Adrian Hill | |
|---|---|
 Hill in 2020 | |
| Born | 1964or1965(age 59–60) [1] Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Education | University at Buffalo (BS) Johns Hopkins University (MS) [2] |
| Occupation(s) | NFL official (2010–present) College football official (2004–2009) Aerospace software engineer (1990s–present) |
T. Adrian Hill [2] (born in Washington, D.C.) [3] is an American professional football official in the National Football League (NFL) since the 2010 NFL season, wearing uniform number 29. [4]
Hill was born in Washington, D.C. and raised mostly in upstate New York. He did not play football in high school because he was undersized. He would play the role of referee when his friends played pickup football. [1]
Hill earned degrees in electrical and software engineering and computer science from the University at Buffalo before moving to the Washington metropolitan area to work as a software engineer for Westinghouse Electric Corporation. To make extra money, he responded to a newspaper ad for football officials and spent the next fourteen years officiating high school football games as a side job. [1] He made $13 per game as a youth football referee. [5]
Hill's first college football officiating experience came in 2004 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. [1] He was an official in Conference USA, where he worked at the referee position. In 2007, Hill worked four games in the now-defunct NFL Europe league [6] as a line judge.[ citation needed ]
Hill was hired by the NFL in 2010 and made his first appearance during a September 12, 2010, game between the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys at FedExField as a line judge. [4] [7] He was promoted to referee with the start of the 2019 NFL season following the retirements of Pete Morelli and Walt Coleman. [8] He worked as a line judge, side judge, and field judge before being promoted to referee, the seventh African-American to receive this honor.
Hill made unwanted headlines during a January 3, 2021, game when he called a roughing-the-passer penalty against Detroit Lions safety Tracy Walker after he sacked Kirk Cousins of the Minnesota Vikings on a 4th and goal play. The sack, which would have given the Lions the ball, appeared to be routine as the Lions players started to celebrate before realizing the penalty flag was against them. Cousins told Walker "I don't necessarily agree with that call, but I'll take it"[ This quote needs a citation ] as players on both sides of the field looked befuddled about the call. The Vikings would score a touchdown two plays later and go on to win the game 37–35. Both social media and mainstream media outlets covered the call with headlines such as "Tracy Walker's phantom personal foul penalty causes uprising on social media" (Detroit Sports Nation), [9] "NFL fans could not believe the horrendous, game-changing roughing call from Lions-Vikings" (USA Today), [10] "Detroit Lions robbed by one of the worst calls ever in game vs. Minnesota Vikings" (Detroit Free Press), [11] "Ridiculous roughing call on Kirk Cousins sack sets up Vikings' game-winning TD" (Yahoo Sports), [12] "Lions flagged for roughing passer against Vikings on simple sack, befuddles fans" (Fox News) [13] and "Worst Call in NFL History Aids Vikings in 37-35 Win against Lions" (Sports Illustrated). [14] Though it seemed to be a blown call, Hill explained it as a clear-cut penalty in a post-game interview saying "By rule, one of the categories for roughing-the-passer is full body weight, where the tackler lands with his full body weight on the quarterback. That's the category this play fell into."[ This quote needs a citation ]
After earning his bachelor's degree from Buffalo, Hill earned a Master of Science from Johns Hopkins University. [2]
In the 1990s, Hill worked as a NASA contractor at Goddard Space Flight Center for what became Raytheon Technologies. In 2000, he was hired as an aerospace software engineer at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory Space Exploration Sector. He was the flight software lead on MESSENGER and had important roles on the New Horizons mission and the Parker Solar Probe. [1] He has served as the flight software lead for the Precision Tracking Space System, has led the development of fault protection systems for the Radiation Belt Storm Probes and has led flight software development for the Hubble Space Telescope. While working for Raytheon, he was a developer for the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite programs. [2]
In 2006, he was named Engineer of the Year by the Baltimore chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. [16]
He was the lead author of Command and Data Handling Flight Software test framework: A Radiation Belt Storm Probes practice, a paper presented at the 2013 IEEE Aerospace Conference. [17]
As of June 2020 [update] , Hill resided in Bowie, Maryland with his wife, VaLerie. [1] He is the brother of Seattle radio host, Steve "The Thrill" Hill of the KISW 99.9 radio show The Mens Room .
The 1998 NFL season was the 79th regular season of the National Football League (NFL). The season culminated with Super Bowl XXXIII, with the Denver Broncos defeating the Atlanta Falcons 34–19 at Pro Player Stadium in Miami. The Broncos had won their first thirteen games, the best start since the undefeated 1972 Dolphins, and were tipped by some to have a realistic chance at winning all nineteen games. The Minnesota Vikings became the first team since the 1968 Baltimore Colts to win all but one of their regular season games and not win the Super Bowl. After no team had won 14 regular season games since the 1992 49ers, three teams went 14–2 or better for the only time in a 16-game season.
Jeff Triplette is a former American football official in the National Football League (NFL) from the 1996 season through the 2017 season. He wore uniform number 42.
Pete Morelli is a retired American football official who worked in the National Football League (NFL) from 1997 to 2018. He wore uniform number 135.
Walt Coleman III is a former American football official who officiated in the National Football League (NFL) from the 1989 season until the end of the 2018 season. He wore uniform number 65. During his final season in 2018, Coleman was the NFL's longest current tenured referee.
Ben Dreith 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 National Football League (NFL). Prior to his teaching and officiating career, he was a three-sport athlete at the University of Northern Colorado.
Michael Carey is a former American football official in the National Football League (NFL). His uniform number was 94. Prior to his officiating career, he played college football as a running back for Santa Clara University.
Anthony Joseph Corrente is a former American football official in the National Football League (NFL) who served for 26 years from 1995 until his retirement in 2021. He wore uniform number 99. He was the referee of Super Bowl XLI. He served as the Coordinator of Football Officiating for the Pac-12 Conference from June 2011 until he resigned this position in October 2014.
Bill Leavy was an American football official who officiated in the National Football League (NFL) from the 1995 through 2014 seasons, wore uniform number 127, and was also a retired San Jose, California police officer and firefighter, serving for 27 years. In his twenty-year NFL officiating career, Leavy was assigned to fifteen playoff games, including two Super Bowls. He was selected as a back judge on the Super Bowl XXXIV officiating crew in 2000 and most recently headed up the Super Bowl XL officiating crew as referee in 2006.
Bill Vinovich III is an American professional football official in the National Football League (NFL) who has worked as an NFL referee from 2001 to 2006 and since 2012; he is also a college basketball official.
The 2008 Detroit Lions season was the franchise's 79th season in the National Football League (NFL), and their 75th as the Detroit Lions. The Lions made history by becoming the first team since the schedule was expanded to 16 games to finish winless. It is one of only four winless seasons since the merger.
Carl Cheffers is an American professional football official who officiates games for the National Football League (NFL). He has been an NFL official since the 2000 NFL season.
Alberto Riveron is a Cuban-American former American football official and was the senior vice president of officiating of the National Football League (NFL) from 2017 to 2021.
In gridiron football, roughing the passer is a foul in which a defensive player makes illegal contact with the quarterback after the latter has thrown a forward pass. The penalty is 10 or 15 yards, depending on the league, an automatic first down for the offense, and a disqualification if flagrant. Defenders are allowed to contact a player attempting a forward pass while he still has possession of the ball ; however, once the ball is released, defenders are not allowed to make contact with the quarterback unless carried to do so by momentum. Judgment over whether contact following release was the result of a violation or momentum is made by the referee on a case-by-case basis.
William Clay Matthews III, primarily known as Clay Matthews, is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). The six-time Pro Bowl selection and two-time All-Pro played 10 seasons for the Green Bay Packers and 1 season for the Los Angeles Rams. He is the all-time official sack leader for the Packers, with 83.5. He was inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame in 2024.
Brad Allen is an American professional football official in the National Football League (NFL) since the 2014 NFL season, wearing uniform number 122.
Ronald Torbert is an American professional football official in the National Football League (NFL). He has been an official since the 2010 NFL season. He wears uniform number 62.
John J. Hussey is an American professional football official in the National Football League (NFL). Hussey was hired as a Line Judge in the 2002 NFL season. Hussey was promoted to the Referee position for the start of the 2015 NFL season following the retirement of Bill Leavy. Hussey wears uniform number 35.
The Miracle in Motown was a National Football League (NFL) game played on December 3, 2015, between the NFC North divisional rivals Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions. The game, which was broadcast on television nationally on Thursday Night Football, was contested at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, during the 2015 NFL season. On the final play of regulation, with no time remaining on the game clock and Detroit leading 23–21, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw a 61-yard (56 m) Hail Mary pass into the end-zone that was caught by tight end Richard Rodgers II for the game-winning touchdown. The play resulted in a dramatic 27–23 come-from-behind victory for the Packers, who had trailed 20–0 in the second half. The victory was the Packers' fourth-largest comeback in franchise history. It was also the start of a 3-game winning streak that would help the Packers clinch their seventh consecutive postseason berth. The play won the NFL Play of the Year Award for the 2015 season and was named the year's best play in North American sports at the 2016 ESPY Awards.
Alex Kemp is an American professional football official in the National Football League (NFL). He wears uniform number 55. He entered the league in the 2014 season as a side judge and was promoted to referee for the 2018 season following the retirements of Ed Hochuli and Jeff Triplette. He went to Greenville High School in Greenville, Michigan. In September 2023, Kemp went viral for his response to Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith interrupting him over an intentional grounding call, with Kemp replying, "I'm talking to America here."
The 2022 season was the Minnesota Vikings' 62nd in the National Football League (NFL), their seventh playing home games at U.S. Bank Stadium and their first under new general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and new head coach Kevin O'Connell, following the firings of Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer at the end of the 2021 season.