NFL Referee Bill Leavy Passes Away at 76

Bill Leavy, a former NFL official who famously served as the referee during the controversial Super Bowl XL, has passed away at the age of 76. The cause of death was not yet revealed by his family.

Leavy used to work for the NFL for almost twenty years, from 1995 to 2014. During that time, he had a cool job: officiating two Super Bowl games! One of them was in 2006 when the Pittsburgh Steelers played against the Seattle Seahawks. Sadly, the game had some not-so-nice moments.

Some people think that the referees made some bad calls against Seattle, like a penalty that canceled a great play that would’ve given them a great chance to score. There was even a penalty against Seattle’s quarterback, Matt Hasselbeck, for doing something illegal. Despite all this, Pittsburgh ended up winning the game 21-10.

Leavy’s passing has been met with an outpouring of condolences from former colleagues and fans alike. “Bill was an excellent referee and just a joy to be around,” said former official and CBS analyst Gene Steratore.

“His integrity earned him respect at every step of his football journey and the entire officiating community mourns his loss,” added Walt Anderson, Senior Vice President of Officiating via Football Zebras.

Despite his accomplished career, Leavy struggled with the memory of the controversial calls in Super Bowl XL. “It was a tough thing for me. I impacted the game,” he said in a 2010 interview. “As an official, you never want to do that. It left me with a lot of sleepless nights, and I think about it constantly. I’ll go to my grave wishing that I’d been better.”

Before Leavy became an official, he was a hero! He worked as both a firefighter and a police officer in San Jose, which is pretty impressive. Later on, he became a famous referee in the NFL. In 2019, he received a super cool award called the Art McNally Award. This award is given each year to a referee who is a great leader, behaves professionally, and is a good sport both on and off the field. Leavy totally deserved it!

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