Retired NFL Referee Talks To NJ Schoolkids, Reflects On Career
LITTLE SILVER, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- For once, someone was looking at Jim Quirk with approval.
Quirk spent his entire career being cursed or worse as an NFL referee. It's a thankless job. It means being booed and sometimes feeling like you don't have a friend in the world.
"My skin is very thick," Quirk told CBS2's Steve Overmyer. "I worked in the U.S. government securities business on Wall Street for 32 years, and I had to deal with traders all day long."
On Wednesday, he joined students from Point Road Elementary School in Little Silver to emphasize the importance of reading, and he faced some tough questions.
"What was your thought on the Deflategate?"
"What was your favorite game you ever refereed?"
"Are you allowed to root for a certain team?"
Now retired, Quirk spent 21 years in the NFL and was on the field for one of the most iconic moments in Super Bowl history -- John Elway's "helicopter" run in Super Bowl XXXII.
Active refs aren't allowed to speak to the media, so he shared stories that have never before been heard, like the time he tried to stop a fight and got so physical with Green Bay Packers linebacker Nick Barnett that Quirk himself was fined an entire paycheck.
"I said, 'Boy, Rog, (NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell), that's really ironic,'" Quirk said. "Roger said, 'What do you mean ironic?' I said, 'Well, 19 years ago, when I got in here, I know I was so excited I said I'd do it for nothing, but since then I've changed my mind.' I can't repeat what the commissioner said to me."
Mistakes are made and calls are overturned, but now more than ever, the bitterness gets amplified in social media.
"When you blow a call, you've got to admit it," Quirk said. "You stand up and say, 'I screwed it up.'"
Overmyer asked Quirk if he finds himself today looking over his shoulder wondering if there might be a former NFL player who knows where he lives.
"Fortunately, their memories are very short," Quirk answered.
Refs are not full-time NFL employees. They work full-time jobs away from football and are officially at-will employees, meaning the NFL can let them go without any warning.
