Bill Carollo

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Bill Carollo
Born November 27, 1951 (1951-11-27) (age 56)
Nationality Flag of the United States United States
Education University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
(Bachelor's degree, 1974)
Occupation NFL official (1989–Present)
Vice President of Global Sales, Manpower, Inc.
Spouse Married
Children Four children

William F. "Bill" Carollo[1] (born November 27, 1951)[2] is an American football official in the National Football League (NFL) since the 1989 NFL season. He wears uniform number 63. Carollo is most notable for having officiated in two Super Bowls and seven conference championship games.[3]

Contents

[edit] Personal

[edit] Early life

A native of Brookfield, Wisconsin,[2] Carollo attended high school at Brookfield Central High School where he graduated in 1970.[4] Following high school, he attended University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) and graduated in 1974 with a degree in industrial relations. At UWM, he was the starting quarterback for the school's football team from 1970 to 1973.[4][5]

[edit] Family

Carollo currently resides in Shorewood, Wisconsin and is married and has four children.[2]

[edit] Other professions

Carollo worked as an international account executive for 30 years at IBM before becoming Vice President of Global Sales for Milwaukee, Wisconsin based Manpower Inc.[6]

[edit] Officiating career

[edit] Early years

Carollo began his officiating career working Wisconsin high school football, basketball, and baseball games.[3] He joined college football's Big Ten Conference, where he stayed for ten years and included a selection to work the 1988 Rose Bowl Game.[3] In addition to officiating football games in the Big Ten, he was a basketball referee from 1982 to 1988.[6] For a period of time, he also served as the Milwaukee Brewers Official Scorer for the American League.[7]

[edit] National Football League

Carollo started in the NFL as a side judge and officiated Super Bowl XXX in 1996, which was his final game at that position before being promoted to referee (crew chief) for the start of the 1996 NFL season. Carollo was assigned to work his first post-season as referee during the 1998-99 NFL playoffs and later made his second appearance in the Super Bowl at Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003. Before he officiated Super Bowl XXXVIII, Mike Pereira, the NFL's director of officiating, said of Carollo, "Bill is just perfect in the management of a game. He understands how to handle coaches, players and a team of seven officials. He's terrific at that."[8]

While serving as referee of the 1999 NFC Championship game, Carollo overturned a catch by Tampa Bay against St. Louis, that later led to the Bert Emanuel rule.[clarify]

He served as the director of the NFL Referees Association, the union representing NFL officials, from 2000 to March 1, 2006. He was the center of the negotiations that took place during the 2001 NFL season where there was a work stoppage by game officials. The NFL and its game officials eventually agreed on September 19, 2001 to a new six-year Collective Bargaining Agreement that ended a two-week lockout of the regular officials, who returned to work on September 23, 2001.

His 2007 NFL officiating crew consists of Bill Schuster, John Schleyer, Gary Arthur, Bill Lovett, James Coleman, and Phil Luckett.[1]

On November 18, 2007, Carollo became the first referee in 35 years to officiate a game for the same team in back-to-back weeks during the New England-Buffalo game. Bill Leavy was scheduled to officiate the November 11th Buffalo-Miami game, but fell ill. Carollo served as the referee for that contest using Leavy's crew.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b National Football League Game Summary: Tennessee Titans At Jacksonville Jaguars. National Football League (2007-09-09). Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
  2. ^ a b c Cigelske, Tim (2006-08-31). When I was 30: Bill Carollo. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
  3. ^ a b c Bill Carollo. Football Officials Camps, LLC. Retrieved on 2007-09-27.
  4. ^ a b McGinn, Bob. "Local man gets the call", Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 2003-01-24. Retrieved on 2007-09-27. 
  5. ^ Reischel, Rob. "It's official: Carollo had a super time", Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 2003-02-06. Retrieved on 2007-09-27. 
  6. ^ a b Board of Directors — Officers. National Association of Sports Officials. Retrieved on 2007-09-27.
  7. ^ Bill Carollo. Excel Sports Officiating, LCC. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
  8. ^ Jenkins, Chris. "Top officials, mostly SB rookies, thrown into fray", The San Diego Union-Tribune, 2003-01-25. Retrieved on 2007-09-29. 

[edit] External links