Former Illinois Wesleyan football player Doug Rosenbaum (class of 1980) was selected to serve as the field judge on the officiating crew for the Super Bowl XLV game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Feb. 6, at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

It is the first Super Bowl assignment for Rosenbaum, who previously was an alternate and has been a National Football League official since 2001.
In 1996, he was an official at the Grey Cup, the Canadian Football League Super Bowl and, at the end of the 2000 season, he officiated in the national championship game between Oklahoma and Florida State at the Orange Bowl.

The NFL released the names of the crew on Thursday, Feb. 3. The NFL awards spots in the Super Bowl to officials with at least five years experience who grade out the best over the season.

The referee will be Walt Anderson, a 15-year veteran who was a line judge in the 2001 Super Bowl (Baltimore vs. New York Giants). Other members of the crew are umpire Chad Brown, head linesman Kent Payne, line judge John Hussey, side judge Mike Weatherford and back judge Scott Helverson.

A football and track standout at Normal (Ill.) Community High School, Rosenbaum was a defensive back at Illinois Wesleyan, where he returned kickoffs and punts and had six career interceptions.

After college, as a teacher and coach at Champaign Central High School, Rosenbaum, began officiating high school football in that area. Next came college games, starting in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin and, coincidentally, his first assignment was at IWU in September 1989.
He eventually moved up to be on the Big Ten roster of officials and also officiated in both the indoor Arena League as well as in Europe, where the NFL had started a developmental league.





. . . .

his day job has been as a financial planner, most recently with the Kingston Financial Group in Bloomington.