Al Jury is a former

American football official In gridiron football, an official is a person who has responsibility in enforcing the rules and maintaining the order of the game. During professional and most college football games, seven officials operate on the field. Since 2015, Division I ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) from 1978 to 2004. He started as a back judge, then switched to field judge after the league swapped position names in 1998. Over the course of his NFL career, Jury was selected to officiate in a record-tying five

Super Bowls The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

: XX in 1986,

XXII 22 (twenty-two) is the natural number following 21 and preceding 23. In mathematics 22 is a palindromic number and the eighth semiprime; its proper divisors are 1, 2, and 11. It is the second Smith number, the second Erdős–Woods numb ...

in 1988, XXIV in 1990, XXVIII in 1994 and XXXIV in 2000. On the field, Jury wore uniform number 106 for the majority of his career and is most recognizable for the prescription goggles he wore. Outside of the NFL, Jury was also a

California Highway Patrol The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is a state law enforcement agency of the U.S. state of California. The CHP has primary patrol jurisdiction over all California highways and roads and streets outside city limits, and can exercise law enfor ...

officer for 28 years starting in 1969 and referred High School games. At the age of 18, Jury started officiating high school games after graduating from Pacific High School, in

San Bernardino, California San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 cen ...

, where he was a four-sport athlete, in 1959. While officiating, Jury was also a letter carrier for the

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...

for seven years after which he joined the California Highway Patrol in 1969. Jury moved up to junior college and then college football, joining the

Pac-8 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

in 1972 before being hired by the NFL in 1978, at the age of 35. After a high school basketball between

Victor Valley High School Victor Valley High School is located in Victorville, California, United States. It is the oldest high school in the Victor Valley Union High School District (VVUHSD). The original campus was located at the former Victor Valley Junior High and Un ...

and

Damien High School Damien High School is an all-boys Roman Catholic high school in La Verne, in the U.S. state of California named for Saint Damien of Molokai. The school had its first graduating class in 1963. Each of Damien's freshmen classes draws from an avera ...

in 1989 that Jury was officiating a scuffle broke out between the referees, Victor coach Ollie Butler and the Victor players. After six months of deliberations, Butler resigned and Jury and fellow referee Smith were no longer allowed to officiate games involving Victor Valley High School. Jury was forced to retire in 2004 after breaking his leg during a game. He now serves as an ''Assistant Supervisor'' for the NFL. Jury was the 2013 recipient of the

Art McNally Award The Art McNally Award is an annual award created in 2002 by the then National Football League (NFL) Commissioner, Paul Tagliabue, and given to an NFL game official who exhibits exemplary professionalism, leadership, and commitment to sportsmanship ...

for recognition of his accomplished career in the NFL.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jury, Al Year of birth missing (living people) Living people College football officials National Football League officials Sportspeople from San Bernardino, California African-American sports officials 21st-century African-American people