Who Are the NFL Referees in Your Neighborhood?

The National Football league has 16 designated referees for the 2011 season.

Although the league's collection of on-field officials are often referred to colloquially as "referees," the designation in league parlance is much more specific. Of the seven on-field officials in a given game, the referee makes his calls from the offensive backfield, tracks substitutions and is set apart from his crew by wearing a white hat.

The NFL's officiating crews also have a unique situation—they're the only such crew in professional sports that aren't employed full-time. All of them hold down jobs away from the game.

Here's a peek at those men behind the whistle and the work that they do away from the game.  

No. 66 Walt Anderson

Anderson was a two-time academic All-American at Sam Houston State and officiated Super Bowls XXXV and XLV.

Walt currently coordinates the officiating crews for the Big 12 conference, and he's also a retired dentist, which might be the only job more thankless than officiating pro football.

This is Walt's 16th season in the NFL. 

No. 23 Jerome Boger

Boger played quarterback at Morehouse College and spent 16 years officiating college games before getting the call to the big time.

He also works as an insurance underwriter for Allstate in Atlanta.

How do you make fun of a guy that decides to work in insurance?

This is Jerome's eighth season as an NFL official. 

No. 94 Mike Carey

Carey was a running back at Santa Clara before joining the NFL as an official in 1990. He officiated Super Bowl XLII.

Mike and his wife founded the ski accessory manufacturer Seirus Innovation, which he continues to co-operate.

If only he had the money to invest in some serious spell-checking. 

This is Mike's 22nd year as an NFL official. 

No. 51 Carl Cheffers

Cheffers got his start behind the whistle officiating intramural sports at UC-Irvine.

Carl is a sales manager away from the game, and as you can see, he has a great ass. 

This is Carl's 12th year in the NFL. 

No. 65 Walt Coleman

Off all the referees in the NFL today, Coleman's resume might be the most dubious.

He officiated the Tuck Game in 2002, among other questionable efforts.

He operates a family dairy plant in Arkansas, which is probably a great job to have when nobody wants to talk to you. 

This is Walt's 23rd year working NFL games.

No. 99 Tony Corrente

Corrente was the referee for Super Bowl XLI. He also coordinates officials for the Pac-12 conference.

And if those jobs weren't thankless enough, he also teaches social studies at a California high school. 

His dulcet speaking voice can brighten up any holding call, and often does.

This is Tony's 17th year in the NFL's officiating pool. 

No. 19 Scott Green

Green has worked three Super Bowls, including Super Bowl XLIV, which he officiated.

Green earned his criminal justice degree at Delaware, which probably comes in handy for his assignments involving the Bengals.

This is Scott's 21st year in the league. 

No. 85 Ed Hochuli

Hochuli is known not only as one of the best referees in the game, but for his daunting physique.

The 60-year-old has worked two Super Bowls and even served as a motion capture subject in the video game Madden NFL 06.

He works in the offseason as an attorney. His son, Shawn, currently referees in the Pac-12 conference and worked last season's Orange Bowl.

The living legend is in his 22nd year behind an NFL whistle.

No. 127 Bill Leavy

Bill Leavy used to work as a firefighter and police officer in San Jose, but he has since retired.

Naturally, Leavy still finds himself spry enough to work NFL games, most notably Super Bowl XL—arguably the most horribly-officiated big game in recent memory. How great for us.

This is Bill's 17th year working the pro game.

No. 77 Terry McAulay

McAulay coordinates the football officials for the Big East conference.

He officiated the "Bottlegate" game in Cleveland in 2001. He got his degree in computer science at LSU. 

This is Terry's 14th year in the NFL. 

No. 135 Pete Morelli

Morelli's most famous call might have happened in 2007.

When a member of his crew called Phil Dawson's last-second field goal "no good," Morelli reviewed the play with his crew and correctly overturned the call.

Pete is also the principal of a Stockton, California high school. 

This is Pete's 15th year of officiating NFL games. 

No. 132 John Parry

Parry worked Super Bowl XLI before getting his own crew the following fall.

He lives in Akron and also works as a financial adviser. John's late father, Dave, was Supervisor of Officials for the Big Ten conference before passing away earlier this year. 

This is John's 12th year officiating NFL action.

No. 57 Alberto Riveron

The Cuban-born Riveron spent 15 years working games in Conference USA and the Big East before coming up to the pros in 2004.

He hasn't screwed up any big games—yet.

This is Alberto's eighth year in the NFL.

No. 114 Gene Steratore

Steratore is one of the only NFL officials that routinely works games in another sport, namely college basketball.

He made the final ruling on that Calvin Johnson catch in Week 1 of the 2010 season.

He co-owns a supply company with his brother in Pennsylvania. 

This is Gene's ninth year in NFL stripes. 

No. 42 Jeff Triplette

Triplette is the guy that hit Cleveland Browns offensive lineman Orlando Brown in the eye with a penalty flag in 1999.

And you thought lawn darts were dangerous...

But here's something you might not have know about Jeff—he earned a bronze star for his actions in the first Persian Gulf conflict, and he currently works as a restructuring consultant.

The second part of that was much less impressive. 

No. 14 Ron Winter

Winter used to teach physical education at Western Michigan, and since I've seen so many fat people in Michigan, he must have been terrible at that job, too. 

This is Ron's 17th year officiating the NFL.