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R.I.P. Ben Dreith 30 yrs. AFL/NFL Referee ‘givin’ him the business’

Chandler#81
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Chandler#81 Hall of Famer

Chandler#81

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From Facebook:

Former Pro Football Referee Ben Dreith passed away at the age of 97.
Dreith was a former American professional football on-field official who worked from 1960 to 1969 in the American Football League (AFL) and from 1970 to 1990 in the NFL. Prior to his teaching and officiating career, he was a three-sport athlete at the University of Northern Colorado.

Dreith developed a reputation of being a no-nonsense, tough-minded official on the field. During his thirty-year career, he officiated two Super Bowls, and received a playoff assignment for twenty-eight consecutive years. 
Dreith was hired by the new AFL in 1960 and moved to the NFL in 1970, following the AFL–NFL merger. He was the referee during Super Bowl VIII and Super Bowl XV and was assigned eight conference championship games.  ....

.....  Dreith is also known among football fans for his unique explanation of a personal foul penalty during a 1986 game between the Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets. After the Jets' Marty Lyons tackled Bills quarterback Jim Kelly to the ground and started to repeatedly punch him in the head, Dreith announced to the crowd: "There's a personal foul, on number 99 (Lyons actually wore 93) of the defense — after he tackled the quarterback, he's giving' him the business down there, that's a 15-yard penalty."  Dreith's call also involved an improvised hand signal of a repeated punching action. Condolences to his family and friends and may he Rest in Peace.

Sourced through wikipedia

 

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Ridgewaycynic2013 Hall of Famer

Ridgewaycynic2013

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The extra comments of his explanation amounted to 'truth in advertising'.  I still don't know why New England received an extra conditional draft pick because of it. 🤔

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babulator RFA

babulator

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1 hour ago, Chandler#81 said:

From Facebook:

Former Pro Football Referee Ben Dreith passed away at the age of 97.
Dreith was a former American professional football on-field official who worked from 1960 to 1969 in the American Football League (AFL) and from 1970 to 1990 in the NFL. Prior to his teaching and officiating career, he was a three-sport athlete at the University of Northern Colorado.

Dreith developed a reputation of being a no-nonsense, tough-minded official on the field. During his thirty-year career, he officiated two Super Bowls, and received a playoff assignment for twenty-eight consecutive years. 
Dreith was hired by the new AFL in 1960 and moved to the NFL in 1970, following the AFL–NFL merger. He was the referee during Super Bowl VIII and Super Bowl XV and was assigned eight conference championship games.  ....

.....  Dreith is also known among football fans for his unique explanation of a personal foul penalty during a 1986 game between the Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets. After the Jets' Marty Lyons tackled Bills quarterback Jim Kelly to the ground and started to repeatedly punch him in the head, Dreith announced to the crowd: "There's a personal foul, on number 99 (Lyons actually wore 93) of the defense — after he tackled the quarterback, he's giving' him the business down there, that's a 15-yard penalty."  Dreith's call also involved an improvised hand signal of a repeated punching action. Condolences to his family and friends and may he Rest in Peace.

Sourced through wikipedia

 

My family still makes this reference regularly. My mother thought it was the greatest call ever lol.

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dave mcbride Hall of Famer

dave mcbride

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Ben Dreith is responsible for one of the very worst calls in league history — the personal foul called on Sugar Bear Hamilton for a late hit on Stabler on fourth down vs. the Raiders in the 1976 playoffs vs. the Pats. If he doesn’t make that bad call, the Pats get the ball back with less than a minute go, and Grogan and the Pats would have advanced to the AFC championship game. As a close Pats fan friend of mine put it years ago, the tuck rule call vs. the Raiders was “Sugar Bear payback.” Karma is a b**ch.

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John Gianelli Rookie

John Gianelli

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Anyone else see #89 and wonder why someone was wearing Steve Tasker's number? That was Walter Broughton, who played receiver from 1986-88. Broughton later changed to #81.

Edited by John Gianelli
Chandler#81 Hall of Famer

Chandler#81

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1 minute ago, John Gianelli said:

Anyone else see #89 and wonder why someone was wearing Steve Tasker's number? That was Walter Broughton, who played receiver from 1986-88.

Yep, at first I thought the punt return team was coming on the field..(Tasker) Broughton was another WFL player we signed.

stinky finger Veteran

stinky finger

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4 hours ago, Chandler#81 said:

From Facebook:

Former Pro Football Referee Ben Dreith passed away at the age of 97.
Dreith was a former American professional football on-field official who worked from 1960 to 1969 in the American Football League (AFL) and from 1970 to 1990 in the NFL. Prior to his teaching and officiating career, he was a three-sport athlete at the University of Northern Colorado.

Dreith developed a reputation of being a no-nonsense, tough-minded official on the field. During his thirty-year career, he officiated two Super Bowls, and received a playoff assignment for twenty-eight consecutive years. 
Dreith was hired by the new AFL in 1960 and moved to the NFL in 1970, following the AFL–NFL merger. He was the referee during Super Bowl VIII and Super Bowl XV and was assigned eight conference championship games.  ....

.....  Dreith is also known among football fans for his unique explanation of a personal foul penalty during a 1986 game between the Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets. After the Jets' Marty Lyons tackled Bills quarterback Jim Kelly to the ground and started to repeatedly punch him in the head, Dreith announced to the crowd: "There's a personal foul, on number 99 (Lyons actually wore 93) of the defense — after he tackled the quarterback, he's giving' him the business down there, that's a 15-yard penalty."  Dreith's call also involved an improvised hand signal of a repeated punching action. Condolences to his family and friends and may he Rest in Peace.

Sourced through wikipedia

 

 

I can't believe the Eagles shutout the Falcons. 

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Dr. Who Veteran

Dr. Who

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1 hour ago, dave mcbride said:

Because of the Sugar Bear Hamilton call in 1976, Dreith wasn’t assigned any Patriots games for 11 years. https://thegruelingtruth.com/football/raiders-fans-tuck-rule-game/

Now is not the time, fella. You're a good poster, but really . . . the fact that you have a close friend who is a Pats' fan has obviously tainted your sensibility here. I'm all for being ecumenical, but that's a bridge too far.

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dave mcbride Hall of Famer

dave mcbride

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1 hour ago, Dr. Who said:

Now is not the time, fella. You're a good poster, but really . . . the fact that you have a close friend who is a Pats' fan has obviously tainted your sensibility here. I'm all for being ecumenical, but that's a bridge too far.

C’mon! He lived to be nearly 100. His death isn’t a tragedy. But ... I see why you might feel that way. Speaking for myself, I watched that playoff game when I was a kid and was rooting for the Pats because they were a great Cinderella story that year (the Bills were awful in 1976 — 2-12 — and were out of it early on). I remember the play!

Edited by dave mcbride
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