Thanks for that story, Dude. I remember Keith very well when he officiated San Jose State football games. He is a real good guy. I am happy for him. I had lost track of him and wondered if he was still in the officiating business, as I have not seen him do a game in a real long time. Now I know why. Bill Leavy is a good friend of mine, and if Bill has a high regard for Keith, you know he is an excellent official.
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: Ferguson worked his way through the high
: school and community college ranks to work
: the Big West Conference, Western Athletic
: Conference and Mountain West Conference at
: the collegiate level. Through it all, he
: continued to work college basketball games.
:
: After five years of working NFL Europe, he
: was called up to the NFL.
:
: "The year I got the call, I was at
: work," Ferguson says. The first thing
: his wife, Pamela, told him when he got home:
: "Here's the phone � you're quitting
: basketball."
:
: "I'm the proverbial football widow, in
: every sense of the word," says Pamela,
: Keith's wife of 19 years, with a broad
: smile.
:
: Clearly, both were pleased when he got the
: call.
:
: "Very few guys make it into that
: arena," Ferguson says. "I was on
: cloud nine. I could hardly talk."
:
: "I knew how much it meant to him, and I
: was very excited for him," adds Pamela.
:
: It didn't take Ferguson long to realize how
: different things were going to be.
:
: "My first regular season game was in
: Green Bay, and it was quite humbling just
: going onto that field," Ferguson says
: of historic Lambeau Field. "Then the
: umpire took me over to the end zone and
: said,`This is where they won the Super
: Bowl.' I started thinking about all that
: history."
:
: Then the game began.
:
: "Brett Favre threw the ball from the
: 40-yard line and it hit behind me � the ball
: just whizzed by me," he recalls.
: "Later, Favre throws a ball that looks
: like it's 30 yards over the guy's head, and
: the guy jumps and gets his hand on the ball.
:
: "These athletes, the stuff that you see
: and the things these receivers do, it's
: unbelievable. It all happens so quickly � in
: the blink of an eye."
:
: Ferguson was reunited with Leavy when he
: joined the NFL ranks, and two would become
: even closer when Ferguson would join Leavy's
: crew for the 2008 season.
:
: "He has good control on the field with
: the players," says Leavy of Ferguson.
: "He's a no-nonsense guy � he's not
: going to take crap from anybody. But he's
: also very fair."
:
: It's no coincidence that Ferguson ended up
: working on Leavy's team.
:
: "I put in a request to see if they
: would consider putting Keith in with
: me," says Leavy, who also asked for two
: other ref-mates from the Mountain West
: Conference, Mark Derlman and Darrell
: Jenkins.
:
: "Keith has helped to make us a pretty
: strong crew," adds Leavy, who worked
: Super Bowl XXXVI as a back judge and Super
: Bowl XL as the referee. "He has a good
: feel for the game, and he approaches the
: right spirit of the rules.
:
: "He's made good strides to get to where
: he is now."
:
: Where he is now is a veteran NFL official
: who just worked his first Super Bowl. And
: just as it is for the players, the
: experience is a dream come true.
:
: "Before the game a Pittsburgh player
: came up and asked me,`Do you get nervous?'
: " says Ferguson. "So I asked
: him,`Are you nervous?' He nodded, and I
: said,`Well, me too.' "
:
: "You're just as keyed up as the players
: are," he adds.
:
: The experience, too, is just as memorable
: for the officials as it is for the players.
:
: "I'll remember this for the rest of my
: life � walking out on that field and seeing
: my family there," says Ferguson.
:
: In the stands at the game was his wife,
: Pamela, and their children Roger, 16, a
: student at Willow Glen High School; Grant,
: 13, a student at John Muir Middle School;
: and Arabella, 7, a student at Campbell
: Christian School. Unable to make the trip
: was Keith's 23-year-old daughter Jennifer, a
: teacher in the Alum Rock School District.
:
: "People were asking me,`Who are you
: rooting for?' " recalls Pamela. "I
: said,`I'm rooting for the black and white to
: make the right calls.' We just enjoyed the
: game and the stadium."
:
: Ferguson, though, could not just enjoy the
: game � he had a job to do. And as he
: approved that job, he had just two wishes:
: "that there would be no blown calls by
: any of the officials, and that it would be a
: close game."
:
: As it turned out, his wishes came true. And
: by participating in the Super Bowl, his
: dream did, too.
: