Bernie Kukar (born May 15, 1940) is an American former football official in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) for 22 seasons from the

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

to the

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

season. He wore uniform number 86. He was born and raised in Gilbert, Minnesota and later attended college at Saint John's University in

Collegeville, Minnesota Collegeville is an unincorporated community in St. Wendel Township, Stearns County, Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitob ...

where he graduated in 1962. He played football at Saint John's under John Gagliardi, the all-time winningest coach in collegiate football history. Bernie played defensive back on defense and quarterback on offense, but was later moved to running back. He also returned punts and kicks. Kukar officiated four years at the high school level, and a total of 19 years at the college level with four years at Division III, 11 years at Division II, and four years in the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

( Division I). He began his NFL officiating career in 1984 as a back judge. After the first regular season of the

World League of American Football NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa) was a professional American football league that functioned as the List of developmental and minor sports leagues, developmental minor league of the Nati ...

(WLAF, later NFL Europe) in spring of 1991, he was appointed referee of

World Bowl '91 World Bowl '91 (also referred to as World Bowl I) was the first annual World Bowl, the championship game of the World League of American Football. It took place on June 9, 1991 at London's Wembley Stadium. The game featured a matchup between the ...

in London. After seven years in the NFL, Kukar was promoted to referee at the start of the

1991 NFL season The 1991 NFL season was the 72nd regular season of the National Football League (NFL). It was the final season for coach Chuck Noll. The season ended with Super Bowl XXVI when the Washington Redskins defeated the Buffalo Bills, 37–24, at the ...

, which came after the retirement of the "Dean of Referees", Jim Tunney and the promotion of

Jerry Seeman Jerry T. Seeman (March 11, 1936 − November 24, 2013) was an American football official in the National Football League (NFL) from 1975 to 1990 and was the NFL's Senior Director of Officiating from 1991 to 2001, succeeding Art McNally. In his ...

to the Director of Officiating in the NFL office. He was selected to officiate in the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

twice,

Super Bowl XXXIII Super Bowl XXXIII was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion and defending Super Bowl XXXII champion 1998 Denver Broncos season, Denver Broncos and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion ...

in 1999, and

Super Bowl XXXVI Super Bowl XXXVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion St. Louis Rams and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

in 2002. He was also an alternate in

Super Bowl XXX Super Bowl XXX was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion fo ...

in 1996.

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kukar, Bernie Living people People from Gilbert, Minnesota NFL officials Saint John's Johnnies football players 1940 births