Today, January 30, in the midst of the frenzy around the historic event of the Arizona Cardinals going to the SUPERBOWL, a small but very interested group met at the AHS Museum to listen to Mack Gilchrist and three of his close friends in the football business. The four of them total together over 120 years serving their profession of Football Officials in the PAC 10 (Pacific Athletic Conference).
Dick Schnell and Chuck Czubin are from Seattle, WA; Fred Galagher is from Long Beach, CA and Mack lives here in the Valley. They did explain that they never officiated at a game in their home state or one involving their alma mater.
Among those who attended, there were some with loads of knowledge on football and some with a slight clue about the game but they all enjoyed the information and antics sparked by lively discussion. Everyone came away with something that they never knew before. i.e. “lateral” is a word not in the rule books. A pass is either a “forward pass” or a “backward pass”. Any pass that goes to lateral is a “forward pass”.
Of the seven positions for the Officials, each one concentrates only on the area they are officiating. Depending on their position they may never know how or where the ball was received. The Referee concentrates ONLY on the Quarterback and is considered his ‘protector’. There were many tidbits of information and a lot of personal experiences that made for a fun guest speaker keeping everyone in the “football frame of mind”.
