When the National Football League’s Los Angeles Rams play the Buccaneers at Tampa Bay on Nov. 23, the game will be officiated by an all-Black crew. It has been a long time coming.
Burt Toler broke this color line 55 years ago in 1965. That was the year the NFL became the first major sport to hire a Black official.
The Associated Press reported that five members of the seven-man team regularly work together. They have 89 seasons in the league among them and have officiated at six Super Bowls.
Part of the reason for the breakthrough is the COVID-19 pandemic. Yes, the NFL has been assigning officials in ways to reduce travel and game assignment rules are looser now to have been relaxed to assign officials to have referees, umpires and judges work closer to home when possible.
Learn more about African Americans, work and wealth in “100 Questions and Answers About African Americans.” It’s is available from Amazon or the Front Edge Publishing bookstore.
