Jeff Carr, who officiated for nearly 40 years including 20 years in the Big Ten, displays some of the rings and a watch he received for officiating, including his work in the 2006 Rose Bowl. (Photo by Kevin Haas/Rock River Current)
    By Paul Anthony Arco
    Special to the Rock River Current
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    ROCKFORD — It’s been a different kind of fall season for Jeff Carr.

    By now, Carr might have been on the field at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wisconsin, working an Illinois/Wisconsin football game. Or, he might have been in the middle of the action this Saturday at the Michigan/Ohio State matchup, making calls in front of 104,000 amped-up fans at the Buckeyes’ stadium, dubbed The Horseshoe, in Columbus, Ohio.

    For 38 years Carr served as an official, working everything from basketball to baseball games at various levels, including football for the last 20 years in the Big Ten Conference. But earlier this year, the 66-year-old Carr hung up his whistle for good after a long and successful run.

    “Weekends are a whole different deal now,” said Carr, who still makes the commute from Rockford to his full-time job as an administrator for the Monona Grove School District in Monona, Wisconsin, outside of Madison. “I have mixed emotions, but physically it was time to give it up.”

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    The toll of working hundreds of games over the years finally caught up with Carr, particularly his knees. In the past year, Carr had partial replacement surgery on both knees.

    “The last five years I was getting injections, but my orthopedic surgeon said it was time to look at other options,” he said.

    The Rockford native broke into officiating after his playing career came to an end. He was an all-conference linebacker on Rockford East’s 1973 undefeated team. After he played at Rock Valley College and Illinois State University, Carr found that he missed the action on the field. At the urging of other officials, Carr decided to give sports officiating a shot.

    “My dad was a softball umpire in various industrial leagues, so I gave it a try,” he said. “Then I started working little league and moved up to high school games, working with experienced guys. I got to the point that I wanted to start working college games.”

    Carr joined the Central Officials Association, a Chicago nonprofit organization which trains and instructs football and basketball officials. He got his foot in the door working in the Chicago Catholic League, Division III and junior college football games.

    “I started doing lower-level college games, semi-pro games for the Rockford Rams, wherever I could find a game,” he said. Carr also worked for the Mid-American Conference, and later for the Arena Football League for 18 years.

    Working the umpire position on the field, Carr stood behind the defensive line and linebackers. He was responsible for watching the offensive and defensive linemen, looking for potential penalties such as holding, chop blocks and hands to the face.

    “Jeff was one of the best umpires I’ve ever worked with,” said Dave Witvoet, who is now a replay official for the Big Ten. “He could really manage the game inside the hashmarks. I never had to worry about what was happening in the middle of the field. Jeff always had it under control.”

    In his two decades with the Big Ten, Carr worked 16 college bowl games, including several conference championships. His biggest thrill, however, was working the epic 2006 Rose Bowl, which pitted the only two undefeated teams, top-ranked USC and No. 2 Texas, against each other for the title.

    The national championship game — featuring future pros Vince Young, Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart — seesawed back and forth. Texas ultimately rallied back for a dramatic 41-38 victory that ended USC’s 34-game win streak and bid for a third straight national title. Many consider it the greatest Rose Bowl of all time, and the game is the highest-rated BCS game in TV history.

    The teams combined for nine penalties in the game.

    “We let them play,” Carr said. “Before the game, we went in to talk with Texas coach Mack Brown and he said, ‘I understand you boys are from the Big Ten and you’ll let us play.’ We then went in to talk with USC coach Pete Carroll who said the same thing. It was a great experience.”

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    John O’Neill is another long-time official who joined the Big Ten at the same time as Carr in 2002. The pair spent the last three years on the same crew before Carr retired and O’Neill left to become a trainer in the officiating department of the NFL.

    O’Neill describes Carr as a no-nonsense official.

    “Jeff was a hard-nosed, blue-collar umpire who knew how to deal with the players,” O’Neill said. “I remember this scowl he got on his face whenever he had to separate players. And during cold games he’d always roll his sleeves up to his elbows, no matter the conditions. The best game managers manage the game without using the flag, and that was Jeff. He dealt with situations in his own way. That’s a lost art today.”

    There was a time Carr aspired to become an NFL official, but it didn’t pan out. “I was being evaluated by NFL,” he said. “I thought if it works out, it works out, but I had no control over it. I had many great years in the Big Ten and have no regrets.”

    “The majority of officials want to get to the NFL and be with the best of the best,” adds O’Neill. “But you can’t take away from what Jeff accomplished in his career. Getting to work the national championship game so early in his career speaks to Jeff’s capabilities.”

    Jeff Carr works the umpire position during a game at Ohio State in this undated photo. (Photo provided by Jeff Carr)

    Surprisingly, Carr admits he’s not much of a football fan. For the past 18 years, he’s assigned officials for NIC-10 high school football games, but beyond that, he doesn’t pay much attention to many games at any level.

    “My dad was a Packers fan, and it was always on TV, but as an official I didn’t care who the Packers were playing or whether they won or lost. I just watched the caliber of officiating and listened to the commentary about whether the calls were good or not.”

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    You won’t find many mementos to remember a rewarding career. Carr keeps his most prized keepsakes like credentials and photos in the basement, but he’s given most of his mementos away. “He wasn’t in it for the fanfare,” O’Neill said. “He just came to work every day.”

    For Carr, the memories are plenty, and he appreciates the support from his wife, Kathy, and children Jordan and Lauren throughout his career.

    “I miss the game experience, the guys I worked with, and the players and coaches,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of great football, a lot of great matchups. Every game in the Big Ten was special, and I’m very fortunate for the experiences that I’ve had.”


    This article is by freelance journalist Paul Anthony Arco. Email feedback to news@rockrivercurrent.com

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