Ft. Myers attorney J. Jeffrey Rice retires as an NFL referee
Over the past 25 years, Ft. Myers attorney J. Jeffrey Rice has officiated more than 400 NFL games and been granted 24 postseason assignments, including four Super Bowls and four Pro Bowls.
Ft. Myers attorney J. Jeffrey Rice, who has been moonlighting as an NFL referee for 25 years, hung up his whistle for the final time after last Sunday’s Pro Bowl.
Rice, a former managing partner of Goldstein, Buckley, Cechman, Rice & Purtz, retired as a game umpire after calling the Pro Bowl at Camping World Stadium in Orlando.
Rice began officiating high school football games in 1973, just a year after graduating from Northwestern University. After earning his law degree from Case Western Reserve University in 1975, Rice was admitted to The Florida Bar and continued officiating on the weekends in Southwest Florida through the South Gulf Football Officials Association. He steadily built a reputation as a premier official and worked his way up to college games, then NFL Europe games, before being hired by the NFL in 1995.
(Editors Note: NFL officials are not permitted to publicly discuss the sport until after the season concludes and Rice is not available for interviews until after the February 2 Super Bowl. The News hopes to speak with Rice and updated this story for the March edition of the News.)
Rice’s role on the field has been an umpire, which includes monitoring the line of scrimmage for illegal blocking or holding calls and false starts, as well as marking off penalty yardage and counting the number of offensive players on the field.
Over the past 25 years, Rice has officiated more than 400 NFL games and been granted 24 postseason assignments, including four Super Bowls and four Pro Bowls. Postseason officiating crews are considered the league’s top game officials. Rice is one of only 105 officials to work a Super Bowl game, and one of just 16 who have worked three or more Super Bowls, including two of the closest championship games in NFL history:
• Super Bowl XXXV (2001 – alternate official): Baltimore Ravens 34, New York Giants 7
• Super Bowl XXXVI (2002 – umpire): New England Patriots 20, St. Louis Rams 17
• Super Bowl XXXVIII (2004 – umpire): New England Patriots 32, Carolina Panthers 29
• Super Bowl 50 (2016 – umpire): Denver Broncos 24, Carolina Panthers 10
As an NFL official with 25 years of experience, Rice is recognized on a plaque displayed in a special exhibit at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Rice’s father, Bob Rice, worked for 19 years as an NFL official, including two Super Bowls.
