Jim Tunney was born on March 3, 1929 in Los Angeles, California. He fell in love with sports early, standing out in football, basketball and baseball while at Alhambra High School. He was All-Conference in basketball as a senior at Occidental College and was named the 1951 Athlete of the Year.
Upon graduation from USC with a doctorate in Education, he moved right into his life's work, coaching, teaching serving as a principal and a district superintendent throughout the Los Angeles Unified School District from 1951 through 1974. But it wasn't education that would make him famous throughout America. It was officiating.
He began as a high school referee in 1951 and moved up to the NFL by 1960. At the age of 30, Jim Tunney was the NFL's youngest referee. Over the course of his career, he became a league historian, officiating in historic games such as the Ice Bowl, the Kick, the 100th Bears-Packers game, the Snowball Game, the Fog Bowl and the Catch.
In total, he worked a record 29 postseason games and three Super Bowls (VI, XI and XII) while finding time to officiate basketball games and team tennis matches. It was largely due to his longevity, range and knack for being at seemingly every historic event in league history during his time that he was referred to as the "Dean of NFL Referees". He was even named to the All Madden team in 1990. He was earned the Golden Whistle Award a year after his retirement in 1991 in honor of his many contributions to the profession.
Along the way, he became interested in public speaking serving as the President of the National Speakers Association for many years and was a charter member of the CPAE Speakers Hall of Fame. Tunney also founded the Jim Tunney Youth Foundation in 1993 which supported local community programs by developing leadership and work skills. He also found the time to author nine books: Impartial Judgement, Chicken Soup for the Sports Fan's Soul, Speaking Secrets of the Masters, You Can Do It!, Insights in Excellence, Lessons in Leadership, Building a Better You and It's the Will, Not the Skill.
Jim Tunney died on December 12, 2024. His memory resides in many places including the Pro Football Hall of Fame (1991) and the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame.
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