Eugene Joseph Steratore is a former American football official in the National Football League from 2003 until his retirement from the NFL in June 2018.
16 Facts About Gene Steratore
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Gene Steratore worked as a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I men's basketball referee from 1997 to 2018.
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Since the fall of 2018, Steratore has served as a rules analyst for CBS Sports, including the NFL, college football, college basketball, and March Madness.
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Gene Steratore entered the league as a field judge and was promoted to referee at the start of the 2006 season, one of two new referees for that season, following the retirements of Bernie Kukar and Tom White.
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Gene Steratore was chosen to be the alternate referee of Super Bowl XLIV, which was held in Miami on February 7,2010, and was chosen to be the referee for Super Bowl LII, played on February 4,2018, which would be his last game officiating.
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Gene Steratore was one of two active NFL referees who officiated NCAA Division I men's basketball games.
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Gene Steratore took over briefly as referee during a regular-season game on December 28,2003, between the Carolina Panthers and New York Giants after Bernie Kukar, the crew chief, was injured during a play in which he was hit in the back by the Giants' Clarence LeBlanc after a blocked punt.
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Gene Steratore worked his first NFL playoff game as a referee between the Arizona Cardinals and the Carolina Panthers on January 10,2009, at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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Gene Steratore was involved in a controversial instant replay call during week 1 of the 2010 NFL season between the Detroit Lions and the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field in Chicago.
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Gene Steratore was supported by the NFL and backed by its former vice president of officiating, Mike Pereira.
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Gene Steratore was selected as the first referee to officiate a game following the 2012 NFL referee lockout on September 27,2012, a Thursday-night contest between the Cleveland Browns and the Baltimore Ravens.
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Gene Steratore was named as referee for the NFC Championship game on January 19,2014, between the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers.
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Gene Steratore was the referee during the NFC divisional playoff game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers on January 11,2015, when a fourth-quarter, fourth-down catch by Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant was overturned using the "Calvin Johnson rule".
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Gene Steratore was the fourth referee to retire during the 2018 offseason along with Ed Hochuli, Jeff Triplette and Terry McAulay.
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Gene Steratore is unusual in that most other networks have not used a rules analyst for basketball or college football.
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Gene Steratore has an older brother, Tony, who was an NFL official until the 2021 offseason, when he retired.