Arthur George Demmas (July 7, 1934 – August 6, 2016) was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

official An official is someone who holds an office (function or Mandate (politics), mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual Office, working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (eithe ...

for 28 seasons. He worked in the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, AFL–NFL merger, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Foot ...

(AFL) in 1968 and 1969, and 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) from 1970 to 1996. During his career, Demmas was assigned to four

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 ...

s ( XIII, XVII, XXV, and XXVIII), all as an umpire. On the field, Demmas wore uniform number 78, which is now worn by Greg Meyer. He served as a league representative and observer for the NFL and worked as a trainer for NFL officials. In 1997, he was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. Demmas was an executive in the

National Football Foundation The National Football Foundation (NFF) is a non-profit organization to promote amateur American football on all levels throughout the United States and develop "the qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, competitive zeal and the drive for academi ...

(NFF), and became head of its Middle Tennessee chapter. The organization determines who will be in the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...

Biography

Demmas worked much of his career as the umpire on the crew of a fellow AFL official, referee

Ben Dreith Ben Dreith (February 1, 1925April 25, 2021) was an American professional football on-field official who worked from 1960 to 1969 in the American Football League (AFL) and from 1970 to 1990 in the National Football League (NFL). Prior to his te ...

. During the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XIII,

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

safety Charlie Waters collided with Demmas as he was moving into position to tackle

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

running back

Franco Harris Franco Dok Harris (March 7, 1950 – December 20, 2022) was an American professional football player who was a fullback for 13 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He played college football fo ...

. Harris scored a touchdown on the play, giving the Steelers a 28–17 lead, and Pittsburgh went on to win the game, 35–31. A native of

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

, Demmas played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

at and graduated from

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

, learning the game from

coach Jess Neely. Following graduation from Vanderbilt, Demmas enrolled in the

Reserve Officers' Training Corps The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC; or ) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. While ROTC graduate officers serve in all branches o ...

program. Commissioned as a second lieutenant, he was assigned to the U.S. Army Intelligence detail. He opted for an eight-year term, which consisted of six months active duty and seven-and-a-half years active reserve. Demmas served as an executive in the

(NFF), the organization that determines who will be in the

. He became head of its Middle Tennessee chapter. He worked as a trainer for NFL officials. In 1997, he was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame. Demmas died in August 2016 at the age of 82.

References

External links

Memories are Super for these seven
1934 births 2016 deaths American Football League officials NFL officials Vanderbilt Commodores football players Sportspeople from Nashville, Tennessee Players of American football from St. Louis {{sports-official-bio-stub

Biography

See also

References

External links