{{Short description|American football official (born 1940)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Jim Quirk | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = {{Circa|1945}} | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | education = | occupation = NFL official (1988–2008) | spouse = | parents = | children = Three | website = }}
'''Jim Quirk Sr.''' (born {{Circa|1945}}) is an American football official in the National Football League (NFL) from the 1988 NFL season to the 2008 NFL season. Quirk, who wore uniform number 5, was notable for his hustle between plays on the football field, resulting in the length of games being shortened.<ref name=hustle>{{cite news | first=Paul | last=Zimmerman | url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/dr_z/news/2001/11/28/drz_insider/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011201054703/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/dr_z/news/2001/11/28/drz_insider/ | url-status=dead | archive-date=December 1, 2001 | authorlink=Paul Lionel Zimmerman |title=The hurry-up ump | publisher=CNN Sports Illustrated | date=November 28, 2001 | accessdate=January 27, 2007}}</ref> He is known for being involved in a game that later became known as the "Instant Replay Game".
==Personal== Quirk attended high school at Long Branch High School in Long Branch, New Jersey, where he played football, and later graduated from in 1963.<ref name=Atlanticville>{{cite news |title=NFL official Jim Quirk proud of his Long Branch roots |url=http://atlanticville.gmnews.com/news/2002/0628/Sports/027.html |publisher=Atlanticville |date=June 28, 2002 |accessdate=December 27, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060129042200/http://atlanticville.gmnews.com/News/2002/0628/Sports/027.html |archive-date=January 29, 2006 }}</ref> Following high school, he served two years at Fort Monroe in Virginia as a First Lieutenant in the Continental Army Command Headquarters Honor Guard Company.<ref name=Atlanticville /> He was a guard and linebacker at the University of Delaware<ref name=hustle /> and later earned a master's degree in personnel administration from George Washington University.<ref name=Atlanticville />
Quirk began a career in government securities on New York City's Wall Street in 1965.<ref name=Atlanticville /> For thirty-two years, he traveled all over the world, trading with foreign banks.<ref name=Atlanticville /> While working in New York City, his interest began in football officiating.<ref name=Atlanticville />
A resident of Rumson, New Jersey, Quirk is married to Carol Christopher, his high school sweetheart; they have three children.<ref name=Atlanticville />
==Officiating career== ===Early years=== Quirk began his football officiating career working high school games, and as an off-field official at Giants Stadium.<ref name=Atlanticville /> During New York Giants football games, he served on the chain crew and later was the stadium's game clock operator.<ref name=Atlanticville /> Progressing to the college level in 1977, he officiated in the Eastern College Athletic Conference as an umpire until 1988.<ref name=Atlanticville />
===NFL career=== Quirk was hired by the NFL in 1988 as a line judge and he later moved to the umpire position.<ref name=Atlanticville /> Since coming into the league, he was assigned to Super Bowl XXXII,<ref name=Atlanticville /> and he was an alternate in Super Bowl XXXVIII.<ref name=PFW>{{cite magazine |title=Hometown runner named Rookie of the Year by fans |url=http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/Features/Super+Bowl/2003/notebook013004.htm |magazine=Pro Football Weekly |last=Schleiden |first=Keith |author2=Mike Holbrook |date=January 30, 2004 |accessdate=December 27, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050407082434/http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/Features/Super+Bowl/2003/notebook013004.htm |archive-date=April 7, 2005 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
====The Instant Replay Game==== {{Main|Instant Replay Game}} In Quirk's second year in the NFL, he was involved in an instant replay decision during a 1989 NFL season game between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers.<ref name=hustle /> It would become known in NFL lore as "The Instant Replay Game". On fourth down,<ref name=Dooley>{{Cite news |title=Interview with Tom Dooley |url=http://www.referee.com/sampleArticles/2001/SampleArticle0101/interviews/dooley/dooleytext.html |magazine=Referee |date=June 1991 |accessdate=December 28, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061021064331/http://www.referee.com/sampleArticles/2001/SampleArticle0101/interviews/dooley/dooleytext.html |archive-date=October 21, 2006 }}</ref> Green Bay quarterback Don Majkowski threw an apparent fourteen-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Sterling Sharpe with thirty-two seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to tie the score of the game at 13-13.<ref name=hustle /><ref name=Dooley /> As a line judge, Quirk ruled that Majkowski's body had crossed the line of scrimmage, which under rules was an illegal forward pass, nullifying the touchdown and turning over the ball to Chicago.<ref name=hustle /><ref name=Dooley /> The play was reviewed by the replay official, Bill Parkinson.<ref name=hustle /> Parkinson relied on the view supplied by a fixed camera on the roof of the stadium to review the play.<ref name=hustle /> After a four minutes and 54 seconds, he ruled the ball was still behind the line, overruling Quirk's call, and giving the Packers the score.<ref name=hustle /> Green Bay kicked the extra point and won the game, 14–13.<ref name=Dooley />
The impact of this play resulted in the change of the illegal forward pass rule for the 1990 NFL season to include a passer's body being across the line, not only the ball, in determining an infraction and a limit of two minutes for instant replay reviews.<ref name=hustle /> The following year, the Bears, still upset over the replay reversal, noted the game with an asterisk in the team's media guide as a "Replay ruling".<ref name=hustle /> It has been said{{By whom|date=December 2016}} this call was one of the factors that led to the resignation of Art McNally, who at the time was the league's supervisor of officials.<ref name=hustle />
====Altercations with players==== As an umpire, Quirk often is responsible for breaking up scuffles among players. During a 1999 NFL season game between the Chicago Bears and St. Louis Rams, Quirk attempted to break up a skirmish between the Rams Jeff Robinson and the Bears Ty Hallock.<ref name=STLtoday>{{cite news |title=Game 15: Bears can't cover Faulk's rampage |url=http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/rams/story/FB249B51DA929D8C86257337005159CD?OpenDocument |newspaper=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |last=Thomas |first=Jim |date=December 27, 1999 |accessdate=December 28, 2007 }}{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Quirk grabbed Robinson by the waist and tackled him to the ground.<ref name=hustle /> Robinson was ejected by Quirk for throwing a punch at Hallock.<ref name=STLtoday /> As the game was concluding, Robinson asked Quirk if he could have a photo taken together.<ref name=hustle /> Robinson later had the photo enlarged and hung it on the wall of his den.<ref name=hustle /> After the game, Todd Lyght commented on Quirk's tackle saying, "He did that with authority, and that was an older guy, too. That wasn't one of the young umps. He put it on him. I think that might open up (ESPN's) Prime Time."<ref name=STLtoday /> Dick Vermeil, then-coach of the Rams, later joked with Robinson, asking him, "(Quirk is a) Hell of a tackler, isn't he?"<ref name=hustle />
In another memorable game between the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers, this time during the 2007 NFL season, Quirk grabbed Packers linebacker Nick Barnett around the neck and pulled him to the ground during a scuffle between the two teams.<ref name=overtheline>{{cite news |title=Source: NFL tells ref actions against Barnett 'over the line' |url=https://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=3169226 |work=ESPN.com |last=Mortensen |first=Chris |authorlink=Chris Mortensen |date=December 26, 2007 |access-date=December 28, 2007}}</ref> Following the game, Quirk was told by league officials privately that he went "over the line" in restraining Barnett, but he would not face disciplinary action.<ref name=overtheline /> Mike Pereira, the league's director of officiating, said, "[Quirk] should refrain from similar techniques when trying to break up a potential skirmish."<ref name=overtheline /> At the time of the incident, Barnett's agent withheld from filing a formal grievance with the league in exchange for a public apology by the league that Quirk's actions were wrong.<ref name=apology>{{cite news |title=Barnett's agent wants apology |url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/football/nfl/12/27/bc.fbn.packers.barnett.ap/index.html?eref=si_nfl |publisher=Associated Press |date=December 27, 2007 |accessdate=December 28, 2007}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Joking about the incident, Barnett said, "I got in a choke hold, I couldn't really breathe a little bit. [Quirk] got a good one on me. I don't know how he got under that face mask, but he got a good hold on me."<ref name=apology /> On December 28, 2007, the NFL announced that Quirk was fined an entire game check, US$8,150, for his actions against Barnett and for an earlier altercation on December 16, 2007, with Atlanta Falcons fullback Jason Snelling on a kickoff return.<ref name=fine>{{cite news |title=Official fined game check for inappropriate contact with Barnett |url=https://www.espn.com/nfl/news/story?id=3171273 |work=ESPN.com |last=Mortensen |first=Chris |authorlink=Chris Mortensen |date=December 28, 2007 |access-date=December 28, 2007}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quirk, Jim}} Category:Living people Category:1940 births Category:American football linebackers Category:College football officials Category:Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football players Category:Long Branch High School alumni Category:NFL officials Category:George Washington University School of Business alumni Category:Sportspeople from Rumson, New Jersey Category:Sportspeople from Long Branch, New Jersey Category:Players of American football from Monmouth County, New Jersey