A Strange Call

At the same time the NFL is urging officials to show more personality, one of its most recognizable--and vilified--referees plans to fade quietly into the defensive backfield.

Phil Luckett, infamous for his controversial coin-toss call in 1998, has voluntarily decided to change jobs from referee to back judge.

On the surface, that is a self-imposed demotion; the referee is in charge of the seven-man crew and has the final say on every call. To Luckett, however, just because he will be backpedaling into his new job doesn’t mean he will be taking steps backward in his career.

“I just wanted to reprioritize,” he said by telephone Tuesday. “I don’t want to spend so much time on administrative things and the management of people.”

Unless the NFL and the officials settle their labor dispute, of course, Luckett won’t even set foot on the field. The two sides met Tuesday and, although the league proposed a 40% pay increase, they remain at an impasse.

League officials have said they might start training replacement officials from college and NFL Europe to step in for the regulars.

Luckett declined to talk about labor issues. However, he freely discussed his move to back judge, where he began his NFL career in 1991.

Luckett, who first told his story in this month’s Referee magazine, said the pressure as a referee didn’t prompt a job change, and he won’t be taking a pay cut. Duty as a back judge requires fewer hours of preparation during the week, and that will afford him more time with his family and church. A devout Christian, he frequently has leaned on his faith to get through the toughest times the last three seasons.

Two of his more memorable decisions involved the “Music City Miracle” and a questionable touchdown by New York Jet quarterback Vinny Testaverde (although Luckett didn’t make that call, a member of his crew did).

But it was Luckett’s coin toss to begin overtime of a Thanksgiving game between Pittsburgh and Detroit that left angry Steeler fans wanting to send him head over tail.

Tied, 16-16, after regulation, captains from the Steelers and Lions gathered around Luckett at midfield. Luckett looked at Pittsburgh running back Jerome Bettis before the toss and said: “Call it, please, in the air.” TV viewers only heard Bettis call “Tails,” so there was confusion and anger when Luckett responded, “Heads is the call. He said, ‘Heads.’ It is a tails.”

“I called tails,” Bettis protested, incredulous.

“No, you didn’t,” Luckett said.

Detroit won the toss and, ultimately, the game, driving downfield on its first possession and kicking a field goal.

The uproar throughout the league was deafening. Suddenly, Luckett embodied everything that was wrong about NFL officials.

Far less pronounced was the response a few days later when a Pittsburgh TV station enhanced the audio from the coin toss and learned Bettis called, “Heads-tails,” as the coin was in the air. Luckett had made the correct call, just as then-NFL Senior Director of Officiating Jerry Seeman said all along.

Ten days later, Luckett and his crew headed to the Meadowlands for a game between the New York Jets and Seattle Seahawks. It came down to a “touchdown” run on fourth down by Testaverde, who clearly was stopped before the goal line. The head linesman, Earnie Frantz, signaled touchdown and the Jets won a pivotal victory.

Although Luckett didn’t make the call, it came on his watch and he had to endure the fallout.

Soon after, he was at a friend’s dinner party and one of the guests wanted to talk football. Specifically, she wanted to talk about the incompetence of NFL referees. She had no idea who he was and began the conversation by mentioning the coin toss.

“I stopped her,” he said. “I said, ‘I just want to let you know I am that official. I am that man. She was very polite about it. She said, ‘Oh, really? Tell me about it. Explain it.’ I didn’t want to make her feel awkward or uncomfortable.”

Luckett was back in the spotlight a year later when Tennessee’s Kevin Dyson caught a lateral from Frank Wycheck, turning a desperation play into a 75-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Buffalo in an AFC wild-card game.

To the dismay of the Bills, who were convinced Wycheck’s toss was a forward lateral, Luckett emerged from the instant-replay hood and ruled the play a touchdown. Some critics deemed that the “Immaculate Perception.”

Luckett said his experiences the last three seasons have strengthened him and forged his faith.

“God works in strange ways,” he said. “We may not always volunteer for those ways, and we may not always enjoy them. But there’s always a reason.”