| Ed Hochuli Bio |
BIRTHDATE
Dec 25, 1950
HOMETOWN
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
FAMILY
Wife: Brenda; Children: Scott, Heather, Jennie, Shawn, Aaron, Rachel (Range in age from 14-27); Five Grandchildren
EDUCATION
BA, University of Texas at El Paso; JD, University of Arizona
OCCUPATION
Referee, National Football League;
Second Job: Partner in the law firm of Jones, Skelton and Hochuli (specializes in civil litigation).
OFFICIATING HIGHLIGHTS
Referee in Superbowl XXXII, in San Diego between Green Bay and Denver
First NFL game, August 11, 1990 at Lambeau Field (“A great place to start.” Green Bay (a “home game” for this Milwaukee native).
First NFL game as Referee, August, 1992. Denver v. Cincinnati.
HOBBIES
I have no hobbies other than my kids. Officiating is a huge time expense, a time cost; and with that many kids, and I now have five grandkids, there is so much going on all the time. I try to create time for the rest of my life — the kids and my wife, and I spend a lot of time going to their things and trying to include them in my life. | | |
Officiating.com will feature a series of interviews with prominent NFL and college officials, supervisors and coaches. This is the first in that series, and we elected to begin with our discussion with Ed Hochuli, President of the NFL Referees’ Association. Ed is a great ambassador for football officiating; a bright, engaging guy, and has some excellent insights for officials at all levels. We hope you enjoy this series.
Officiating.com: What advice would you give to officials?
Hochuli: Anybody can be successful at officiating if they’re willing to put in the time and effort. The only thing that I have, along with the other 118 NFL officials is putting in the time and making that commitment. I’m not suggesting that everybody should do that, but that’s what it takes.
Officiating.com: After that preparation, is a certain amount of good fortune also involved?
Hochuli: I look back to my career, and the keys that have gotten me from one step to the next have had a certain amount of fortuitousness. I’ve always felt that everybody get breaks at one time or another, and a lot of times we don’t recognize the break, or we’re not prepared to deal with it when it comes up. When the opportunity presents itself, if you have properly prepared then you get to move on.
My point is that there is nothing special about me, it’s just that you need to pay your dues and you need to work your hardest every time. If you do that, and know the rules then when you have that fortuitous opportunity when there happens to be someone watching you that you hopefully get lucky and have a good game. That’s why I really do think that officiating is one of those things that most anybody can succeed at.
Continued...
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