12-year veteran Ron Torbert to referee first Super Bowl

• Published date: 12 February 2022
• Publication title: The China Post

Ron Torbert, a 12-year veteran NFL official who has been a referee since 2014, will handle his first Super Bowl on Sunday.

Torbert, 58, a Harvard Law School graduate and former lawyer, will be the third Black referee for a Super Bowl. Mike Carey did the game in 2008 and Jerome Boger in 2013. Torbert was a back judge and side judge for four seasons before being elevated to referee.

Assignments for the postseason are given through a league grading system used throughout the regular season.

'I've been preparing for this moment for more than 30 years,' he said. 'I didn't always know that's what I was doing, but every game I worked, every clinic, every training camp and practice that I've been a part of, every moment at the gym, every training and scouting video that I've ever watched, has helped me get ready for this game.'

Joining Torbert will be umpire Bryan Neale, down judge Derick Bowers, line judge Carl Johnson, field judge Rick Patterson, side judge Keith Washington, back judge Scott Helverson, replay official Roddy Ames, and replay assistant Sean McKee.

COIN TOSS

Billie Jean King will be joined by team captains of the California School for the Deaf Riverside Cubs, members of the high school girls flag league of champions and girls youth tackle football players from the Inglewood Chargers and Watts Rams for the Super Bowl coin toss.

The NFL will be recognizing the 50-year anniversary of Title IX enacted in 1972 as part of the Education Amendments which, for the first time, provided equal funding for men and women at high schools, colleges and universities that received federal funding.

'It is an honor to stand with these outstanding student athletes and celebrate the 50th anniversary of Title IX on one of the world's biggest stages,' King said. 'It's hard to understand...