Gene Steratore

Gene Steratore
Born (1963-02-08) February 8, 1963
Washington, Pennsylvania
Nationality  United States
Occupation NFL official (2003–present)
NCAA basketball official (1995–present)

Gene Steratore (born February 8, 1963)[1] is an American football official in the National Football League (NFL) since 2003. He entered the league as a field judge and was promoted to referee at the start of the 2006 season, one of two new referees (Jerome Boger the other) for that season, following the retirements of Bernie Kukar and Tom White. He wears uniform number 114. Steratore is currently one of two NFL referees (Bill Vinovich is the other) who also officiate National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's basketball games, which he has done since 1997.[2] He was chosen to be the alternate referee of Super Bowl XLIV, which was held in Miami on February 7, 2010.

Career

National Football League

Steratore took over briefly as referee during a regular-season game on December 28, 2003, between the Carolina Panthers and New York Giants after Bernie Kukar, the crew chief, was injured during a play in which he was hit in the back by the Giants' Clarence LeBlanc after a blocked punt.[3]

Steratore's 2015 NFL officiating crew consists of umpire Barry Anderson, head linesman Ed Walker, line judge Gary Arthur, field judge Mike Weatherford, side judge Bob Waggoner, and back judge Dino Paganelli.[4]

Notable games

Steratore worked his first NFL playoff game as a referee between the Arizona Cardinals and the Carolina Panthers on January 10, 2009, at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. Exactly one year later, he refereed the Baltimore Ravens' 33–14 victory over the New England Patriots in an American Football Conference (AFC) Wild Card match at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.[5]

Steratore was involved in a controversial instant replay call during week 1 of the 2010 NFL season between the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field in Chicago. Late in the fourth quarter, Lions receiver Calvin Johnson caught what was originally ruled as the winning touchdown for Detroit. However, Steratore conferred with the officials and overturned the call to an incomplete pass, ruling that Johnson lost control of the ball while going to the ground before he "completed the process of completing the catch". The play was reviewed, but was upheld.[6] The rule applied in this situation states, "If a player goes to the ground in the act of catching a pass (with or without contact by an opponent), he must maintain control of the ball after he touches the ground, whether in the field of play or the end zone."[6] Despite speculation that the Calvin Johnson ruling was incorrect, Steratore was supported by the NFL and backed by its former vice president of officiating, Mike Pereira, on Fox Sports. The rule has since been referred to as the "Calvin Johnson rule".[7]

Steratore was selected as the first referee to officiate a game following the 2012 NFL referee lockout on September 27, 2012,[8] a Thursday-night contest between the Cleveland Browns and the Baltimore Ravens. The Baltimore crowd cheered Steratore and his crew as they entered the field.

Steratore was named as referee for the NFC Championship game on January 19, 2014, between the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers.[9]

Steratore was also the referee during the Divisional Playoff game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers on January 11, 2015, when a controversial fourth-quarter, fourth-down catch by Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant was overturned using the "Calvin Johnson rule".[10] On the play, Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo threw the ball towards Bryant, who was initially ruled to have caught the ball at the Green Bay 1-yard line. The Packers challenged the call and after review, it was determined that the ball touched the ground before Bryant completed the catch.[11]

Basketball

Steratore is also a college basketball referee, mainly working in the Northeast. He has officiated in the Big Ten Conference, Big East Conference, and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, and the Colonial Athletic Association.[2]

Personal life

Steratore lives in his native Pittsburgh suburb of Washington, Pennsylvania.[12] Gene has an older brother, Tony, also an NFL official, who is a back judge currently assigned to Jerome Boger's officiating crew. His father, Gene Steratore, Sr., was a college football official and basketball referee.[13]

Steratore and his brother, Frank, are the co-owners of Steratore Sanitary Supplies in Washington, Pennsylvania, outside of his NFL officiating duties.[14][15]

References

  1. ↑ Salguero, Armando. "Referee from Pittsburgh explains fumble ruling". http://miamiherald.typepad.com. Miami Herald. Retrieved 15 January 2015. External link in |website= (help)
  2. 1 2 Borden, Sam. "For Two-Way Referee, It's N.F.L. One Day, College Basketball the Next," The New York Times, Wednesday, March 14, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Kukar hurt in Panthers-Giants game". NFL.com. 2003-12-28. Archived from the original on 2006-02-09. Retrieved 2006-08-01.
  4. ↑ http://www.footballzebras.com/2015/06/04/12764/
  5. ↑ Baltimore Ravens at New England Patriots, AFC Wild Card Playoff Game, Sunday, January 10, 2010 – National Football League.
  6. 1 2 http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/post/_/id/16142/like-it-or-not-megatron-call-was-right
  7. ↑ Leahy, Sean (March 14, 2011). "NFL will not make changes to the 'Calvin Johnson rule'". USA Today. Retrieved 2014-01-19.
  8. ↑ "Gene Steratore's officiating crew to work Browns-Ravens game". USA Today. 2012-09-27.
  9. ↑ Crabtree, Curtis (2014-01-15). "Gene Steratore, Tony Corrente to referee league championship games". NBC Sports. Retrieved 2014-01-19.
  10. ↑ "Dez Bryant catch reversed by 'process rule'". ESPN.com. 2015-01-11. Retrieved 2015-01-12.
  11. ↑ Rick Maese (2015-01-11). "Aided by overturned Dez Bryant catch, Packers beat Cowboys 26-21 in NFC playoffs". Washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2015-01-12.
  12. ↑ "2 Super Bowl officials have ties to area". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Indianapolis: PG Publishing Co., Inc.). 2012-02-02. Retrieved 2014-01-19.
  13. ↑ Collier, Gene; Bouchette, Ed (2005-02-03). "Super Bowl Notebook: Big Ben's Super star turn is in a commercial". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2006-08-01.
  14. ↑ Lolley, F. Dale (2006-01-23). "Porter set tone early, put pressure on Plummer". Observer-Reporter. Archived from the original on August 8, 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-01.
  15. ↑ http://www.referee.com/more/Samples/non_subscribers1207/brothers.html It's Not a Brother Thing Archived November 20, 2007, at the Wayback Machine.

External links

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