James McEvilly Cain (September 5, 1912 – August 26, 2007) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and official. Growing up in

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, Cain moved to the State of Washington to play college football for Jimmy Phelan, coach of the

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac- ...

. Cain played at all three backfield positions for the Huskies from 1934 to 1936 and was selected by ''

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

'' magazine and Pathé News as a first-team halfback on the

1936 College Football All-America Team The 1936 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations and writers that chose College Football All-America Teams in 1936. The nine selectors recognized by the ...

. Cain was selected by the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

in the sixth round (56th overall pick) of the

1937 NFL Draft The 1937 National Football League Draft was the second draft held by the National Football League (NFL). The draft took place December 12, 1936, at the Hotel Lincoln in New York City. The draft consisted of 10 rounds, with 100 player selections, ...

. Cain later worked as a

Pac-10 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 ...

football official, serving as referee in two Rose Bowl games and 14

East–West Shrine Game East West (or East and West) may refer to: *East–West dichotomy, the contrast between Eastern and Western society or culture Arts and entertainment Books, journals and magazines *'' East, West'', an anthology of short stories written by Salm ...

s. As referee of the

1949 Rose Bowl The 1949 Rose Bowl was the 35th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on Saturday, January 1. The seventh-ranked Northwestern Wildcats of the Big Nine Conference defeated the #4 California Gold ...

, he overruled another official and ruled that Northwestern's

Art Murakowski Arthur Raymond Murakowski (March 15, 1925 – September 13, 1985) was an American football player. He played fullback for the Northwestern University football team from 1946 to 1949. He was selected as a first-team All-American and won the Chic ...

had not fumbled until after crossing the goal line; the controversial call gave Northwestern the winning margin in its 20–14 victory over California. Cain was inducted into the State of Washington Sports Hall of Fame in 1997 and has also been inducted into the University of Washington Athletic Hall of Fame. He died in 2007 at age 94 in Rancho Mirage, California.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cain, Jimmie 1912 births 2007 deaths American football halfbacks College football officials Washington Huskies football players Players of American football from Washington (state)