Making the calls… Three Carter County referees to work BlueCross Bowl final
Published 12:10 am Saturday, November 30, 2019
- Star Photo/C.Y. Peters Three members of the officiating crew pictured below are from Carter County and will be calling one of the BlueCross Bowl football finals on Saturday, December 7th in Cookeville. Jason Salley, Shelby Miller, and Roger Shaw all hail from Carter County.
BY C.Y. PETERS
STAR CORRESPONDENT
On Thursday, December 5th three Carter County referees will work in the BlueCross Bowl finals in Cookeville.
Shelby Miller will be officiating his fifth state championship game. It will also finish up Miller’s 54th season as a TSSAA official. He is a Happy Valley Graduate where he played sports for the Warriors.
Miller is a member of the TSSAA Hall of Fame and the Carter County Sports Hall of Fame.
“This is a great honor for me,” Miller stated. “I have worked four previous state championship games and each one was a great accomplishment in my TSSAA officiating career.
“I feel very fortunate at my age to still be actively working on the field. I look forward to working my fifth championship game” said Miller.
Roger Shaw who was just awarded his 40-year pin will be by Miller’s side. Shaw is a graduate from Unaka High School where he was a football
superstar. Shaw officiates several sports.
superstar. Shaw officiates several sports.
Jason Salley, who is the youngest in the crew and has been an umpire for six years, is working his first-ever state final.
“Calling in a state championship is the ultimate payoff for a high school official,” Salley remarked. “The fellowship with the crew on game days is something that I always look forward to.
“When the ball is teed up and kicked off they’re the only friends you have in the stadium and I know they have my back and they know I have theirs,” quoted Salley.
The seven-man crew has a total of 224 years in as TSSAA officials.
Larry Hutchinson from Mountain City will be the head referee, the man in the white hat, who will be working his fifth state final game. Larry graduated from Johnson County high school in 1971 where he played sports.
Larry also referees basketball and college sports and is a member of the TSSAA Hall of Fame.
Eddie Myers, Doug Dellinger, Tyler Bowman, and Scott Carruthers are the other four officials.
This is Doug’s fourth state final – he has officiated for 28-years and is from Kingsport. Doug is a graduate from Dobyns Bennett High School in 1966 and studied at ETSU (1972) and Pepperdine (1980) then retired from the State of Tennessee.
Eddie will be working his first state final and has been a member of the TSSAA for thirty-one years and lives in Johnson City.
Tyler is a ten-year man and is in his first final, and is from Greeneville. Scott, also from Johnson City, has been working for thirteen years and it’s his first final.
