Jim Tunney (American football official)
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Dr. Jim Tunney was a American football official in the National Football League (NFL) from 1960 to 1991. In his 31 years as an NFL official, Jim 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 is still the only referee who has worked consecutive Super Bowls, and likely will be the only one to do so.
Nicknamed the "Dean of NFL Referees", Tunney was the first official to be named to the "All-Madden Team" in 1990 and won the "Gold Whistle Award" in 1992 from the National Association of Sports Officials (NASO). He wore uniform number 32 for most of his career, but when the NFL numbered each position separtely from 1979 through 1981 rather than assinging one number per official, he wore number 3.
Officials who worked on Tunney's crew for many years included former NFL great Pat Harder at umpire and head linesman Burl Toler, the NFL's first African-American official.
Tunney starting officiating football and basketball in 1951 working high school, college, and Pacific Coast Conference (PAC-10) games until 1967. In 1960, he was hired to work in the NFL as a field judge before being promoted to the referee position in 1967 where he would stay for the remainder of his career until retiring after the 1990 NFL season. His final game was the 1991 AFC Championship Game between the Buffalo Bills and Los Angeles Raiders played January 20, 1991.
Still active in league affairs and many sports issues, Tunney was a member of Commissioner Tagliabue's Officiating 2000 Committee, and was Vice Chair of the U.S. Olympic Committee for Northern California (Sydney 2000 Games). He currently writes a weekly column for the Monterey Heraldand is a motivational speaker.
[edit] Memorable Games
Here is a listing of some of the more memorable games Jim has been involved in:
- "The Fog Bowl" - Philadelphia at Chicago (12/31/88)
- "The Final Fumble" - Cleveland at Denver (1/17/88)
- "The Snowball Game" - San Francisco at Denver (11/11/85)
- "The 100th Game" - Green Bay at Chicago (11/20/83)
- "The Catch" - Dallas at San Francisco (1/10/82)
- "The Kick" - Detroit at New Orleans (11/08/70)
- "The Ice Bowl" - Dallas at Green Bay (12/31/67)--alternate referee
- "The Field Goal" - Baltimore at Green Bay (12/26/65)--field judge
[edit] Books by Tunney
- Impartial Judement: "The Dean of NFL Referees" Calls Pro Football As He Sees It, 1988, (ISBN 0-531-15095-X)
- Chicken Soup for the Sports Fan's Soul, 2000, (ISBN 1-55874-875-X)
- It's The Will, Not The Skill, 2004, (ISBN 1-4134-5832-7)
