Ronald James Gibbs (June 29, 1900 – March 12, 1985) 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 wi ...

player, coach, and referee.

Coaching career

Gibbs was a graduate of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. He served as the school's head football coach in 1929.

Officiating

Gibbs served as a

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

and

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 ...

official. He officiated 15 NFL Championship games and three NCAA tournament championship games, including the 1950 National Title game.

1958 NFL Championship Game

Gibbs was a referee in the 1958 NFL Championship Game, a contest commonly called "The Greatest Game ever Played". The Baltimore Colts defeated the New York Giants in sudden death overtime, 23–17. During the fourth quarter of that game, Giants player

Frank Gifford Francis Newton Gifford (August 16, 1930 – August 9, 2015) was an American football player, actor, and television sports commentator. After a 12-year playing career as a halfback and flanker for the New York Giants of the National Foo ...

appeared to gain a first down, but Gibbs marked the ball short of the line to gain. For many years, Gifford maintained that Gibbs erred and, in doing so, cost the Giants the game. However, an analysis performed by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

in 2008 vindicated Gibbs' spot of the ball.

1960 NFL Championship Game

Gibbs was also the referee for the

1960 NFL Championship Game The 1960 NFL Championship Game was the 28th NFL title game. The game was played on Monday, December 26, at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In addition to the landmark 1958 championship game, in which the Baltimore Colts defeat ...

, where the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

defeated the Green Bay Packers 17-13 at

Franklin Field Franklin Field is a sports stadium in Philadelphia, United States, at the eastern edge of the University of Pennsylvania's campus. It is the home stadium for the Penn Relays, and the University of Pennsylvania's stadium for American football, foo ...

. On the game's final play, Eagles two-way star Chuck Bednarik tackled Packers fullback Jim Taylor, with assistance from defensive back Bobby Jackson, at the Philadelphia 8-yard line. It was the only championship game loss suffered by Packers coach

Vince Lombardi Vincent Thomas Lombardi (June 11, 1913 – September 3, 1970) was an American football coach and executive in the National Football League (NFL). Lombardi is considered by many to be the greatest coach in football history, and he is recognized a ...

, who led Green Bay to five NFL championships over the next seven seasons, as well as triumphs in

Super Bowl I The first AFL–NFL World Championship Game (known retroactively as Super BowlI and referred to in contemporaneous reports, including the game's radio broadcast, as the Super Bowl) was an American football game played on January 15, 1967, at the ...

and Super Bowl II. The Eagles did not win another championship until

Super Bowl LII Super Bowl LII was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2017 season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles defeated the American Football Conferen ...

following the 2017 season.

Uniform

Gibbs wore uniform number 5 beginning in 1941, the first year officials wore numbers on their shirts. Since Gibbs' retirement, no referee has worn number, 5, except when officials were numbered separately by position from 1979-81.

Cal Lepore Leonard Charles "Cal" Lepore (April 15, 1919 – December 7, 2002) was an American football head linesman, line judge and referee. He officiated in the American Football League (AFL) from 1966 through 1969, and then in the National Football Le ...

, who wore number 72 from 1970-78, wore number 5 in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

and 1980. Following Lepore's retirement after the 1980 AFC Championship Game, no referee wore number 5 in

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gibbs, Ronald 1900 births 1985 deaths National Football League officials St. Thomas (Minnesota) Tommies football coaches University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) alumni