Terry McAulay

Sport: Dave Dixon Award

Induction Year: 2021

University: LSU

An LSU computer science graduate who grew up in Hammond, McAulay was an NFL official for 20 seasons — the final 17 as a referee after working just three seasons as a side judge.

He officiated a total of 316 games (267 as a referee) of which 17 were in the playoffs. He worked seven NFC or AFC Championship games and is one of just six officials to referee at least three Super Bowls (Jerry Markbreit, 4; Norm Schachter, Jim Tunney, Pat Haggerty, Bob McElwee, McAulay, 3 each). McAulay served as crew chief for Super Bowls XXXIX (New England vs. Philadelphia), XLIII (Pittsburgh vs. Arizona), XLVIII (Denver vs. Seattle). He was the first referee to draw a Super Bowl assignment with fewer than five seasons as a referee when he was the crew chief for Super Bowl XXXIX after only his fourth season.

McAulay started his officiating career working high school football and basketball games while attending LSU before moving to the Baltimore area in 1982 after taking a job as a computer programmer and software engineer for the National Security Agency (NSA) where he worked for 26 years until his retirement in 2008. On the field, he worked in some smaller collegiate leagues before becoming a referee in the ACC from 1994 to 1997 and was the referee for the 1997 BCS title game in the Orange Bowl.

While an NFL official, he was coordinator of officials for 10 seasons for the Big East and American Athletic Conferences. In June 2018, McAulay retired from the NFL to become the on-air rules expert for NBC’s Sunday Night Football and Notre Dame football telecasts. … Born 12-24-1959 in Brownsville, Texas (moved to Hammond when he was 4 years old).