Don Carey (born October 10, 1947) 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 ...

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), who wore uniform number 126 (now worn by

Brad Rogers Brad Rogers is an American football official in the National Football League (NFL) since the 2017 NFL season, wearing uniform number 126. Career Rogers began officiating in 1991, working Texas high school football games. From there, Rogers becam ...

). He entered the NFL's officiating staff in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

as a field judge until

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, where he became a back judge due to the NFL swapping position titles that season; he held that position until 2008–09. He was promoted to referee in 2009 upon the retirement of

Bill Carollo William F. Carollo (born November 27, 1951) is a retired 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 ...

, the fourth African American to do so, after Johnny Grier, younger brother Mike Carey and

Jerome Boger Jerome Leonard Boger ( ; born July 1, 1955) is an American football official in the National Football League (NFL) since the 2004 NFL season. He has worn uniform number 23 since 2006; before that, he wore uniform number 109. He started in the le ...

. He officiated one Super Bowl game, which was Super Bowl XXXVII at

Qualcomm Stadium San Diego Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium on the West Coast of the United States, west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. The stadium opened in 1967 as San Diego Stadium and was known as Jack Murphy Stadium from 1981 to 199 ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

. Don Carey's 2009 NFL officiating crew consisted of umpire

Garth DeFelice Garth DeFelice is a former National Football League (NFL) referee who served from the 1998 NFL season until 2013. His uniform number was 53 (now worn by Sarah Thomas, the league's first-ever female official, and previously worn by Bill Reynolds a ...

, head linesman

Dana McKenzie Dana McKenzie is an American football official in the National Football League (NFL) since the 2008 NFL season. He wears uniform number 8. As an official in the NFL, McKenzie is known for working Super Bowl XLIX in 2015 as a head linesman on t ...

, line judge Carl Johnson, field judge

Mike Weir Michael Richard Weir, (born May 12, 1970) is a Canadian professional golfer. He currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He spent over 110 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking between 2001 and 2005. He plays golf left-handed ...

, side judge

Greg Meyer Greg Meyer (born September 18, 1955) is an American long-distance runner. Meyer's winning time for the 1983 Boston Marathon race was 2:09.00. He was the last American to win the Boston Marathon until 2014, and the last person born in America to w ...

, and back judge Terrence Miles. With the promotion of

Clete Blakeman Cletus W. Blakeman (born June 23, 1964) is an American football official in the National Football League (NFL). His uniform number is 34. He played college football at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Outside of his work as an NFL official, ...

to referee in 2010, Don Carey returned to his back judge position and has worked on the officiating crew led by

Ed Hochuli Edward G. Hochuli ( ; born December 25, 1950) is an American Lawyer, attorney and retired Official (American football), American football official. He has served as an attorney at Jones, Skelton & Hochuli, P.L.C. since 1983, and was an official ...

from 2010 to 2013. He announced that he will not return to the field for the 2014 NFL season. Outside his NFL officiating duties, Don Carey is a contract manager.

References

1947 births Living people National Football League officials University of California, Riverside alumni African-American sports officials 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople {{sports-official-bio-stub