Fuera de lugar

Alberto Riveron is one of only 17 crew chiefs in the NFL and has earned the respect—if not always the agreement—of some of the most intimidating coaches and players in the game. But to his fellow officials, Riveron is still ripe for all-in-fun mockery at the first sign of even a minor screw-up.

Such was the case in 2006, when Riveron was working on Gerald Austin’s crew. In a preseason game in Jacksonville, Austin decided it was time for Riveron to get some experience as the referee—the official responsible for making the calls on the microphone and acting as the crew chief.

“Alberto was fine until there was a clock malfunction,” says Austin, 69, who now works as the supervisor of officials for Conference USA. “There were 10 minutes left in the first quarter, but Alberto looks up and sees the clocks go to zero. So he gets on the mike and says: ‘That’s the end of the first quarter.’”

“I run on the field to tell him what happened, and he said: ‘No wonder that was the fastest quarter I ever worked!” With 10 minutes left in the second quarter, the rest of the officials came over to tease Riveron. “You realize,” they told him, “that the second quarter is not over yet, don’t you?”

Riveron caught on quickly, and two years later, when Austin retired from the NFL, the Havana native was promoted from side judge to referee. Being the only Hispanic referee in NFL history is something that gives him as much pride as being the leader of his own crew of officials.

“Watching nine guys, including two replay officials, mesh as a unit is great,” says Riveron, 49, who came to Miami at age 5 with his mother, Irene Valdes. His father, Alberto Sr., joined them three years later. “Working with [the crew] week after week, they become part of your extended family.”

With his responsibilities as a referee and his full-time job selling hurricane shutters for Florida Storm Panels, it’s amazing Riveron still finds time for his nuclear family—wife Patricia, who is a teacher, and sons Tyler, 18, and Austin, 15.

NFL officiating is considered a part-time job—although it’s a misnomer both in time spent and money earned. Officials work about 40 hours a week when you factor in film study, performance reviews, meetings with fellow officials as well as the league office, and then the actual game. The paycheck reflects the commitment—between $2,500 to $8,500 per game depending on years of service and the role played on a particular crew.

The money now is certainly a lot better than when Riveron first put on a striped shirt. He was 17, having just graduated from Miami High and planning to be a teacher. He landed a summer job at Silver Bluff Elementary, working an after-school program. “The husband of a lady I worked with invited me to an officiating clinic,” Riveron said.

Soon after, Riveron was officiating youth-league games—lots of them—on the dusty fields surrounding the now-demolished Orange Bowl. “I would work six to eight games on a Saturday, making six dollars a game,” Riveron said. “The games would go from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The parents would be yelling at you from the moment you stepped on the field—every play was a zoo. And every coach thought he was a combination of Don Shula and Jimmy Johnson.”

Riveron survived the onslaught, and after four years, he graduated to officiating high school football (1981) and then college (1990). He went from working in front of 3,000 at a big high school games to hearing 80,000 crazies doing the tomahawk chop for a Florida State home game against Cincinnati. “Nervous?” Riveron said repeating the question. “That would be an understatement.”

By 2000, he was working Conference USA games in the fall and NFL Europe in the summer. All of a sudden, the Miami guy who had never left the United States was touring Germany, Holland and Spain. The NFL finally hired him in 2004, culminating a journey that started 27 years prior with those exhausting Saturdays of non-stop youth-league football. In 2008, the NFL promoted him to referee.

Riveron has justified his boss’ faith, making the playoffs—which are awarded on merit—four times in six years. “Every play is graded,” Riveron said. “There is a supervisor at every game, taking notes.”

 Playoff assignments are given to the top eight crews. Then the top three at each position—referee, side judge, etc.—are used to officiate the AFC title game, NFC title game and Super Bowl. An official must have five years of NFL experience at his position to be given one of those top games, meaning that Riveron will be eligible in 2012-2013. Does Riveron want a Super Bowl assignment and the ring that goes with it? “It would be nice—I guess the answer is yes,” he says.

Austin, his mentor, thinks Riveron has what it takes to get there. “A referee has to have good communication skills,” Austin says. “Alberto has good presence on the camera. When he turns on that microphone, he is confident in his signals and his demeanor.”

That was certainly the case on Oct. 12, 2009 in Miami, when Riveron worked a nationally televised Monday night game between the Dolphins and Jets. As part of the month-long Hispanic Heritage celebration, Riveron grabbed the mike to call his first penalty of the game—a false start on Miami.

“‘El número 81 de la ofensiva arrancó antes de la jugada,” Riveron said in Spanish. “Cinco yardas. Segundo down.’”

Austin said Riveron was “nervous’’ about making that first call in Spanish. “I know he had talked to his mom and practiced different calls that might come up,” Austin says. “He was afraid he might screw it up. I don’t speak Spanish, but he sold me with his delivery.”

Of course, that’s not what Austin told Riveron. “I called him and told him I couldn’t figure out if he was speaking Spanish or Creole,” Austin joked. “I said that’s why they booed the call.”

The boos most likely came because the call was against the hometown Dolphins—and not because of any problems with Riveron’s Spanish. But forgive Austin’s jabs at his friend. “To be an official, you have to have thick skin,” Austin says. “Not just to deal with the fans and coaches—but also your fellow officials. If you goof, you might as well be ready because they are going to let you have it.”