Making the call
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BOUNTIFUL, Utah — An all-expense-paid trip to the Fiesta Bowl — the college football national championship game between Ohio State University and Miami — was offered to John Robison in mid-December and he gladly accepted. The counselor in the Bountiful Utah Heights Stake presidency would have a great vantage point in the biggest game of the season, played in Arizona State University's stadium in Tempe, Ariz., on Jan. 3.
He would be in a striped shirt and wearing a whistle about 25 yards downfield from the line of scrimmage midway between the sidelines.
Considering it an honor and a labor of love, he played an important role in the thrilling double-overtime contest ultimately won, 31-24, by Ohio State.
Brother Robison was a natural choice for the assignment when the crew of Big 12 Conference officials was put together. He had years of NFL and college experience as a back judge, including other important college games and professional playoff games. Officiating has been a lucrative avocation for the weekday educator.
After graduating from the University of Utah, Brother Robison taught and coached one year in the Granite (Utah) School District. He has spent the remainder of his 32 years as an educator in Utah's Davis School District. He was head basketball coach at Bountiful and Davis high schools and helped coach in several other sports. He gave up the job at Davis so he wouldn't have to coach against his sons who were breaking onto the scene as athletes at rival Viewmont High. He is vice principal at Bountiful Junior High.
One of the biggest decisions of his officiating career came in 1998 when he was a 10-year veteran in the NFL. His stake president met with him and his wife, Joan, and called him to be bishop of the Bountiful Heights 34th Ward. Walking out of the stake president's office, he clearly understood the conflict between career and calling. "I went to the car with my wife and I said, 'What do you think?' She said, 'I think you should go home and write your letter of resignation.' "
Even though he loved officiating NFL games, and in spite of the significant loss of income it would mean, he was of like mind with his wife and resigned from the NFL.
However, he didn't give up officiating. He returned to the college ranks where the schedule during the fall could still be challenging but was workable. In 2000, he was called into the stake presidency and continues to meld Church service with service on the gridiron.
Born in Durango, Colo., Brother Robison spent his first 10 years living in western Colorado outside the Church. When his mother died, his father moved the family to Utah. His father passed away when he was a freshman at the University of Utah. After losing his parents, he said he was looking for answers about life and death. He had a little understanding of the LDS doctrine through friends who were members of the Church and said, "That made the most sense to me." He was taught the gospel and baptized by Jim Hill who had coached him while he was an athlete at Granite High School in Salt Lake City.
Brother Hill not only helped bring Brother Robison into the Church; he was also instrumental in bringing him into the ranks of football officials. He told the young school teacher that officiating was a good way to supplement his income, so Brother Robison jumped in on the high school level. Quickly he moved up to small colleges and, still in his mid-20s, reached the highest level of college football.
He hadn't really thought about moving up to the NFL, but became acquainted with another official who encouraged him. He applied, but didn't think there was much chance he would be hired. With his application in hand, league officials watched him work in the college game and called him for interviews. He said one interview abruptly changed from an evaluation of his qualifications to a discussion about the Church. The interviewer knew enough about the Church to believe that Brother Robison, as a member, had the character and integrity to work at football's highest level.
As he worked the demanding NFL schedule from August to January, he was often asked about the Church by people he ran into, he said. "The interest of people was so keen."
After giving up the NFL, he was hired by the former 16-team Western Athletic Conference and then accepted work in the new Mountain West Conference. At that time he was called by the Big 12 and transferred to that conference.
He said the experience has been enjoyable and praised his wife for her support while his schedule has been so demanding as much as six months of each year.
But the family also enjoys football. When he couldn't get enough tickets for his entire family to attend the Fiesta Bowl, his wife volunteered to stay in the hotel and tend the grandchildren. "She's always sacrificed," he said. "It was the biggest game her husband ever called, and she missed it. She wanted all the kids to see the game."
Thinking back on his NFL interview, Brother Robison remembers the interviewer saying officials "are the high priests of the NFL; the integrity of an official can never be questioned." Brother Robison knew that terminology meant a lot more to him as a member of the Church than the interviewer realized.
In officiating, as in life, Brother Robison said people should value their integrity, "exemplifying the same kind of honesty and moral characteristics so no one would ever question us."
E-mail: ghill@desnews.com
