Former Buc Player Steve Shaw-Current Top Football Official
By Wayne Wood

If you’ve watched SEC college football games either in person or on TV through the years, there's a good chance you've seen a blond-haired, white-capped official explaining a game penalty to everyone. It's probably Steve Shaw who has gained a reputation as one of the top college officials in the nation. Besides numerous regular season games and an occasional SEC championship game, Shaw has also officiated several post-season bowl games including the Gator Bowl, the Rose Bowl and the 2000 National Championship game in the Sugar Bowl. This has brought him in close contact with many great coaches and players. Although a referee is in a controversial position it's something Shaw loves doing.

Shaw grew up in Hoover and played for Coach Bob Finley and the Berry Bucs during the mid-1970's. He graduated in 1977 and wanted to become a high school coach and discussed it with Finley. However, Finley persuaded him to seek another professional path. Shaw graduated from the University of Alabama with honors and found an excellent job with BellSouth(AT&T) in the Birmingham area-where he now lives.

Although his playing days were long finished in the early 1980's, Shaw still had a strong desire to get back into football at some level, so he chose to be a referee. He began in 1981 doing a mixture of little league games, middle school and high school games and did this through 1995. He worked the 1991 state 6-A championship game. Along the way, he also began to work college games at the Division II level for the Gulf South Conference.

Shaw had the desire to advance this part-time profession to a higher level and again decided to seek out the advice of his former Buccaneer coach-Bob Finley. He explained, "Coach Finley and I were having lunch together in the summer of 1993 at a nearby restaurant. He asked me again about my work as an official, congratulated me on my job in the state championship game. He asked what was next in my career. I told him of my dream to officiate SEC football. We had an enjoyable lunch and conversation and then parted our ways. Later that summer, Coach Finley wrote a letter to Bobby Gaston, then the supervisor of SEC officials. I believe this was a strong influence in getting me an opportunity to work in that league."

Shaw gained invaluable experience calling games at schools throughout the Southeastern Conference as well as across the nation. He was not allowed to call any Alabama games as rules prohibit alumni from calling games of their alma mater. He rose through the ranks gaining awards for his services as an official.

One experience as an official stood out to Shaw which brought back memories of his high school days as a Buccaneer. He was in Knoxville in 1998 to help work a scrimmage for Tennessee before their opening game. Head coach Phil Fulmer did this with real game officials to help prepare his team for expectations in a contest. (Tennessee went on to win the National Championship that year).

Bert Ackerman was head of the SEC officials at the time and held a private meeting with Shaw and the other referees in the Tennessee locker room. The room's walls and ceiling were covered in orange and white remembrances of the team's past achievements and one thing caught Shaw's glancing attention.

Shaw explained, "The locker room was very impressive as my eyes slowly made it around the room. Then I saw something painted on the front wall of the room that sent cold shivers down my spine. It was the UT 'Game Maxims' word for word as Coach Finley would recite for us before each of our Friday night high school games. As a player, those words will always echo in my soul, and I could almost hear the voice of Coach Finley. I have never been so pumped up to work a scrimmage!"

Shaw later talked to Ackerman about his sentimental recollection upon seeing the words his high school had always recited. Ackerman responded in saying that he was a freshman at UT when Finley was a senior and got to know him then and years afterward sharing the same respect.

Steve Shaw grew from his experience as a Buccaneer football player from the city of Hoover and it has helped him in many ways of his daily life. He used it in his work as a top college football official as he travels to many large stadiums across the nation. While he conveys penalty and play information which might affect the outcome of a game--angering thousands and satisfying thousands of others, he will know to do it with total honesty, integrity, class, and character. After all, that's the way his old Buccaneer coach, Bob Finley, would have wanted him to do it.