a six-man crew prior to the addition of the side judge in 1978.

Bob is a partner in the McElwee Group, a firm specializing in construction of water filtration and waste water treatment plants and is heavily involved in community service. He is co-founder of Renew, an inner-city non-profit organization dedicated to providing housing for the disadvantaged in Camden, New Jersey. He has also worked on fund-raising efforts for the American Red Cross. He was also a long time member of the N.J. Chapter, Associated Builders & Contractors (ABC).

McElwee currently resides in Haddonfield, New Jersey, and is married with two sons, Scott and Tommy, and one daughter, Suzanne. He has six grandchildren: Sydney, Connor, Davis, Carter, Emma and Aline. [2]

Television career

Awards

Related Research Articles

The 2003 NFL season was the 84th regular season of the National Football League (NFL).

The 1976 NFL season was the 57th regular season of the National Football League. The league expanded to 28 teams with the addition of Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This fulfilled one of the conditions agreed to in 1966 for the 1970 AFL–NFL merger, which called for the league to expand to 28 teams by 1970 or soon thereafter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ed Hochuli</span> American football official and attorney (born 1950)

Edward G. Hochuli is an American retired attorney and former American football official. He served as an attorney at Jones, Skelton & Hochuli, P.L.C. from 1983 to 2021, and was an official in the National Football League (NFL) from 1990 to 2017; his uniform number was 85. Before becoming a football official, he played college football for four seasons at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pete Morelli</span> American football official

Pete Morelli is a retired American football official who worked in the National Football League (NFL) from 1997 to 2018. He wore uniform number 135.

Dr. Laird Hayes is a former American football official in the National Football League (NFL). He was in the NFL for 23 years between 1995 and 2017. He wore uniform number 125. For the 2017 NFL season, Hayes was the side judge on the officiating crew headed by referee Walt Anderson. Hayes retired following the 2017 season.

Jim Tunney is a former American football official in the National Football League (NFL) from 1960 to 1990. In his 31 years as an NFL official, Tunney received a record 29 post-season assignments, including ten Championship games and Super Bowls VI, XI and XII and named as an alternate in Super Bowl XVIII. He remains the only referee who has worked consecutive Super Bowls and likely will be the only one to do so.

Jerry T. Seeman was an American football official in the National Football League (NFL) from 1975 to 1990 and was the NFL's Senior Director of Officiating from 1991 to 2001, succeeding Art McNally. In his 16 seasons in the NFL, Seeman was selected to officiate in 15 playoff games including two Pro Bowls, and two Super Bowls: XXIII in 1989 and XXV in 1991, and was an alternate referee for Super Bowl XIV in 1980. He wore uniform number 70 for the majority of his career, which was retired eight months after his death. It was the first time the NFL had retired an official's uniform number.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Corrente</span> American football official (born 1951)

Anthony Joseph Corrente is a former American football official in the National Football League (NFL) who served for 26 years from 1995 until his retirement in 2021. He wore uniform number 99. He was the referee of Super Bowl XLI. He served as the Coordinator of Football Officiating for the Pac-12 Conference from June 2011 until he resigned this position in October 2014.

Bill Leavy was an American football official who officiated in the National Football League (NFL) from the 1995 through 2014 seasons, wore uniform number 127, and was also a retired San Jose, California police officer and firefighter, serving for 27 years. In his twenty-year NFL officiating career, Leavy was assigned to fifteen playoff games, including two Super Bowls. He was selected as a back judge on the Super Bowl XXXIV officiating crew in 2000 and most recently headed up the Super Bowl XL officiating crew as referee in 2006.

Gerald Austin is a former American football official, who worked in the National Football League (NFL) from the 1982 season through the 2007 season. He wore uniform number 34, which is now worn by Clete Blakeman. Austin has officiated in three Super Bowls, one as a side judge and two as a referee. He was also notable being the referee in the 1993 AFC Wild Card playoff game between the Houston Oilers and Buffalo Bills, which would later become known in NFL lore as "The Comeback" for being the greatest comeback by a team in league history. Austin's 2007 NFL officiating crew consisted of Ruben Fowler, Ed Camp, Carl Johnson, Scott Edwards, Alberto Riveron and Bob Lawing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Carollo</span> American football official (born 1951)

William F. Carollo is a former American football official who officiated National Football League (NFL) games from 1989 through 2008. He wore uniform number 63. Carollo officiated in two Super Bowls and eight conference championship games. After the 2008 season, he became the Coordinator of Football Officials for the Big Ten Conference and is currently Coordinator of Officials for the Collegiate Officiating Consortium (COC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terry McAulay</span> American football official (born 1959)

Terry McAulay is a former American football official who worked in the National Football League (NFL) for the 1998 through 2017 seasons. He was the referee for seven conference championship games and three Super Bowls. He was the Coordinator of Football Officials for college football's Big East and subsequently the American Athletic Conference from 2008 to 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walt Anderson (American football)</span> American football referee (born 1952)

Walter John Anderson is a former American football official in the National Football League (NFL) from the 1996 NFL season to the 2019 NFL season. He wore uniform number 66. Anderson spent his first seven seasons in the NFL as a line judge before being promoted to referee for the start of the 2003 NFL season after Dick Hantak and Bob McElwee announced their retirements. He is notable for officiating Super Bowl XXXV. Anderson was also named as referee for Super Bowl XLV which was played on February 6, 2011, in Arlington, Texas, at Cowboys Stadium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Green (American football official)</span> American football official (born 1951)

Scott H. Green is a former American football official in the National Football League (NFL) from the 1991 NFL season until the 2013 NFL season. He had officiated Super Bowls XXXVI in 2002, XXXVIII in 2004, and was the referee for XLIV in 2010. Green was also the head of the NFL Referees Association and led negotiations during the 2012 NFL referee lockout.

Dr. Norm Schachter, born in Brooklyn, New York, was an American football official in the National Football League (NFL) for 22 years from 1954 to 1975. Over his career in the NFL, he worked three Super Bowls and 11 conference championship games, and was the referee for the first Monday Night Football game, in 1970. Schachter also worked the 1967 NFL Championship Game, now commonly referred to as the Ice Bowl. He wore the uniform number 56.

John W. Parry is an American former football official who worked in the National Football League (NFL) from 2000 through the 2018 season. He wore uniform number 132 and was the referee for two Super Bowls. From 2019 through the 2023 season, Parry was the rules analyst for NFL telecasts on ABC and ESPN including Monday Night Football and postseason games.

Tommy Bell was an American football official in the National Football League (NFL) and was regarded as "one of the NFL's most respected referees". When he joined the NFL as an official in 1962 from the Southeastern Conference, he was given the referee position, and stayed at that spot until his retirement in 1976. He officiated Super Bowl III in 1969 and Super Bowl VII in 1973. He is also the only official in history to referee in both a Super Bowl and NCAA Final Four (1959). He retired from the NFL following the 1976 AFC Championship Game between the Oakland Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers, played December 26, 1976, to conclude a fifteen-year career in the league.

Carl Paganelli Jr. is an American football official in the National Football League (NFL) since the 1999 NFL season, who wears uniform number 124. As an umpire, Paganelli is notable for working two Super Bowls, Super Bowl XXXIX and Super Bowl XLI, in a span of three years. He officiated his third Super Bowl game, Super Bowl XLVI, in Indianapolis, and was chosen to officiate Super Bowl XLVIII in East Rutherford, New Jersey. He has two brothers who officiate in the NFL, Dino Paganelli and Perry Paganelli; they are both back judges. Carl Paganelli and Perry Paganelli became the first set of brothers to be part of the same officiating crew when they officiated Super Bowl XLI together.

Charles Heberling was an American football official in the National Football League (NFL) and Western Pennsylvania sports administrator. He was the referee for both the Hail Mary Game and The Drive. He was an alternate for the officiating crew for Super Bowl XXI. Heberling wore the number 46 for the major part of his NFL career.

References

  1. 1 2 Strauss, Robert (January 25, 2004). "IN PERSON; A Life in Stripes And Whistles". The New York Times. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
  2. 1 2 Bob McElwee Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine National Association of Sports Officials. Accessed December 29, 2007.
  3. ↑ "Cast and Crew". AG Domain. August 26, 2004. Archived from the original on August 26, 2004. Retrieved April 24, 2007.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.