Thomas Kelleher (August 31, 1925March 31, 2011) 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 ...
official 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) for 28 years, from 1960 until the conclusion of the
1987 NFL season. Working as a back judge (the title was changed to field judge in 1998), Kelleher was assigned five
Super Bowls;
Super Bowl IV,
Super Bowl VII,
Super Bowl XI
Super Bowl XI was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Oakland Raiders and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Minnesota Vikings to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for i ...
,
Super Bowl XV and
Super Bowl XIX; one of five officials to reach such an achievement. He wore number 25 for all but two years of his career. For
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, Kelleher wore the number 7 when officials were numbered separately by position. He was born in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
, and died in
Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
.
Kelleher ejected
Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame safety
Willie Wood from the
1962 NFL Championship Game
The 1962 NFL Championship Game was the 30th NFL title game, played on December 30 at Yankee Stadium in New York City. It matched the New York Giants (12–2) of the Eastern Conference and Green Bay Packers (13–1) of the Western Conference, th ...
vs. the
New York Giants after Wood bumped him while protesting a call in the third quarter. The Packers overcame Wood's banishment to win 16-7 and successfully defend their championship, Green Bay's second of five in seven seasons under legendary 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 ...
.
Kelleher's humorous discussion with Coach
Hank Stram
Henry Louis Stram (; January 3, 1923 – July 4, 2005) was an American football coach. He is best known for his 15-year tenure with the Dallas Texans / Kansas City Chiefs of the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NF ...
during Super Bowl IV was caught on film by NFL Films. As Stram was complaining about a missed call, Kelleher pointed out that he was on the field, quickly ending the conversation.
Kelleher worked 10 consecutive seasons (1977–86) of his career on the crew of
Jerry Markbreit
Jerry Markbreit (born March 23, 1935) is a former American football referee in the National Football League (NFL) for 23 seasons and became one of the most recognizable referees in the game. Markbreit officiated football games for 43 seasons. F ...
(Markbreit was a rookie line judge in 1976 on the crew of referee
Tommy Bell, with Kelleher as back judge), who later became the only official to work four Super Bowls (XVII, XXI, XXVI, XXIX) at the referee position. Kelleher's final season, he worked on the crew of
Gordon McCarter. Kelleher was a member of Bell’s crew from 1965-76.
References
External links
Obituary
1925 births
2011 deaths
National Football League officials
Holy Cross Crusaders football players
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