Former Iolan Mike Wilmoth, 54, has dipped his toe into the big time. THE JOURNEY that led Wilmoth to the NFL started in 1976 with the first game of the season in Colony. MAY 5 of this year was a red-letter day for Wilmoth. WILMOTH’S FAMILY also got in on the fun. HIS FIRST regular season game was a doozy, Pittsburgh at Denver on Sunday night. UNBEKNOWN to Wilmoth at the time, the Tennessee-Detroit game was his last.
Earlier this season, Wilmoth worked three pre-season and three regular season games as a replacement referee for the National Football League. He calls it “an experience of a lifetime.”
Everything seemed larger than life.
The first game he officiated in regular season included Peyton Manning, a lock for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, suited up for the Denver Broncos.
Wilmoth worked games in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, and wandered into “the same dugout where Willie Mays once sat.” He refereed in Lambeau Field in Green Bay, where Vince Lombardi coached and legends such as Bart Starr, Paul Hornung and, more recently, Brett Favre won championships.
“Everything was first-class, top of the line,” Wilmoth told the Register in a telephone interview from Wellington, where he teaches high school history and American government.
“The intensity of the players and coaches is almost beyond belief,” he said. And TV doesn’t do justice to their enormity.
When Wilmoth stepped on the field for a pre-season game between the Carolina Panthers and Houston Texans, one of the first players he saw up close was Panther quarterback Cam Newton.
“What a physical specimen,” Wilmoth said. “I wouldn’t want to hit him with my pickup truck.”
Wilmoth also enjoyed a sizeable stipend as a replacement referee, though it paled to those who referee pro football games.
“I got a $5,000 signing bonus and was paid $2,000 for each pre-season game, $3,000 for regular season games,” he said, including the same amounts when he was alternate and watched games from the sidelines. Training sessions paid $500 a day and $75 for meals.
That’s a far, far cry from what Wilmoth has earned during 36 years of officiating public school and college sports and arena football games.
“I was playing softball at Humboldt that summer and George Cunningham asked if I’d be interested in replacing Dad (Don Wilmoth) on an officiating crew that fall,” Wilmoth recalled. “Dad had officiated for years,” and retired when named Iola Middle School principal.
Cunningham, then guidance counselor at Humboldt High, scheduled local officiating crews.
“I remember I was with Don Martin (also an Iolan) and Larry Gleue and Wilfred Lehmann from Le Roy,” he said.
Just out of high school, the opportunity to stay involved with sports — he played several at IHS — appealed to Wilmoth. So did making some extra money to help with college expenses.
“I also called a lot of games then with George and Buck (Quincy),” he added. “Sometime we’d do an afternoon JV game and another that evening. I learned more that first year, and by watching Dad officiate, than I have since, including the NFL.”
While at Pittsburg State, he “did anything that paid; football, basketball, junior high, high school, anything to help pay for college.”
Wilmoth continued after college. His resume includes Division II and NAIA college games, as well as arena league pro games.
His arena league experience began in 2000 at Wichita, and involved players who resembled the NFL’s behemoths, but for one reason or another never were able to move from the college gridirons to the lavish venue of pro ball.
“I got an email that said the NFL was looking for experienced officials who might work as replacements if a labor agreement with the regular refs wasn’t settled,” he said. “A Wichita friend and junior college official told me, ‘You got to apply.’”
He did and was one of 150 invited to interview in Dallas.
“We had physicals, were measured for uniforms and had workouts with Billy ‘White Shoes’ Johnson,” a former pro player, Wilmoth said. “I was in the umpires group and the foot drills went well. Then we were told to run a half mile through a series of cones. At the first turn I was last in my group.
“I decided I’d just keep up my pace and at the end someone told me I came in with the first third.”
During a subsequent meeting, Wilmoth was one of a group of 18 umpires asked if any would be willing to change to another position.
“I raised my hand,” he said. “I was willing to do whatever gave me the best chance to make it.”
Back in Wellington, Wilmoth heard nothing for more than two weeks.
“I had just about given up when I checked my email and there was a message to come to Dallas for a three-day clinic, to pick up my uniform and shoes and meet with my crew,” he said.
A crew consists of seven officials on the field, an alternate and two NFL employees in the replay booth.
Wilmoth’s wife, Aleta, grew up in Iola as Aleta Platt, and has an athletic pedigree of her own.
She played basketball at Iola High and is remembered for swishing a basket from the key to hand Yates Center its first loss of the 1975-76 season.
“She was there for my first pre-season game,” the Carolina-Houston contest, Wilmoth recalled.
Family always has been a huge part of the Wilmoths’ lives and he was delighted not only that Aleta, but also their children, Brandon, a teacher in Wellington, and Dawn, who works for Disney in California, and their spouses were on hand at the Denver pre-season game. His parents, Don and Kathy Wilmoth, and Aunt Mary Dickey, all from Iola, were at Denver’s Mile High Stadium as well.
Wilmoth started his abbreviated pro career as line judge and switched to head linesman, which required that he spot the ball at the conclusion of each play, an exacting and tedious responsibility.
An average game has about 100 plays from scrimmage and each time the ball is snapped, Wilmoth as head linesman had a specific role.
“Much of what happened on the field I never saw,” he recounted. “The first thing I did on each play was make sure it was a legal snap and then I read the (offensive) tackle to see if a run or pass play was developing. If it was a pass, I watched the No. 2 receiver and once the play ended, I immediately went to the ball, spotted it and moved the chains, if a first down resulted.”
“That was great, getting to call Manning’s first regular season game and also have Ben Roethlisberger (Pittsburgh quarterback) on the field,” Wilmoth said. “I talked to both of them. They’re nice guys.
“They told us afterward that there were 28 TV cameras on the game and the television audience was about 27 million — I was glad they didn’t tell us before the game.”
He also worked a Chicago-Green Bay Thursday night game, which gave him an idea of how well his crew functioned. It was the 185th meeting of the two long-time pro football rivals.
“After the game we went back to the hotel and in the bar and snack area were a lot of (Chicago) Bear fans,” Wilmoth said. “They applauded when our crew walked in. That meant a lot to all of us.”
He didn’t have much time to soak in the adulation. He caught a plane for Wichita that night and was in his classroom at Wellington by 11 a.m. Friday.
“My district was real good about working with me on the officiating,” he added. “There never was any problems with me getting off for games.”
His last game was Detroit at Tennessee and provided the greatest test of his officiating skills.
The game went into overtime. Tennessee scored on a field goal and Detroit had a fourth-and-one at about the Tennessee 30, close enough to try a field goal but the Lions apparently wanted to end the game with a touchdown rather than kick a three-pointer and go into a second overtime, Wilmoth said.
“They lined up and I’m sure the Lion quarterback was trying to draw the Titans offside with his count, but because of some mix-up the center hiked the ball. The quarterback tried to sneak for the first down.
“When I spotted the ball it was short and the play went upstairs for review. I sure was happy when the replay officials confirmed that where I spotted the ball was exactly right.”
Ron Baines, an NFL official, made a point to compliment Wilmoth after the game.
The next night — in a game without Wilmoth’s crew — there was a controversial play, which accelerated criticism of replacement officials. Before the week was up the NFL and officials union had an agreement.
Wilmoth said he took much from calling the pro games and opportunities to make friends.
“I have seven new friends (his crewmates) who I’ll probably never see again, but it was great to get to know them and also to have the chance to talk with many of the players,” he said, which often occurred during TV time-outs.
In a game involving Cincinnati, he visited with Terence Newman, former Kansas State star defensive back, and met a coach from Elkhart.
“I had some fantastic interaction with coaches — some did holler at me — and players,” Wilmoth said.
“It was so amazing to see the level of play in the pros,” he continued. “Those guys are so fast and highly competitive. And it was interesting to see that they turned it up a notch from pre-season to the regular season.”
In summation, Wilmoth said from start to finish the experience was almost surreal.
But, it didn’t jade him.
“I’ve gone right back to calling high school games,” he said, “and I’m loving it just as much as I ever did.”
Iola native hits big time, briefly
