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Wednesday, November 18, 1998
Arlington officer moonlights as football official
By NANCY CALAWAY Arlington Morning News
ARLINGTON, Texas - For a few hours each autumn weekend, Arlington
Police Officer Dee Anderson trades his blue uniform for a black-and-white
striped shirt.
His duties as the department's spokesman suspended, Officer
Anderson heads to an area high school football stadium where he
watches for violations, illegal movements and, in general, helps
police the game.
"Being an official is like another world for me. It's
kind of a stress relief," said Anderson, 42, who is completing
his 15th year as a football official.
Regular television appearances from several high-profile Arlington
Police investigations have made him one of the area's most recognizable
police officers. So, his presence on the field tends to turn a
few heads.
"A lot of people do know who I am. They say 'Hey, I recognize
you,' and I get teased about being a celebrity," Anderson
said.
"This life, this police spokesman life, follows me wherever
I go. I can't evade it," he said with a laugh.
But when the whistle blows and Anderson takes his line judge
position this Friday night outside Waco, it's all about being
a football official.
"Out there I'm just one of five guys on a crew,"
he said. "When the game starts, they forget you're a police
officer and just think of you as an official."
The son of a newspaper sports writer, Anderson, 42, has always
been a sports fan.
"I spent half my life in a stadium watching some game
or another," he said.
He was a center and defensive end for the Eastern Hills High
School football team in Fort Worth, but his future playing dreams
ended with knee problems before he graduated.
Anderson studied journalism at the University of Texas at Austin,
and was a sports writer for several years before he entered the
police academy.
"I wanted to stay connected to sports somehow," he
said. "I checked into officiating and thought it would be
a good way to still be involved."
Working days as a patrol officer in 1983, Anderson spent his
free time as an official for football, basketball and baseball
games.
His part-time officiating work whittled as his family grew.
He has concentrated solely on football games for the past five
years.
Anderson's experience led him to officiate some of the district's
premiere match-ups. And he often is selected by the Southwest
Football Officials Association to officiate playoff games, like
the one on a recent Friday near Waco where the competing coaches
requested a neutral officiating crew.
"Oh, he's a great official. He's one of the best,"
said fellow officiating crew member Jim Grant, the instructional
technology coordinator for the Mansfield school district.
The pair have worked together for about six years, Grant said,
and the whole crew likes to tease Anderson about his rising excitement
level with each big play.
"He gets real excited and he kind of dances over toward
the call," Grant said. "It's hard to believe he does
the police job he does because he's always so calm, but during
the game he can get really excited."
Ron Kovach, president of the Southwest Football Officials Association,
described Anderson as a fair official who is always in the right
place at the right time during a game.
"I'd take Dee anywhere and put him in any ball game,"
Kovach said.
Anderson's expertise came like the other members of his crew
and any other football officials - through training.
Officials begin their clinics in July, preparing for the high
school football season, which usually starts in late August. There
is a state convention each year, and officials must pass two separate
tests annually.
Officials still in training are encouraged to "pull chains"
for a veteran crew, Anderson said, where they can learn as they
mark the ball's placement on the sidelines.
"I learned a lot by doing that because I had never watched
a game previously from an official's perspective," he said.
"A lot of what we do is very difficult to teach in the classroom."
In some ways, police training is a good asset for a fair official,
Anderson said. Members of the Fort Worth Police Department, the
Tarrant County Sheriff's Department and probation officials all
are part of the 300 members constituting the Fort Worth Chapter
of the officials' association.
"There are some natural parallels to policing, and I think
that's why a lot of people in police work may feel comfortable
doing this," Anderson said. "You make decisions on right
and wrong; you deal with people who are under stress, and you're
used to staying calm in that situation."
Conflict resolution is taught to the officials, Kovach said,
and next year, a Fort Worth police officer will be instructing
the official's class.
"As a line judge, Dee stands right next to coaches sometimes,
and they can be working and chewing on your ear for the whole
game if they don't like a call," Kovach said. "They
need to keep control over there on the sidelines, and Dee's conflict
management training would come into play."
Anderson said he now watches televised games differently, always
looking for what position the officials are in and how they are
making calls.
But he adds that he has no desire to move to the college or
professional level.
"There is just a tremendous time commitment involved,"
he said.
And if he did travel, his family couldn't come as often to
his games.
"My wife's been coming to games even before we got married,"
he said. "She gets caught up in the game, but our kids watch
me and say 'Dad I waved. Did you see me?' "
---
Distributed by The Associated Press
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