With three Super Bowls on his resume, Jim Tunney '51 (1929-2024) became the face of football officiating
At the height of his officiating career in the 1970s, Jim Tunney ’51 was the embodiment of the football referee—so much so “that he was chosen by the editors of the NFL’s Pro magazine to model the referee signs that are shown in the game program each week,” Bob Oates wrote in a 1978 Los Angeles Times profile of Tunney.
The longtime Pebble Beach resident, who died Dec. 12, 2024, worked three Super Bowls (in 1972, 1977, and 1978) and over 400 NFL games in a career that spanned 31 years, from 1960 to 1991. A physical education major at ɫƵ, he played baseball and football but excelled on the basketball court, scoring All-Conference honors all four years.
Inspired by his father and namesake, a horse racing steward and football official who worked the 1947 Rose Bowl, Jim began officiating college football and basketball games soon after graduating from ɫƵ. He worked as a field judge in the NFL before being promoted to referee in 1967.
Away from the game, he completed a master’s in 1952 and a doctorate in 1975 from USC and spent 27 years in higher education, including stints as principal of Hollywood, Fairfax, and Franklin high schools. (With then-NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle footing the bill for first-class travel, he’d board a plane out of LAX on Saturday mornings during football season “and fly to Detroit or Green Bay or Miami or someplace else by myself,” he told L.A. Times writer Sam Farmer ’88 .)
Jim left his role as superintendent of the Bellflower United School District to form his own consulting service in 1978. A popular motivational speaker, he also wrote four books, including Impartial Judgment (1988), Chicken Soup for the Sports Fan’s Soul (2000), It’s the Will, Not the Skill (2004) and 101 Best of Tunney Side of Sports (2014), a collection of his weekly columns for the Monterey Herald. Jim received the Alumni Seal Award in 1985.
He is survived by his wife of 27 years, Linda; six children, Maureen, Michael, Mark, Janet, Debbie, and Bill; and 16 grandchildren.
