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San Jose football official works Super Bowl XLIII
By Dick Sparrer
Los Gatos Times Weekly
The contents of the hutch that stands beside the kitchen table in the breakfast nook of Keith Ferguson's Willow Glen home tell an interesting story.
There are the autographed footballs, an assortment of awards and game momentos, even a gold watch. But the most interesting of them all: a collection of bright yellow penalty flags.
Now, for a football player, a collection of penalty flags would be nothing to brag about. But Keith Ferguson isn't a player — he's a National Football League official, and the penalty flag is the tool of his trade.
And in his collection, there's a personalized one that he's particularly proud of.
Embroidered in blue on the bright yellow flag is "Keith Ferguson, BJ-61, Tampa Bay, 02.01.09," framing a red, white, blue and green patch that says simply, "Super Bowl XLIII."
It seems that Ferguson capped his ninth season in the NFL by realizing a dream come true — earning the role as back judge in the Feb. 1 Super Bowl when the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Arizona Cardinals 27-23 in Tampa Bay, Fla.
"I was higher than a kite walking out there, and I was scared to death," recalls Ferguson of his Super Bowl debut. "It's the pinnacle of all games, and I treated it that way."
The game annually pairs the two teams that arguably the two best in the NFL, and it's the same for the officials.
"You're selected by being ranked as the No. 1 at your position," explains Ferguson, who was rated
the No. 1 back judge among NFL officials in 2008.
So Ferguson was on the field for Super Bowl XLIII, and he was there in the middle of the field at Raymond Jones Stadium just as the game was about to begin.
"Before the game, as back judge, you hand the ball to the kicker and run off to the side of the field," recalls Ferguson. "Now, I've worked big games before, but there's nothing that can compare to that.
"After the kickoff, you see all the flash bulbs going off. It wasn't until about the end of the first quarter when I really calmed down. Until then, I was pumped up. After that, you just try to tell yourself this is just another game."
Well, not exactly. It's actually become the single biggest sporting event in the nation and, according to Wikipedia, "has become likened to a de facto U.S."
"The intensity of that ballgame was more than anything I've been around," he says. "There's nothing you can do to prepare for that — nothing that can compare to that."
Ferguson has been preparing for this game, though. In fact, whether he knew it or not at the time, he's been preparing for this moment for most of his life.
Officiating football runs in the Ferguson family. His father, Dick, worked for 13 seasons as an NFL official after a successful run locally as a high school official for many years. He was one of the co-founders of FERMAR, the organization that scheduled officials for all high school sports in the Santa Clara Valley for many years.
"When I was a kid, I used to go to all the games with him, and I would be the ball boy," the younger Ferguson recalls. "He'd work a game, and we would go hunting the next day."
"At the time, officiating never even entered by mind," he adds. "But I always loved sports and always wanted to be around it. And I just enjoyed being with my dad and going to a ball game."
Veteran area official Chuck Camuso remembers a young Keith Ferguson well.
"I worked with him when he was first breaking in," says Camuso, a teacher and head baseball coach at Homestead High School in Cupertino.
"He had it in him because of his dad," adds Camuso. "He was a natural. He was a good student of the game and took the game seriously with intentions to advance."
Camuso knows something about moving through the officiating ranks. He started working local high school basketball games while a student at San Jose State University in 1952 and ended up spending three seasons working in the National Basketball Association. He only left the NBA because "they had problems scheduling me and asked me to leave my job."
The NBA's loss has been the valley's gain for more than half a century. While no longer officiating area basketball games, Camuso continues to work high school football and will begin his 53rd season in 2009.
Ferguson's tenure doesn't stretch back quite that far, but he has spent a lifetime on the athletic fields of the valley.
Ferguson grew up locally, attending Blackford Elementary School, Monroe Middle School and Del Mar High School. He played football, basketball and baseball for the Dons and, after graduating in 1975, went on to play football and baseball at San Jose State.
"I was best at football," says Ferguson, a center and middle linebacker for coaches Jim Clifton and Ron Dominguez at Del Mar, "but I really enjoyed baseball." He was a first baseman for a young coach Gary Cunningham, who would go on to a sensational coaching career at Bellarmine.
Even before graduating from San Jose State in 1982, Ferguson — much like Camuso before him — was officiating high school football and basketball.
It's almost like he had no choice.
"I remember one day [local official] Tommy Achita came over with a big garbage bag and my dad walked out with a big box, and they said,`Pick out something — you're refing in two hours,' " he says.
Ferguson learned the trade working Pop Warner Football and Japanese league basketball, and "C" and "D" basketball and freshman football at the high school level.
"It took me five or six years to get my first varsity football game," he recalls.
It didn't take him long to become one of the most respected high school football officials in the area.
"I thought he was outstanding," says Los Gatos High School football coach Butch Cattolico of Ferguson. "He was one of the few guys who would talk to coaches on the sidelines. He was very, very good, easy to work with and easy to get along with."
"He wasn't one of those guys who always had to be right — he wanted to get it right," adds Cattolico. "He reminded me a lot of Bill Leavy when he came up."
Leavy, now a 14-year NFL veteran official, got his start on the high school fields of the Santa Clara Valley and was highly regarded by coaches in the area.
"Bill was always a step ahead of me," says Ferguson with a grin. "He's my mentor."
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