Carl Cheffers is an American football official in the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

 (NFL) since the 2000 NFL season

2000 NFL season

The 2000 NFL season was the 81st regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl XXXV when the Baltimore Ravens defeated the New York Giants.Week 1 of the season reverted to Labor Day weekend in 2000...

, who wears uniform number 51.

Personal

Carl Cheffers is married and has two children. Cheffers' father also was a football official and worked in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10).

Officiating career

As a college student, Cheffers became interested in officiating through his father, and decided to work intramural sports to make additional income. Enjoying the experience of student sports, he sought assistance from his father to officiate high school football

High school football

High school football, in North America, refers to the game of football as it is played in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations....

 games to begin a career. Starting in 1980, he worked several high school playoff games, and two high school championship games. By 1995, Cheffers began officiating in the Pac-10 where he worked for five seasons before being hired by the NFL. During this time, he also worked in the Western Athletic Conference

Western Athletic Conference

The Western Athletic Conference is an American collegiate athletic conference, which was formed on July 27, 1962, making it the sixth oldest of the 11 college athletic conferences currently participating in the NCAA's Division I FBS...

.

Since entering the NFL, Cheffers has worked as a side judge, most recently on the crew headed by referee Larry Nemmers. Cheffers was promoted to referee (crew chief) beginning with the 2008 NFL season

2008 NFL season

The 2008 NFL season was the 89th regular season of the National Football League, themed with the slogan "Believe in Now."Super Bowl XLIII, the league's championship game, was at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida on February 1, 2009, with the Pittsburgh Steelers coming out victorious over the...

 following the retirement of Nemmers and referee Gerald Austin

Gerald Austin

Dr. Gerald "Gerry" Austin is a retired American football official, who worked in the National Football League from the 1982 season through the 2007 season. He wore uniform number 34, which is now worn by Clete Blakeman. Austin has officiated in three Super Bowls, one as a side judge and two as a...

.

In his promotion to referee, NFL officiating director Mike Pereira

Mike Pereira

Mike Pereira is a former Vice President of Officiating for the National Football League . He first took over the position in 2001, succeeding Jerry Seeman. He was also a game official in the NFL for two seasons as a side judge on the officiating crew headed by referee Mike Carey...

 said of Cheffers, "Carl has been extremely successful on the field as a side judge. He is very knowledgeable of the rules, a good rules guy. Strong presence. He was part of Larry Nemmers' crew and he was clearly a crew leader. When we first saw Carl, we saw referee experience from him even though he had refereed basically at the small-college level."

Cheffers' 2011 NFL officiating crew consists of umpire Undrey Wash, head linesman Kent Payne, line judge Tom Symonette, field judge Jimmy Buchanan, side judge Laird Hayes

Laird Hayes

Dr. Laird Hayes is an educator and National Football League side judge. He wears the uniform number 125.He graduated from San Marcos High School in Santa Barbara, California...

 and back judge Todd Prukop.