John McDonough (American football referee)

John McDonough
Born
John McDonough

(1916-08-15)August 15, 1916
DiedJuly 10, 1978(1978-07-10) (aged 61)
Santa Ana, California, U.S.
EducationStanford (1940)
Occupation(s)American football referee (AFL, NFL 1960-1974), Administrator (WFL 1974-75)
SpouseBeth Lamb (1942-his death)
Children2 (Deveda: 1944-2018, Joel)

John T McDonough (August 15, 1916 – July 10, 1978)[1] was an American football referee. After graduating from Stanford University in 1940,[2] he served as an assistant superintendent of Orange County, CA Schools. McDonough wore number 11 for all 10 years of the AFL's existence, through the NFL merger, retiring after the 1973 season. Cal Lepore, the head linesman on Bob Frederic's crew, was named McDonough's successor as referee.

His 240 game assignments included Super Bowl IV, in which he performed the coin toss,[3] and the 1971 AFC divisional playoff game between the Dolphins and Chiefs, which is the longest game in NFL history.[4]

McDonough was the first referee to call a roughing the passer penalty in a Super Bowl, flagging Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jim Marshall on a third quarter hit against the Chiefs' Len Dawson. On the next play, Otis Taylor took a short pass from Dawson down the right sideline to a 46-yard touchdown which cemented Kansas City's 23-7 victory.[5]

After retiring from the field, McDonough served as the head of officials for both years of the World Football League.

McDonough wrote a book about his experiences. Don't Hit Him, He's Dead was published in 1978.[6]

McDonough died of cancer on July 10, 1978.[7][8][9]

  1. ^ "John Mcdonough". BilionGraves. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  2. ^ Oates, Bob (July 12, 1978). "McDonough Funeral Rites Set". Los Angeles Times. Thousand Oaks, CA. p. 4, Section 3. Archived from the original on January 29, 2022. Retrieved January 30, 2022.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. ^ "Super Bowl Officials". NFL Referees Association. December 29, 2019. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
  4. ^ Schultz, Mark (December 29, 2019). "NFL100: When John McDonough called The Longest Game on Christmas Day". Football Zebras. Retrieved January 29, 2022.
  5. ^ "Super Bowl IV - Minnesota Vikings vs. Kansas City Chiefs - January 11th, 1970". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved May 16, 2024.
  6. ^ McDonough, John; Owens, Paul T. (1978). Don't Hit Him, He's Dead. Millbrae, California, USA: Celestial Arts. ISBN 9780890872192.
  7. ^ Written at Santa Ana, CA. "obituary for John McDonough". The Daily News. Huntington, PA. UPI. July 13, 1978. p. 4. Archived from the original on January 27, 2022. Retrieved January 27, 2022.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  8. ^ "Beth McDonough obituary". Orange County Register. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
  9. ^ "Deveda Littauer obituary". legacy.com. Mercury News. Retrieved March 4, 2022.