News
BJ Kirk Dornan’s late retirement leaves vacancy, 14th this year
Football Zebras has learned from multiple sources that back judge Kurt Dornan has retired. He is now the 14th official to have left the NFL since last February’s Super Bowl. Dornan was listed on the final roster by the NFL back in June, attended the clinics in Dallas in July, and was still scheduled for preseason games in August. Dornan passed the physical at the clinic, but apparently a lingering knee injury forced him into retirement before the first regular season game. He referred us to the league for answers to our questions; the league declined to comment.
Dornan did not work a playoff game last season due to injury, and was assigned to a wild card game the season before. In total, he worked 11 playoff games, three of them being conference championships. Hired by supervisor of officiating Jerry Seeman in 1994, Dornan worked 20 seasons in the NFL.
Dornan was assigned to referee Mike Carey’s crew back in May; when Carey resigned to work for CBS, Dornan was one of two officials from that crew assigned to first-year official Brad Allen, who was promoted to referee. Dornan’s position on Allen’s crew will remain vacant for the duration of the season. A back judge whose crew is on a bye week — or, in certain circumstances, works a Thursday game — will fill in on Allen’s crew each week.
A summary of the officials who have left the NFL field after the conclusion of the 2013 season:
| Exp. | Departure | College | Occupation | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 19 | Scott Green | 23 | retired | Delaware | president, government support services |
| R | 14 | Ron Winter | 19 | retired | Michigan State | university professor |
| U | 53 | Garth DeFelice | 16 | to supervisor | San Diego State | distribution center manager, beverage company |
| U | 70 | Scott Dawson | 19 | retired | Virginia Tech | president/owner, commercial construction company |
| HL | 26 | Mark Baltz | 25 | unspecified | Ohio | sales consultant |
| FJ | 88 | Scott Steenson | 23 | retired | North Texas | commercial real estate developer |
| SJ | 16 | David Wyant | 23 | retired | Virginia | consulting engineer |
| SJ | 87 | Keith Parham | 3 | unspecified | Howard | advertising operations manager |
| SJ | 128 | Larry Rose | 17 | retired | Florida | financial planner |
| BJ | 126 | Don Carey | 19 | unspecified | California-Riverside | contract manager |
| BJ | 2 | Billy Smith | 20 | to replay official | East Carolina | retired federal government |
| R | 94 | Mike Carey | 24 | resigned | Santa Clara | owner, skiing accessories |
| FJ | 50 | Mike Weir | 12 | retired | Missouri | owner, sporting goods store |
| BJ | 6 | Kirk Dornan | 20 | retired | Central Washington | purchasing manager |
