Football Referees Make a Whistle Stop in Roanoke for Sold-Out Officials’ Clinic

Football Referees Make a Whistle Stop in Roanoke for Sold-Out Officials’ Clinic

By Christian Moody Special To The Roanoke Times | Mar 2, 2019

Retired NFL referee Gerald Austin (right) chats with current NFL officials Chad Hill (left) and Tom Hill at the Blue Ridge Football Officials Clinic on Saturday at Hotel Roanoke. Austin and Tom Hill have each officiated in three Super Bowls. Chad Hill is going into his second season.
CHRISTIAN MOODY | Special to The Roanoke Times

They prefer to be anonymous, unnoticed and out of the spotlight, but the best football officials put in hard work throughout the year to continuously improve — as well as help other officials along their journeys.

Now in their offseason, 175 people who make officiating football their avocation gathered at Hotel Roanoke on Saturday for the 11th annual Blue Ridge Football Officials Clinic. The gathering included some of the finest minds of football with regard to administering the game.

For most of the officials present, being in a room with Tom Hill and Gerald Austin, who have three Super Bowls apiece on their vitae, is an experience unto itself.