Jerry Markbreit

Jerry Markbreit is famous for making the calls in both business and in sports. As a trade and barter manager for 3M, he daily negotiated and traded millions of dollars of advertising, media time, and materials with businesses throughout the world. On the field, he was one of only sixteen National Football League referees. After officiating football for nine years, he became a member of the Big Ten Football officiating staff. From the legendary Ohio State/Michigan games of the early 1970's to the 1996 Notre Dame/Michigan State National Championship Game, Markbreit has been a symbol of college football. For several years, Markbreit wrote a weekly football column for the Chicago Sun Times. He currently writes an online sports column for the The Chicago Tribune. He is the author of three books: The Armchair Referee (1973) his autobiography, Born to Referee (1988), and Last Call, Memoirs of an NFL Referee 2001.

Markbreit is best known for his work as one of the busiest and most popular NFL referees. Retiring in 1998 after 23 seasons, his career reads like a history book. He has refereed Superbowls 17, 21, 26, and 29, and 8 Championship Games. For the 1999 and 2000 seasons, he served as one of only 16 replay officials covering the NFL. Begining with the 2001 season, he has been apointed head trainer for NFL Referees.