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Forty-eight years after Erskine fielded its last football team, an Erskine graduate is a rookie in the National Football League. Don’t expect any dances in the end zone, however, by Jim Howey ’74. Though he will be participating each week in an NFL game, the best indicator that he’s doing his job is that you are unaware of his presence.
Howey is the rookie member of a National Football League refereeing crew that will officiate 19 NFL games this season - three in the pre-season and 16 in the regular season. He is one of only 112 NFL game officials, divided into 16 seven-member crews.
As he explains the role of game officials, “The NFL has great athletes. We give them every opportunity to make the plays offensively and defensively. We attempt to be as unobtrusive as possible.”
Fans are unaware of the many duties that a back judge such as Jim Howey performs during a game. “My responsibilities include all punt plays, long pass plays, watching the play clock, and counting the defense, making sure there are 11 players on defense.” As rookie of the crew, he also has responsibility for preparing the special footballs for kickers, an NFL innovation this season.
The preparation of a rookie NFL official takes much longer than that of a rookie player. For Jim Howey it began 23 years ago, before many NFL rookies were even born.
It advanced from high school officiating to the South Atlantic Conference (NCAA Division II), to Atlantic Coast Conference (NCAA Division I), to NFL Europe, and finally this year to the National Football League. He also officiated high school and college basketball, including several years in the Big South Conference, balancing officiating duties with those of a special education teacher.
When he earned his master’s degree from Winthrop College and became a school administrator, he decided to concentrate his officiating on one sport and selected football. He had noticed after becoming an ACC official in 1991 that one or two officials annually moved up to the NFL. Officiating just one sport also left him more time with his wife, Anne, and daughter, Anna, who will be eight in October. He works during usual holiday periods at Indian Land Elementary School in Fort Mill, S.C., where he is principal, saving his holidays to do the traveling necessary for an NFL official.
How does one become an NFL official? Jim Howey explains, “The procedure is pretty complicated. To be eligible to apply, you must have 10 years of football officiating experience, including five at major college level. Then you fill out an application form for NFL officials and send it and your officiating schedule to the NFL Officiating Department.
“Next you are observed by NFL scouts, many of whom are in the southeast. Most of the time you don’t even know they are there at your games. A scout will watch you more than once. One scout told me he had seen me work 20 games. If they determine you have the capability to succeed as an NFL official, they talk to the officials supervisor. The next step is to be chosen to officiate in NFL Europe. I did that, officiating in throughout the league - Scotland, Germany, Spain.
“NFL Europe is a training ground, a developmental league for both NFL players and officials. There is an observer of officials at every game. The observers spend a lot of time with you, watching films of the games. This is a learning experience. Not everyone chosen to officiate in NFL Europe makes the NFL.”
From some 200 officials considered annually for positions in the NFL, 12-15 are selected as finalists. Finalists are interviewed by psychologists to determine their level of intelligence and ability to handle stressful situations. They are thoroughly investigated by the NFL’s Security Department. Each is interviewed by a panel from the League officiating department and given a rules examination. Only about six finalists annually are hired as NFL officials.
This past February Jim Howey received the good news. He was one of the chosen few selected to officiate in the National Football League. After officiating another spring in Europe, he began his really difficult preparation for the NFL.
Howey explained the training program for new officials: “The NFL does a great job of preparing us. We view 10 training tapes, followed by questions and answers; take two 75-item rules exams; answer 200 other questions; and study oodles of books and manuscripts. We learn a lot by voice overlay of tapes; tapes are a great teaching tool.”
Preseason began in July with attendance at an officiating clinic with the crew he would join. The clinic covered new rules, physical workouts, proctored rules exams, video study of officiating mechanics and play situations, crew sessions, video sessions by position, penalty calls and no calls, and an analysis of playing rules philosophy.
The total training program of games officials is conducted through the National Football League’s Officiating Program, headed by the Senior Director of Officials. Assisting the Director are four full-time supervisors, three associate supervisors, and five observer/trainers. In addition, the office support staff includes an administrative assistant, secretary, special projects coordinator, statistical coordinator, video coordinator, and video coordinator assistant.
As a back judge, Howey has the responsibility for calling many plays that decide whether points will be put on the board - pass interference on deep plays, penalties down field, and whether field goals and extra points are good. He explained how an official learns to make such difficult calls as pass interference: “We see tapes over and over, viewing examples of interference until it is the natural thing for us to call.”
He told Rock Hill Herald sportswriter Darin Gantt, “You can’t worry about making the call everyone thinks is right. You make the call you think is right. No official has ever called a perfect game, but you keep working at it and doing the best you can.”
Interviewed after officiating two pre-season games, Atlanta-Detroit and Washington-Buffalo, he said, “Preseason helps me to get into the swing of things and veteran officials to get back into the swing. It’s definitely a learning experience. Officials get a report on their performance each game. As a rookie I get extra attention to help me get up to speed. An officiating crew is only as strong as its weakest link. At the Atlanta game there was a supervisor from the NFL there just to watch me. The officiating department looks at all our calls and we get grades on our calls. That’s how officials are selected for the post-season games.”
The life of an NFL official involves much more time than just the three hours of game time. The NFL employs a digital computer video editing system and voice-over of positive and negative aspects of each play to enhance the weekly preparation of officials. Howey explains, “We fly in on Saturday - the NFL helps make flight connections - and our crew spends about four hours that day, reviewing tape of our last game and tapes that have been compiled from the previous week’s games. We eat together. On Sunday we meet again and arrive at the stadium three hours before the game. Before the game we check the play clock and game clock and meet with the personnel who run the clocks. The clock is also kept on the field, and it is the officials’ responsibility to make adjustments when necessary.”
Howey also explains the preparation of footballs for kickers before the game, for which he is responsible: “My job is to rub down and brush down kicking balls and check air pressure. This year all kickers are using the same balls. We are given the balls - brand new and still in cellophane - blow them up to 13 pounds of air pressure and rub them down. The referee then checks the balls. There are 12 kicking balls out of the 36 used for the game. The kicking balls are just used in this game and then become practice balls.”
Though Howey belongs to “a mainly eastern crew,” it can be called upon to work in any part of the country. “We don’t know which game we’ll officiate until a week before,” he said.
Jim Howey’s interest in sports officiating began when he was a child. His father, James H. Howey, Sr., was not only Probate Judge of Lancaster County but also a popular football and basketball official. Jim and two of his three brothers often accompanied their father to games, wearing little referees’ uniforms.
As he grew up, however, he enjoyed playing basketball and football, experience he’s glad to have received now that he’s an official. He remembered, “I last actually played football in high school - in 1970 - but it helps (as an official) to have played the game at some level, to have a feel for it. If you’re a part of it, you identify with it.”
Howey continued his basketball playing in college at Erskine, where he was a reserve on Erskine’s 1974 team that achieved a 25-6 record, won the NAIA District 6 championship, and claimed a berth in the NAIA National Tournament. As a principal he enjoys attending professional meetings with teammates David Havird and Paul Pratt, also school administrators.
Play on the basketball team delayed Howey’s student teaching until the fall of 1974, and he completed his B.S. in physical education in December 1974. He began his career as athletic director for the Lancaster Recreation Department. His ultimate goal to teach physical education and his plans to get married hit an obstacle when he could not find a physical education teaching position.
Don Crolley, the late superintendent of Lancaster County Schools and a fellow member of Lancaster’s First Presbyterian Church, recognized in Howey the traits of a good teacher and the willingness to accept a challenge. He offered Jim a job as special education teacher, assuring him, “You can do this.” One week before school started, Howey accepted the position, which would require his attending summer school each year for several years to receive additional training. He was a successful teacher of emotionally handicapped students before becoming assistant principal of Erwin Elementary School nine years ago and principal of the 880-student K-8 Indian Land Elementary School four years ago.
Howey’s personal and professional life have been marked by service as well as success. He has been county coordinator and fund-raising chairman of the Lancaster County Special Olympics, president of the Lancaster Boys/Girls Club, and an elder in Lancaster’s First Presbyterian Church. The South Carolina drug education program this year named him “D.A.R.E. Educator of the Year for South Carolina.”
His abilities as a high school and college official have been widely recognized. He has served as president of the State Basketball Officials Association and the South Carolina Football Officials Association, officiated high school championship games at every level in both football and basketball, received number one ranking as back judge in the state eight times. and officiated in the 1999 Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Texas.
He will be inducted as a charter member of the South Carolina Football Officials Association Hall of Fame in January 2000.
Being an official has not diminished his love of watching athletics at every level, and he proudly displays photos in his office of his daughter Anna playing softball and soccer. He said, “To be an official, you must really enjoy the games. I enjoy watching games, but to me a big part is watching the officials.”
Jim Howey knows that he is one official who will be closely watched this season, but if his previous experience in meeting every challenge thrown his way is any indicator, he will make an excellent NFL official.
http://www.erskine.edu/news/howie.9.21.99.html
Howey is the rookie member of a National Football League refereeing crew that will officiate 19 NFL games this season - three in the pre-season and 16 in the regular season. He is one of only 112 NFL game officials, divided into 16 seven-member crews.
As he explains the role of game officials, “The NFL has great athletes. We give them every opportunity to make the plays offensively and defensively. We attempt to be as unobtrusive as possible.”
Fans are unaware of the many duties that a back judge such as Jim Howey performs during a game. “My responsibilities include all punt plays, long pass plays, watching the play clock, and counting the defense, making sure there are 11 players on defense.” As rookie of the crew, he also has responsibility for preparing the special footballs for kickers, an NFL innovation this season.
The preparation of a rookie NFL official takes much longer than that of a rookie player. For Jim Howey it began 23 years ago, before many NFL rookies were even born.
It advanced from high school officiating to the South Atlantic Conference (NCAA Division II), to Atlantic Coast Conference (NCAA Division I), to NFL Europe, and finally this year to the National Football League. He also officiated high school and college basketball, including several years in the Big South Conference, balancing officiating duties with those of a special education teacher.
When he earned his master’s degree from Winthrop College and became a school administrator, he decided to concentrate his officiating on one sport and selected football. He had noticed after becoming an ACC official in 1991 that one or two officials annually moved up to the NFL. Officiating just one sport also left him more time with his wife, Anne, and daughter, Anna, who will be eight in October. He works during usual holiday periods at Indian Land Elementary School in Fort Mill, S.C., where he is principal, saving his holidays to do the traveling necessary for an NFL official.
How does one become an NFL official? Jim Howey explains, “The procedure is pretty complicated. To be eligible to apply, you must have 10 years of football officiating experience, including five at major college level. Then you fill out an application form for NFL officials and send it and your officiating schedule to the NFL Officiating Department.
“Next you are observed by NFL scouts, many of whom are in the southeast. Most of the time you don’t even know they are there at your games. A scout will watch you more than once. One scout told me he had seen me work 20 games. If they determine you have the capability to succeed as an NFL official, they talk to the officials supervisor. The next step is to be chosen to officiate in NFL Europe. I did that, officiating in throughout the league - Scotland, Germany, Spain.
“NFL Europe is a training ground, a developmental league for both NFL players and officials. There is an observer of officials at every game. The observers spend a lot of time with you, watching films of the games. This is a learning experience. Not everyone chosen to officiate in NFL Europe makes the NFL.”
From some 200 officials considered annually for positions in the NFL, 12-15 are selected as finalists. Finalists are interviewed by psychologists to determine their level of intelligence and ability to handle stressful situations. They are thoroughly investigated by the NFL’s Security Department. Each is interviewed by a panel from the League officiating department and given a rules examination. Only about six finalists annually are hired as NFL officials.
This past February Jim Howey received the good news. He was one of the chosen few selected to officiate in the National Football League. After officiating another spring in Europe, he began his really difficult preparation for the NFL.
Howey explained the training program for new officials: “The NFL does a great job of preparing us. We view 10 training tapes, followed by questions and answers; take two 75-item rules exams; answer 200 other questions; and study oodles of books and manuscripts. We learn a lot by voice overlay of tapes; tapes are a great teaching tool.”
Preseason began in July with attendance at an officiating clinic with the crew he would join. The clinic covered new rules, physical workouts, proctored rules exams, video study of officiating mechanics and play situations, crew sessions, video sessions by position, penalty calls and no calls, and an analysis of playing rules philosophy.
The total training program of games officials is conducted through the National Football League’s Officiating Program, headed by the Senior Director of Officials. Assisting the Director are four full-time supervisors, three associate supervisors, and five observer/trainers. In addition, the office support staff includes an administrative assistant, secretary, special projects coordinator, statistical coordinator, video coordinator, and video coordinator assistant.
As a back judge, Howey has the responsibility for calling many plays that decide whether points will be put on the board - pass interference on deep plays, penalties down field, and whether field goals and extra points are good. He explained how an official learns to make such difficult calls as pass interference: “We see tapes over and over, viewing examples of interference until it is the natural thing for us to call.”
He told Rock Hill Herald sportswriter Darin Gantt, “You can’t worry about making the call everyone thinks is right. You make the call you think is right. No official has ever called a perfect game, but you keep working at it and doing the best you can.”
Interviewed after officiating two pre-season games, Atlanta-Detroit and Washington-Buffalo, he said, “Preseason helps me to get into the swing of things and veteran officials to get back into the swing. It’s definitely a learning experience. Officials get a report on their performance each game. As a rookie I get extra attention to help me get up to speed. An officiating crew is only as strong as its weakest link. At the Atlanta game there was a supervisor from the NFL there just to watch me. The officiating department looks at all our calls and we get grades on our calls. That’s how officials are selected for the post-season games.”
The life of an NFL official involves much more time than just the three hours of game time. The NFL employs a digital computer video editing system and voice-over of positive and negative aspects of each play to enhance the weekly preparation of officials. Howey explains, “We fly in on Saturday - the NFL helps make flight connections - and our crew spends about four hours that day, reviewing tape of our last game and tapes that have been compiled from the previous week’s games. We eat together. On Sunday we meet again and arrive at the stadium three hours before the game. Before the game we check the play clock and game clock and meet with the personnel who run the clocks. The clock is also kept on the field, and it is the officials’ responsibility to make adjustments when necessary.”
Howey also explains the preparation of footballs for kickers before the game, for which he is responsible: “My job is to rub down and brush down kicking balls and check air pressure. This year all kickers are using the same balls. We are given the balls - brand new and still in cellophane - blow them up to 13 pounds of air pressure and rub them down. The referee then checks the balls. There are 12 kicking balls out of the 36 used for the game. The kicking balls are just used in this game and then become practice balls.”
Though Howey belongs to “a mainly eastern crew,” it can be called upon to work in any part of the country. “We don’t know which game we’ll officiate until a week before,” he said.
Jim Howey’s interest in sports officiating began when he was a child. His father, James H. Howey, Sr., was not only Probate Judge of Lancaster County but also a popular football and basketball official. Jim and two of his three brothers often accompanied their father to games, wearing little referees’ uniforms.
As he grew up, however, he enjoyed playing basketball and football, experience he’s glad to have received now that he’s an official. He remembered, “I last actually played football in high school - in 1970 - but it helps (as an official) to have played the game at some level, to have a feel for it. If you’re a part of it, you identify with it.”
Howey continued his basketball playing in college at Erskine, where he was a reserve on Erskine’s 1974 team that achieved a 25-6 record, won the NAIA District 6 championship, and claimed a berth in the NAIA National Tournament. As a principal he enjoys attending professional meetings with teammates David Havird and Paul Pratt, also school administrators.
Play on the basketball team delayed Howey’s student teaching until the fall of 1974, and he completed his B.S. in physical education in December 1974. He began his career as athletic director for the Lancaster Recreation Department. His ultimate goal to teach physical education and his plans to get married hit an obstacle when he could not find a physical education teaching position.
Don Crolley, the late superintendent of Lancaster County Schools and a fellow member of Lancaster’s First Presbyterian Church, recognized in Howey the traits of a good teacher and the willingness to accept a challenge. He offered Jim a job as special education teacher, assuring him, “You can do this.” One week before school started, Howey accepted the position, which would require his attending summer school each year for several years to receive additional training. He was a successful teacher of emotionally handicapped students before becoming assistant principal of Erwin Elementary School nine years ago and principal of the 880-student K-8 Indian Land Elementary School four years ago.
Howey’s personal and professional life have been marked by service as well as success. He has been county coordinator and fund-raising chairman of the Lancaster County Special Olympics, president of the Lancaster Boys/Girls Club, and an elder in Lancaster’s First Presbyterian Church. The South Carolina drug education program this year named him “D.A.R.E. Educator of the Year for South Carolina.”
His abilities as a high school and college official have been widely recognized. He has served as president of the State Basketball Officials Association and the South Carolina Football Officials Association, officiated high school championship games at every level in both football and basketball, received number one ranking as back judge in the state eight times. and officiated in the 1999 Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Texas.
He will be inducted as a charter member of the South Carolina Football Officials Association Hall of Fame in January 2000.
Being an official has not diminished his love of watching athletics at every level, and he proudly displays photos in his office of his daughter Anna playing softball and soccer. He said, “To be an official, you must really enjoy the games. I enjoy watching games, but to me a big part is watching the officials.”
Jim Howey knows that he is one official who will be closely watched this season, but if his previous experience in meeting every challenge thrown his way is any indicator, he will make an excellent NFL official.
http://www.erskine.edu/news/howie.9.21.99.html
