The Buckeye who became a college football referee

When I attended Ohio State in the 1990s, it was a memorable era for the football team. Eddie George, Orlando Pace, Andy Katzenmoyer and other Buckeye greats dominated at Ohio Stadium, and their success made me want to join them on the field somehow, someday. With one caveat: Instead of wearing scarlet and gray, I wanted to wear black and white.

My dream to become a college football official began after coaching awakened my passion for the sport. While at Ohio State, I helped coach high school football in Utica, Ohio—a job that allowed me to teach young men football skills and watch them become better each day. Through officiating, I realized, I could stay close to the game after graduation without having to leave work at 2:30 p.m. to oversee daily practices.

This dream would require plenty of hard work and patience to achieve. But I drew inspiration from my grandfather, Charles Oriti, who was born in 1921, right before the Great Depression hit in 1929. He enlisted in the military during World War II, where he served as a pilot. After the war, he went to Ohio State and earned his diploma, which he displayed prominently in his home office. Every time I went to my grandparents’ house, I looked at that diploma, just to make sure it was still there. Even as a young child, I understood the significance of that piece of paper. It was evidence of the determined, hardworking spirit that he embodied. Today, we call it grit.

It also made one thing extremely clear to me: I wanted one of those diplomas for myself. Up to that point, no one else in our family had earned a college degree. Because of him, I was determined to be the second. He passed on his grit to me.

After graduating from Bishop Watterson High School in Columbus and a short stint in the U.S. Navy, I enrolled in Ohio State. In 1999, I graduated from the Fisher College of Business and accepted a job in sales for a large corporate insurance firm in Columbus. To keep my football dreams alive, I took an officiating class in Newark, Ohio, which led to four years officiating at the high school level. From there, I moved up the ranks: breaking into college football with the Division III Ohio Athletic Conference in 2003, making the leap to Division I with the Mid-American Conference in 2009, then finally fulfilling my Big Ten dream in 2014.

That same year, however, a job promotion forced me to move from Columbus to Jackson, Mississippi. This was before the conference realignment of today, so the Big Ten supervisor of officials, Bill Carollo, wasn’t comfortable with me being so far outside of the conference’s traditional footprint—which, of course, has expanded considerably since then. Though Carollo released me from the Big Ten, he thought enough of me to help me get into the Southeastern Conference. I am forever grateful for that support. He could have easily washed his hands of me, but he didn’t.

Officiating has taken me to so many places and offered me so many unique experiences, from the Friday night lights of Ohio to the biggest college football stadiums in the country. I have seen great games and great players, but the coolest thing is how I have grown personally.

I’ve learned so much about dealing with adversity. I’ve been chewed out by famous coaches who earn $10 million a year. I’ve listened to more than 100,000 fans boo me at the same time. My calls have been criticized by big-name broadcasters in front of millions of TV viewers. How would those working conditions make you feel? Could you handle them? Would you want to handle them?

Then there is the challenge of officiating the live action. As an official, you need to watch several players at the same time engaged in lightning-fast movements, all of which are right on the edge of a foul. You get about 1.5 seconds to see it, process it, identify it and decide what to do. To succeed, you must communicate with courage, commitment and clarity.

Ohio State, my grandfather and my mother’s unwavering belief in me were all inspirations to pursue my dreams. Without them, I would never have put on my black and white to officiate a game in Ohio Stadium.

As an Ohio State alum, I’m not allowed to work any of my alma mater’s games to avoid any questions of bias. However, I did get the chance to officiate the April 2003 spring game after the Buckeyes won the national championship over Miami.

As I walked down the ramp from the locker room to the field, I soaked it all in: the marching band playing “Buckeye Battle Cry,” the near capacity crowd settling in their seats. Waves of scarlet and gray uniforms swirled around me as I worked on the sideline. In the middle of this coming home, I knew I had made it.

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Chris Garner is the author of the book Whistles and Wisdom: Lessons on Life and Leadership from an SEC Football Official. Learn more about him at garnerleadership.com.