Johnny Grier (April 16, 1947 – March 8, 2022) was an American football official for 23 years 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 1981 to 2004. He began in the NFL as a field judge before becoming the first

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

referee in the history of the NFL with the start of the

1988 NFL season The 1988 NFL season was the 69th regular season of the National Football League. The Cardinals relocated from St. Louis, Missouri, to the Phoenix, Arizona, area becoming the Phoenix Cardinals but remained in the NFC East division. The playof ...

. Grier officiated in one

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 ...

Super Bowl XXII Super Bowl XXII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Washington Redskins and American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for th ...

in 1988, which was his last game as a field judge and the same game in which Doug Williams became the first Black

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

to win the

. On the field, he wore uniform number 23, which was also worn by

Jerome Boger Jerome Leonard Boger ( ; born July 1, 1955) is a former American football official who worked in the National Football League (NFL) for the 2004 through 2022 seasons. He has worn uniform number 23 since 2006 NFL season, 2006; before that, he wo ...

, another Black referee. Grier attended college at the

University of the District of Columbia The University of the District of Columbia (UDC) is a public historically black land-grant university in Washington, D.C., United States. The only public university in the city, it traces its origins to 1851 and opened in its current form in 1 ...

, where obtained his bachelor's and master's degrees. Grier began officiating basketball and football at age 18 and started as a Dunbar High School official in 1965, later moved on to college basketball (IAABO) and football in 1972, and eventually the NFL in 1981. In 1989, a year after becoming a referee, he oversaw the head coaching debut of

Art Shell Arthur Lee Shell Jr. (born November 26, 1946) is an American former professional football player and coach. He played as an offensive tackle in the American Football League (AFL) and later in the National Football League (NFL) for the Oakland / ...

, the first black NFL head coach in the NFL's modern era. Grier served as an officiating supervisor for the NFL and previously as Supervisor of Football Officials for the

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC ) is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference whose full members are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and the Mid-A ...

(MEAC). His career ended abruptly during the

2004 NFL season The 2004 NFL season was the 85th regular season of the National Football League (NFL). With the New England Patriots as the defending league champions, regular season play was held from September 9, 2004, to January 2, 2005. Hurricanes forced ...

when he was forced to retire due to a leg injury suffered during a series of games. He was replaced by the back judge on his crew, Scott Green, who had previous experience as a referee in

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa) was a professional American football league that functioned as the List of developmental and minor sports leagues, developmental minor league of the Nati ...

. He later served as an officiating supervisor for the NFL and previously as Supervisor of Football Officials for the

(MEAC). After leaving the NFL as a Supervisor of Football Officials, he was hired as a PAC 12 Supervisor, where he later retired. Grier died in

Pasadena, Maryland Pasadena is a census-designated place (CDP) in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States. The population was 24,287 at the 2010 census. The areas of Lake Shore, Riviera Beach and Pasadena are collectively referred to as Pasadena by residen ...

, on March 8, 2022, at the age of 74.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grier, Johnny 1947 births 2022 deaths 20th-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American people African-American referees and umpires NFL officials Sportspeople from Charlotte, North Carolina University of the District of Columbia alumni