Interference (44 page)

Football referees, like umpires in baseball, are the most unpopular people in the sport for which they officiate. They remain silent, receive little credit for their good work, and get immediate and long-lasting blame when they perform poorly. And, the NFL holds them accountable for their actions.

Each crew is responsible for submitting written responses to criticisms they receive from NFL team managements. NFL representatives are assigned to each game specifically to monitor the performances of the officials and then hand out weekly grades on the basis of their work. Those who score the highest grades week after week are invited to officiate during the divisional play-offs and the Super Bowl.

Referees and game officials can completely shift the momentum of a game with a timely penalty. For instance, very few plays are completed without someone on the offensive line holding on to a charging defender—especially when the quarterback is in
the pocket and needs time to find an open receiver. Not a blatant, obvious infraction, like pass interference or clipping, offensive holding is among the most common penalties called and costs the offensive team ten yards. It can also negate a touchdown pass or a long running gain.

Every football fan has either seen or heard of an NFL game that was decided by a penalty called by a game official. Even the most zealous football fanatic will agree that these calls—if they were indeed incorrect—were not nefarious. Most fans understand bad calls to be nothing more than honest mistakes.

During the latter part of the 1970s, several calls by NFL officials altered the course of the NFL playing seasons. However, none of these incidents was ever proven to have been the consequence of any form of bribery or fix. But they did serve as a prelude to an FBI investigation of possible game fixing by NFL officials.

• On December 7, 1975, a controversy over officiating in the NFL was touched off when the Buffalo Bills were knocked out of the AFC play-offs by their loss to the Miami Dolphins. Trailing 21-0 early in the game, the Bills battled back to within three points, 24-21, in the fourth quarter. With Miami in possession in its own territory, Dolphins running back Mercury Morris apparently fumbled. A Buffalo player recovered, but the play was blown dead by head linesman Jerry Bergman, who ruled that Morris had not fumbled. Immediately after the call, another Buffalo player brushed up against Bergman, who then threw another flag, penalizing the Bills fifteen yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. With possession and a fifteen-yard advantage, Miami drove downfield and scored, defeating the Bills, 31-21.

“It was a rotten call that cost our team a chance for the Super Bowl,” Bills owner Ralph Wilson screamed after the game. “I will not again send my team out to play a game that he [Bergman] is working … The official who made that call should be barred from football. Anyone that incompetent should not be allowed to officiate.”

Commissioner Rozelle immediately fined Wilson $5,000 for his remarks. Wilson angrily replied, “They can fine me $1,000, $5,000, or $10,000. I don't give a damn if they fine me $100,000. I'm sick of all this sportsmanship.”

The following day, Rams owner Carroll Rosenbloom agreed
with Wilson and asked to pay half the fine. “When a man gets robbed like that, he must give me part of the action,” Rosenbloom said defiantly. “I know the feeling. I have lost two major play-off games because of bad officiating. I suffered in silence, and wound up with a coronary.”
¹

Rozelle fined Rosenbloom $5,000 too.

Soon after, Al Davis, the owner of the Oakland Raiders, complained, “We have to get rid of the incompetent officials in this league, and we will.” Then Minnesota Vikings head coach Bud Grant added that the NFL was “a multimillion-dollar operation being handled by amateurs on Sunday afternoon.” He suggested that the NFL hire full-time, instead of part-time, officials.

Both Davis and Grant were fined as well. Bergman was not charged by any party with any malicious intent.

• In a second incident, during a November 7, 1976, game between the Chicago Bears and the Oakland Raiders, referee Chuck Heberling, a respected, twelve-year veteran of NFL officiating, accidentally blew his whistle and nullified a Bears touchdown.

The Bears' defensive end, Roger Stillwell, had picked up a fumble by Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler and run thirty-nine yards in open field for the score in the fourth quarter of the game. Because of Heberling's whistle, which automatically blew the play dead, the Raiders did not bother to chase Stillwell. The four-point underdog Bears lost the game, 28-27.

“It was an inadvertent whistle,” Heberling apologized after the game. “I blew it when I shouldn't have, so the only thing I could do was give Chicago the ball, and that's what I did.”

The Bears found Heberling's apology difficult to accept. “When they're dreaming up stuff to call on you, then you know they're in trouble,” Bears defensive lineman Wally Chambers said angrily after hearing Heberling's explanation. “After Stillwell was gone, I heard a whistle, but not until then.”

• The following month, a third incident happened on December 18 during the AFC play-off game between the Raiders and the New England Patriots, who were seven-point underdogs. Another controversial, fourth quarter official's call helped Oakland win. With fifty-seven seconds remaining in the game—and New England leading, 21-17—Oakland had the ball, third down on the Patriots' twenty-eight yard line. Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler went back to pass and was hit by Patriots nose tackle Ray
Hamilton as Stabler released the ball for an apparent nine-yard loss. Referee Ben Dreith threw a questionable flag and charged Hamilton with roughing the passer. Instead of fourth down and a need to complete a desperation pass, the Raiders had the ball first-and-ten on the Patriots' thirteen yard line. Seconds later, the Raiders scored and defeated New England, 24-21.

“We took a screwing out there, and I don't care who knows it,” barked Patriots defensive end Julius Adams. “What Ray Hamilton did … well, it was a legal hit. I'm not afraid to say it, either. They took the game away from us.” Oakland advanced to the AFC championship game and then defeated the Minnesota Vikings, 32-14, in Super Bowl XI.

• A fourth controversy involving NFL officiating occurred on October 30, 1977, when Rozelle apologized to Houston Oilers head coach Bum Phillips for an official's call that cost the Oilers their game against the Cincinnati Bengals, who were a seven-point favorite, and ultimately a spot in the AFC play-offs. The dispute erupted after a kickoff was fumbled by Willie Shelby, the Bengals kick return man, and recovered by the Oilers in the end zone for a touchdown. However, game official Fred Silva made a questionable ruling that Shelby was on the sideline when he touched the football; thus, the touchdown was nullified, and the Bengals were given possession. Phillips complained to no avail and later said, “It frosted me that the referees would not discuss the play among themselves or even give me the time of day.” The Oilers lost to the Bengals, 13-10, in overtime.

• A few weeks later, yet a fifth bad call was made on December 18 when a ruling, again by Fred Silva, cost the Miami Dolphins their spot in the AFC play-offs. Ironically, the Dolphins' loss and the bad call occurred in a game between the Patriots and the five-point-favorite Baltimore Colts.

Late in the Colts-Patriots game, Colts quarterback Bert Jones fumbled and the Patriots, who were ahead at the time, recovered on their own twelve yard line. However, Silva blew the play dead before Jones went down, and the Patriots player recovered the ball. Keeping possession, Baltimore went on to score and won the game, 30-24. Had New England won the game, the Dolphins, not the Colts, would have been in the AFC play-offs. Miami quarterback Don Strock said that his team expected an apology from Rozelle. “We got bummed … we got jobbed,” Strock lamented. “I know what the officials were trying
to do—protect Bert Jones. But he wasn't even close to being down.”

• During the AFC play-offs on January 1, 1978, a sixth official's mistake cost a team the conference championship. This time, the team on the short end was the Oakland Raiders, who had won two games earlier on disputed calls by officials. In the championship game, Rob Lytle, a running back for the Denver Broncos, fumbled on the Raiders two yard line where the ball was recovered by the Raiders' nose tackle, Mike McCoy. But the officials missed it completely. Despite the Raiders' heated protests, Denver was given the ball and scored a touchdown on the next play. Denver won the game, 20-17. The Raiders had been three-and-a-half-point favorites.

Art McNally, the supervisor of NFL officials, announced a week later, “There's no question it was a fumble. We admit that. TV showed it. Coaches have told us that if we can't see a play, don't make a phantom call. The crew didn't see the fumble, and we know that if you don't see it, you don't give it to the other team.”

To combat complaints about the poor officiating, the NFL added a seventh official, a side judge, to the on-field crew.
²
Carroll Rosenbloom opposed the idea, saying, “Let's go back to five officials so we can enjoy the game again.” Also, the league began experimenting with the use of the televised instant replay to help settle certain controversial calls by officials. However, the idea was shelved for several years because of the long delays during replay reviews by officials.
³

Oddsmaker Bobby Martin told me that during the late 1970s, he suspected one particular referee of being involved in gambling and influencing the outcomes of NFL games. “There was too much unnatural money showing up on the games he was officiating,” Martin says. “So I put the word out on [the referee] to see what I could find out.”

One of those whom Martin called was Las Vegas gambler Lem Banker, who told me, “Yeah, we had suspicions about certain games with some of the officials during the late 1970s. I remember Bob called me and wanted me to check out one particular referee. We watched some of the games, and a lot of unnatural money did show up. But we could never prove anything.”

A third gambler told my associate, William Scott Malone, that two particular referees had been involved in game fixing since 1977. But the source refused to provide any details—because he was personally involved in the scheme. However, the same referee was named by Martin, Banker, and the confidential source, who also named the second referee.

In late 1979, the mere complaints and suspicions about NFL officials turned into a federal investigation. The Houston office of the FBI received information from a bureau underworld source that several NFL games had been fixed that year and in years past, including five 1979
NFL Monday Night Football
games, which were broadcast on ABC-TV. In a memorandum to Anthony Vaccarino of the FBI's Organized Crime Division, special agents in Houston summarized their investigation regarding “allegations known concerning possible bribery of NFL officials in conjunction with eight NFL games played during the recent [
sic
] concluded season.”

Those games listed in the FBI report were

• “Cleveland at Kansas City, September 9, 1979. Fixed for Cleveland. [Cleveland, a one-point favorite, won, 27-24.]

• “New York Giants at Washington Redskins, September 17, 1979 (Monday). Fixed for the Redskins. [Washington, a six- point favorite, won, 27-0.]

• “Seattle at Atlanta, [October] 29, 1979 (Monday). Fixed for Seattle. [Seattle, a one-point underdog, won, 31-28.]

• “Minnesota Vikings at New York Jets, October 15, 1979 (Monday). Fixed for the Jets. [New York, a five-point favorite, won, 14-7.]

• “Miami at Oakland, October 8, 1979 (Monday). Fixed for Oakland. [Oakland, a one-point underdog, won, 13-3.]

• “San Antonio [
sic
] at Oakland, October 25, 1979 (Thursday). Fixed for Oakland. [There is no San Antonio team. On October 25, 1979, Oakland, a one-point underdog, defeated the San Diego Chargers, 45-22, at Oakland.]

• “Dallas Cowboys at Cleveland Browns [September 24, 1979], Fixed for Cleveland. [Cleveland, a three-point underdog, won, 26-7.]

• “Pittsburgh Steelers at Houston, December 10, 1979 (Monday). Fixed for Houston. [Houston, a three-point underdog, won, 20-17.]”

The FBI source had learned about the alleged fixes while playing in a high-stakes poker game in Houston. The table talk included a tip from one of the players to bet heavily on the Washington Redskins during their September 17 game with the New York Giants. The informant identified the source as a car dealer in the Houston area who also worked as a bookmaker. The informant told the FBI that the fixes had become known through a network of automobile dealers who were working in concert with an unnamed New York Mafia figure, who regularly bet $100,000 on a single NFL game.

“Specifically, regarding the bribery situation,” the FBI report stated, “the $100,000 New York bettor allegedly has contact with two or three referees who are paid off by him and the initial information was that there would be four or five games fixed during the NFL season.”

A second Texas bookmaker also told the informant that the payoff money for the referees came from the Galveston, Texas, vicinity. “Several million dollars had been placed on the Redskins throughout the U.S., especially in the Las Vegas area,” the FBI report continued. By laying off the large bets around the country, the gamblers were able to avoid influencing the point spread and causing suspicion.

Game officials were expected to make an occasional call that would allow the gamblers to win their bets at the set point spread, the informant told the FBI.

The FBI decided not to contact NFL Security immediately, because notification “was judged as inappropriate due to the sensitivity and possible notoriety of such allegations. The plan was for Houston to continue contact with the source for any possible information that might develop into a more reliable case.”

Information from the source on the Washington-New York game led to allegations about the other seven allegedly fixed games. The source gave specific details about bogus penalties called by game officials. The FBI reviewed game films of the Washington-New York game and found that certain disputed calls by game officials were clearly wrong.