Gordon McCarter
Gordon McCarter (May 26, 1931 − December 20, 2002) was an
McCarter was a 1954 graduate of
After officiating at school football games and amateur track meets, McCarter joined the NFL in 1967 and later was in charge of several disputed games during his last years in the league. McCarter retired from the NFL following the 1995 NFL season.
McCarter died on December 20, 2002, in Cleveland at the age of 71.
Bill Cowher incident
McCarter was the referee in a regular season game between the Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers on September 24, 1995, at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.
Just before halftime, during a Minnesota
Pittsburgh head coach Bill Cowher counted 11 players on the field, and in disgust, printed a photo to prove that there had been 11 players were on the field. At halftime, Cowher ran by McCarter as they were going to the locker room, and shoved a photo in McCarter's shirt pocket to show the referee the evidence. League rules did not allow using photographic evidence to overturn calls at the time, but the NFL later agreed that the officials miscounted the number of Pittsburgh players on the field.
Subsequently, the league issued McCarter and Montgomery a one game check fine, or $4,009 for McCarter and $2,826 for Montgomery; according to
Other notable games
McCarter was the referee for the 1985 Monday Night Football game between the Chicago Bears and Miami Dolphins at the Orange Bowl in Miami. The Bears came into the week 13 game undefeated, but were beaten by the Dolphins for their only loss of the season en route to their victory in Super Bowl XX.
McCarter was also the referee for a December 1990 Broncos/Chiefs game at Arrowhead Stadium where he asked the KC defense to help lower the crowd noise, saying that failure to do so would result in Kansas City being charged a timeout.[3]
References
- ^ Jantz, Creg. "Nine to be inducted into CWRU athletic hall of fame". Case Western Reserve University. Archived from the original on September 14, 2006. Retrieved August 19, 2006.
- ^ Leaf, Jeffrey (1996). "The Official Call". Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved August 19, 2006.
- ^ McCullen, Matt (October 26, 2017). "The Day the Crowd was Too Loud for John Elway, and How Arrowhead Was Born". www.Chiefs.com. Kansas City Chiefs. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
External links
- "Steelers' Cowher Stuffed With $7,500 Fine". The New York Times. October 4, 1995. Retrieved August 19, 2006.