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In the world of officiating, you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. That’s the way it was this season in the NFL. As it turned out, the officials were bigger losers than the Chargers. You see, the Chargers get a high draft choice. The officials get nothing but bad raps. Ken Faulkner of Henrietta knows what it’s like to run around a 100-yard field in black and white pin stripes. He has spent 28 of his 49 years officiating football games and has been a Southwest Conference offi cial the past six seasons. So Faulkner knows what NFL officials are going through. “There has been a lot of overreaction this season in the pros because several of the disputed calls have been real critical plays,”’ the personable Faulkner exp lained: ‘It’s really unfortunate that Ole Bergman (Jerry) was there for two of them. He's been a good official for several years and now all of a sudden he’s incompe tent. It’s unfair.” But Faulkner feels it’s good for fans to come to the park and release some of their tensions, as long as they keep their bottles in their overcoats. “Some fans, like the guy who threw the whisky bottle in Minnesota, get out of line, but most of them cause no harm,” he said. “Sixty to 70 per cent of them pay half of their entertainment dollar just to go out and bop a striped shirt. I think that’s fine. It's healthy and helps them get rid of some of their tensions.’ With NFL officials under heavy fire from coaches and owners, the suggestion, of using instant replays, has been brought forth. I think this would take a much needed human element from the game and cause more problems than there are al ready, Faulkner agrees. “T watched the last Olympics when they used machines in some of the events,and I detected a ho-hum attitude,” he said‘How do you bon a machine? “Instant replays would. ‘probably cause more arguments than before and I don’t think they’ll ever buy it. Of course I’m talk ing about college coaches. I've never had any experience with the pros, a “Even though as a‘fah I might didagree with a call from the $tands' wil never argue with an official if he’s iit position is make the call. If he’s out of position, he doesn’t have much of a leg to stand on. “Most coaches will tell you that officials will make some mistakes and they all do. When I go on the field, I'll tell you that I'm not going to make any, but over the years you're bound to make a few.” Vikings coach Bud Grant said after Drew Pearson's disputed touchdown catch, ‘‘It was as clear as day and night. Wright (Nate) was pushed. “The coach has the sorriest seat in the house,”’ Faulkner answered. Grant went on to say that NFL referees are “‘part-time officials and said the league’ needs to hire fulltime men. Faulkner doesn’t see that being possible. “I don’t know what he'd do the rest of the week,” he replied. ‘‘He might look at films and see how he performs. We all do that. But what could he do the rest of the week?” He couldn't call practice games. That wouldn't help a bit. I just don’t know what a guy could do during the week to be more proficient. “College officials have an advantage be cause we can call junior high games during the week and a high school game on Friday night. This keeps us in better shape physi cally and mentally. When you see one of our guys hit the field, you'd think that officiat ing was his sole profession and livelihood. College officials are really dedicated to the game.’ Faulkner works for a motor freight com pany during the week. I’ve never noticed any lumps on his head, but I just had to ask Ken if he had ever been conked with a bottle. “ve been in games where the fans were upset with the outcome and the officials, but heck, you’ve had speeding tickets and you were mad at the cop for awhile. This has been a very rewarding avocation for me and I’ve never really had any trouble. “After all, I worked the Texas Aggie game this year and came out alive,” he laughed. KEN FAULKNER . SWC official
Newspaper Details
Wichita Falls Times
Wichita Falls, Texas, US
Fri, Jan 23, 1976
Page 17
Full Page
Clipped by
Andy F.
USA 02 Jun 2026
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