NFL referee Jim Tunney has died at the age of 95

On By Littum

Jim Tunney, the legendary NFL official known as the Judge Merdekan, died Thursday at the age of 95.

A cause of death was not released.

NBC rules analyst and former NFL official Terry McAulay called Tunney “an absolute legend of the game” during Sunday’s Packers-Seahawks game with broadcaster Cris Collinsworth, adding that he was a “first class guy.”

Jim Tunney signals during a game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals at Three Rivers Stadium on October 13, 1986 Getty Images

Tunney worked over 400 NFL games from 1960 to 1990, including serving as a referee for three Super Bowls.

“In the world of officiating, Jim Tunney is Babe Ruth,” CBS broadcaster Jim Nantz said told the LA Times earlier this year.

Tunney worked some of the most famous weather-affected games, including the Ice Bowl in Green Bay for the 1967 NFL title and the Fog Bowl in Chicago during the 1988 playoffs.

“Jim Tunney, in our room, is really the first referee who had to embrace television,” said former NFL referee Gene Steratore. “He projected himself into our living rooms to get some sense of what the guys in the striped shirts were doing. And he did it in a way that was digestible.”

Perhaps his most famous call was ruling a Packers field goal attempt by Don Chandler in the 1965 playoffs good — even though it may have been wide right. Green Bay tied the game and beat Don Shula’s Colts in overtime.

Jim Tunney #32 watches from the sidelines during a game between the New York Giants and the Cincinnati Bengals at Riverfront Stadium on October 13, 1985 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Getty Images

“We started out as adversaries,” Tunney said of Shula.

“He said, ‘I’ll never argue with you. Whenever you came over to the sidelines and we had an argument, you always won.’ I would tell him, ‘I had to win. I represented the league, I didn’t represent you.’

But in their retirement, the legendary official and the winningest coach of all time became golf buddies and would watch football together.

“He still thought it was wide,” Tunney said. “I would tell him, ‘If you had won that game, you would have won 348 instead of 347. You should change all those hats and logos.’ We joked about that for years.”

Tunney also befriended John Madden, who wrote the foreword to Tunney’s book “Impartial Judgement”.

Tunney was also the first umpire named to the All-Madden team.

While working for the NFL, he spent his weekdays as a high school principal.

“School was out Friday afternoon, and the next morning I got on a plane at LAX and flew to Detroit or Green Bay or Miami or somewhere by myself,” Tunney said.

His students often received feedback.

“They came back Monday morning and said, ‘Oh, you sure ruined that game,'” he recalled. “I just wanted to laugh and say, ‘Yeah, I probably did.’ “

Tunney’s father worked as a football official.

Jim Tunney signals while standing near the Pittsburgh Steelers’ offensive line during a game at Three Rivers Stadium in 1983. Getty Images

Tunney graduated from Occidental College and became a high school teacher and coach.

To pick up some extra cash, he began working prep and junior college football games before moving up to the Pacific Coast Conference.

In 1960 he had offers to officiate from the AFL and NFL, but chose the latter for stability.

He and his wife Linda had six children and 16 grandchildren.

Asked what he wanted his legacy to besaid Tunney: “Every game, when I walked off the field in the locker room, I said to myself, ‘Did I leave this game better than I found it?’ If (yes is the answer), then I have succeeded.”