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), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

official 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, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

(AFL) in 1968 and 1969, and in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL) from 1970 to 1996. During his career, Demmas was assigned to four Super Bowls (

XIII XIII may refer to: * 13 (number) or XIII in Roman numerals * 13th century in Roman numerals * ''XIII'' (comics), a Belgian comic book series by Jean Van Hamme and William Vance ** ''XIII'' (2003 video game), a 2003 video game based on the comic ...

XVII 17 (seventeen) is the natural number following 16 and preceding 18. It is a prime number. Seventeen is the sum of the first four prime numbers. In mathematics 17 is the seventh prime number, which makes seventeen the fourth super-prime, as ...

XXV XXV may refer to: * 25 (number) 25 (twenty-five) is the natural number following 24 and preceding 26. In mathematics It is a square number, being 52 = 5 × 5. It is one of two two-digit numbers whose square and higher powers of the n ...

, and XXVIII), all as an umpire. On the field, Demmas wore uniform number 78, which is now worn by

Greg Meyer Greg Meyer (born September 18, 1955) is an American long-distance runner. Meyer's winning time for the 1983 Boston Marathon race was 2:09.00. He was the last American to win the Boston Marathon until 2014, and the last person born in America to win ...

. 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 and develop amateur American football on all levels throughout the United States and "developing the qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, competitive zeal and the dr ...

(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 attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were v ...

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 NFL. Prior to his teaching and officiating care ...

. 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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

safety

Charlie Waters Charlie Tutan Waters (born September 10, 1948) is a former American football player, a safety in the National Football League for twelve seasons, all with the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at Clemson University. Early years Born in ...

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 club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Stee ...

running back

Franco Harris Franco Harris (March 7, 1950 – December 20, 2022) was an American professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily for the Pittsburgh Steelers. A nine-time Pro Bowl selectio ...

. 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 is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

, Demmas played football at and graduated from

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

, learning the game from

coach

Jess Neely Jesse Claiborne Neely (January 4, 1898 – April 9, 1983) was an American football player and a baseball and football coach. He was head football coach at Southwestern University (now Rhodes College) from 1924 to 1927, at Clemson University f ...

. 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. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...

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 National Football League 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