Download PDF - UCR Magazine - University of California, Riverside

Recommendations

Info

C SCAPE Don Carey (‘70) The Football Official LITTY MATHEW There was a time when UCR had a football team, and National Football League (NFL) official Donald Matthew Carey was on it. “The coaches were Pete Katella and Gary Knecht, who, like all good coaches, were good teachers first,” says Carey. “I learned a lot about how the game is coached and played by observing them.” Carey caught football fever as a child growing up in San Diego, Calif. He 36 | UCR Spring 2013 Illustration by Mike Tofanelli remembers watching the 1958 NFL championship game between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants on TV. It was the first playoff game that went into sudden death during overtime — and Carey still refers to it as “the greatest game ever.” The love for the game led Carey into officiating. Encouraged by his brother, Michael, an NFL referee, Carey started in his hometown by joining the San Diego County Football Officials Association in the mid ‘70s and worked his way up to the Pacific Coast Athletic Association Big West Conference. In 1995, Carey officiated his first regular season NFL game between the San Diego Chargers and the Oakland Raiders. It was a coincidence that his first assignment was officiating his hometown team. “When I started, my dream was to be a high school varsity referee,” says Carey. Today, he has completed 18 NFL seasons and has officiated 12 games. Seventeen seasons were spent as a back judge, where he was responsible for calls 20 yards into the defensive backfield on the wide receiver’s side. In the 2009 season, he worked as a head referee, supervising the six other officials on the field with the final authority on all rulings. Being an NFL official is a part-time job, but it requires a constant, high level of focus and a depth of knowledge that only comes with time on the field. While the basic NFL requirement is 10 years of experience at the major college level, working in front of at least 50,000 spectators, it requires 15 to 20 years to achieve the proper experience. This was the challenge that replacement officials faced during the 2012 referee strike while NFL officials negotiated pension and retirement benefits. “When referees reach the NFL, they’re faced with a new and complicated rule book and officiating philosophy,” says Carey. And like everyone, Carey has made mistakes. “On most occasions, I learn more from examining the causes of an incorrect call,” he says. “There’s a tendency in all walks of life to take success and accuracy “THERE’S A TENDENCY IN ALL WALKS OF LIFE TO TAKE SUCCESS AND ACCURACY FOR GRANTED. THIS IS NOT THE PATH TO IMPROVED PERFORMANCE.” for granted. This is not the path to improved performance.” Carey, who graduated from UCR with a degree in history, just retired from the United States Department of Defense after a 30-year career as a contracting officer and program integrator for advanced cruise missiles. He’s found an uncanny parallel between his two careers: “In my business career, I learned the value of unbiased analysis, preparation and execution. Those lessons have influenced my NFL career and the rest of my life,” says Carey.
Health Sustainability Policy Technology LIVING THE PROMISE Real World Solutions Clearing the air: Using the world’s largest indoor atmospheric research chamber, UCR engineer Akua Asa-Awuku studies air-polluting black carbon particles and the role they play in cloud formation and global warming. Explore more sustainability impacts promise.ucr.edu Sustainable Agriculture Invasive Species Green Energy Preserving Ecosystems UCR Spring 2013 | 37
Page 1 and 2: THE MAGAZINE OF UC RIVERSIDE 10 Way
Page 3 and 4: DEPARTMENTS FEATURES COVER STORY TH
Page 5 and 6: Congratulations to the Class of 201
Page 7 and 8: Study Finds Link Between ‘Critica
Page 9 and 10: UCR Nanotechnologists Help Launch N
Page 11 and 12: 1 What you believe about happiness
Page 13 and 14: 3 Humility isn’t the most sought-
Page 15 and 16: Live Conscientiously (to Live Longe
Page 17 and 18: 8 Be a Parent Despite the cell phon
Page 19 and 20: Get Connected on Social Media only
Page 21 and 22: BY SEAN NEALON Sharon Walker, an as
Page 23 and 24: Back on the first Saturday in May,
Page 25 and 26: When Yadong Yin, an associate profe
Page 27 and 28: SERVING THROUGH KNOWLEDGE The newly
Page 29 and 30: Remember HAPPINESS IS … That Time
Page 31 and 32: An Anatomy of Chinese: Rhythm, Meta
Page 33 and 34: 50s ’57 Hal Durian was a UCR char
Page 35 and 36: Entomological Society of America an
Page 37: WE REMEMBER Faculty John B. “Jack

Download PDF - UCR Magazine - University of California, Riverside

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?