Football is an almost holy thing in American culture.
Every year high school, college and professional players make their pilgrimage to locker rooms across the country and prepare for football season with fervent anticipation. The smell of popcorn and nachos, the brightly lit green field and the band playing its home team fight song bring out the kid in fans and parents alike.
As everyone takes to the stands and gamers gear up for fantasy football, game officials are preparing too. Lovers of the game themselves, officiating is often their way of staying on the field. Lee Ross, former owner of Lee’s Pharmacy and manager of Halo Rx, is prepared for all the season holds.
Ross has been officiating football for 20 years and currently works games at the collegiate and semi-pro levels. He previously worked 20 years as a high school official and three years in Arena League football.
“I played for Southeastern and when I graduated my body was worn out from the game, but my mind wasn’t,” he said. “I’m a sports junkie and I got into officiating to keep me in the game.”
Ross also explored coaching and although he turned to pharmacy, he never forgot the game he loved so well.
Ross’ new position on the field meant making sure everyone abided by the rules. But what are the rules anyway?
According to officials, most people and even some coaches and their players do not understand the rule differences in each league, which can lead to some tense moments on the field and in the stands.
“It’s true that a lot of them don’t study the rules and don’t pay enough attention to them,” Ross said. “The rules can be very complicated and hard to understand at the different levels.”
The vision of Norman Rockwell’s umpire and coach, standing nose to nose over the baseball mound, comes to mind. It’s definitely a decades-old rivalry but one that Ross joked about.
“I think it would be a good idea to maybe even have a coach officiate just to see what its like,” he said.
According to Ross, officiating rules for NFL and collegiate football are very similar. However, in high school football the rules of the game are different, and even differ from state to state. Misconceptions are often based on watching the big game on TV and then seeing a different picture on the high school field.
“Basically collegiate conferences are run by NFL officials so at the collegiate level everyone is officiating the same way,” Ross said. “The rule differences between the NFL and high school are a lot different, especially in Oklahoma.
“In college rules, the quarterback can throw the ball away to save a sack if he is outside the tackle box, he only has to get the ball back to the line of scrimmage. In high school, the quarterback cannot throw the ball away to save a sack, even if he is outside the tackle box and gets the ball back to the line of scrimmage. For pass interference in college, you have to have contact and the defense can face guard in college. In high school you cannot. In college the defense is not offsides until the ball is snapped, or he draws an opponent across from him out of his stance. In high school if the defense is lined up in the neutral zone, it’s a foul, the ball does not have to be snapped.”
In spite of consistent abuse from the stands and the field, Ross keeps his cool and his integrity. “Fans are biased on what they choose to see and I understand that,” he said. “We try to be as fair as possible, black and white. One team’s in red and one teams in white and that’s the way we have to see it.”
One challenge to remain impartial was especially tough.
“I was calling a junior high game at Ada and it was a holding call on my good friend’s son,” he said. “We’re really good friends, people I sit with at the ball game on Friday nights. After the game we were talking and I said, ‘Hey I’m sorry but I had to call that.’ He said, ‘No I’d be mad at you if you didn’t call it. He tackled the guy.’ So we do have people who really see the game like that. The only reason we have officials is to make sure the game is played fairly and if we haven’t done that, then we haven’t done our job.”
With the gradual erosion of good sportsmanship, Ross has observed how that affects a team.
“You have to be a little bit mad to play football but it shouldn’t control you,” he said. “Football is a game of eleven players working as a team and if they’re so mad they can’t see straight because the calls are not going the way they would like or they’re out of control, they can’t even run a play. We’ve been fortunate in Ada to have some good coaches over the years. I’ve seen current Coach Matt Weber ask an official for an explanation but he’s not out of control and in turn you don’t see the team going crazy or making fools of themselves. If they don’t win they don’t complain about every little call that’s made. They take what’s dealt to them and make the most of it. It really makes me proud of our local coaches and teams to see that.”
In addition to his love of the game, he enjoys the kids and the camaraderie among fellow officials. “I love being around the kids, especially in Ada when you know the kids who are there and their parents,” Ross said. “The camaraderie with the crew members is great and I’ve gotten to know people all over the country I wouldn’t have known if I didn’t officiate.”
