Tom White (American football official)

Tom White was an American football official in the United States Football League from 1983-1986 and then National Football League (NFL) for seventeen seasons from the 1989 to 2005 seasons. [cite book | title=2006 NFL Record and Fact Book | id=ISBN 1-933405-32-5 | pages=760] He started in the league as a head linesman and was promoted to referee with the start of the 1990 NFL season. He wore uniform number 123. He is also an alumnus of the Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity.

White was once referred to as Alfred Hitchcock for facial similarities by former ABC Sports color commentator Dennis Miller during a Monday Night Football game. [cite web | first=Locke | last=Peterseim | url=http://espn.go.com/abcsports/mnf/s/annotatedmiller/1009.html | title=Hitchcock’s blondes, Gilligan's Lovey, and the red eyes of Bocephus | publisher=ABC Sports | date=2001-10-15 | accessdate=2006-07-19]

Incidents

White, in a rare instance, was fined by the NFL for an administrative error made by his officiating crew. White was fined half a game check ($2,600) in a 2003 regular season game between the Baltimore Ravens and Seattle Seahawks for not restarting the 40-second clock and the game clock after an officials' conference over a penalty call with 58 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The Seahawks had the ball and led 41-38. Baltimore was able to save its last timeout as a result of not restarting the clock, saving 40 seconds that it used when it got the ball back to tie a game it eventually won in overtime. [cite web | first= | last= | url=http://www.nfl.com/news/story/6889360 | title=NFL ref fined half his paycheck | publisher=NFL.com | date=2003-12-03 | accessdate=2006-08-17]

References