| 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: How did you break into the NFL?
Hochuli: Getting into the NFL is not a matter of who you know because they don’t even take letters of recommendation in the NFL, and I certainly didn’t know anybody. I submitted an application and that was it. I never heard from them, and I never knew a single time that anybody was in the stands scouting me. I learned after that that they scout you for five years before they even talk to you. When I submitted my application, I got in the next year so what that means is that they had already been scouting me for five years and I never knew that.
Officiating.com: Your first NFL Game was almost a “home game” for you, having been born in Milwaukee.
Hochuli: That was one thing that was really kind of special about it. I had been born there, and my Dad was a huge Packers fan, and so I flew my Dad and a couple of my kids to that game, and they were there and it was really a neat thing for me.
Continued...
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