Mason Lee "Red" Cashion (November 10, 1931February 10, 2019) was an American football official for 25 seasons in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL), where he was the referee for two

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

Biography

Cashion started officiating in 1952 while attending

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

, and then worked for various high school and

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

conferences, most notably the

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference also included schools from Oklaho ...

. From 1972 to 1996, he officiated in the

(NFL), and was the referee in

Super Bowl XX Super Bowl XX was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Chicago Bears and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for ...

and

Super Bowl XXX Super Bowl XXX was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion fo ...

. Cashion began his career as a line judge in 1972 following the death of referee Jack Vest, which in turn created an opening at line judge when Chuck Heberling was promoted to referee to replace Vest. Cashion was promoted to referee in 1976 upon the retirement of long-time referee

Norm Schachter Norm Schachter (April 30, 1914 – October 2, 2004), born in Brooklyn, New York, was an American football official in the National Football League (NFL) for 22 years from 1954 to 1975. Over his career in the NFL, he worked three Super Bowl ...

and the addition of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

and

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater i ...

. He wore uniform number 43 for most of his career. During the 1979–1981 seasons, when officials were numbered separately by positions instead of having one number assigned to each official, he wore number 8. Cashion was known by NFL players, coaches, and fans for his signature

first down A down in gridiron football is an attempt by the offensive team to run a play to advance the ball, while the defending team simultaneously attempts to halt their advance. The down is a distinguishing characteristic of the game compared to othe ...

call in which he would enthusiastically drawl ''"First dowwwwwn!"'' out to the crowd. In a 1997 interview with the ''

Sporting News ''The Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a ...

'', he said, "I don't know of any time that started it or stopped it. It was just something that sort of evolved and been there ever since". Cashion's promotion to referee came just one season after the NFL began equipping referees with wireless microphones to explain penalty calls and complex rulings to fans in the stadium, members of the media, and the television audience at home. Cashion was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1999. He also provided the voice of the referee for several versions of the ''

Madden NFL ''Madden NFL'' (known as ''John Madden Football'' until 1993) is an American football sports video game series developed by EA Orlando for EA Sports. The franchise, named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden, has ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

. Cashion died at age 87 on February 10, 2019.

References

External links

* 1931 births 2019 deaths Texas A&M University alumni People from College Station, Texas College football officials NFL officials Sportspeople from Texas American voice actors {{Sports-official-bio-stub

Biography

Further reading

References

External links