Gene Steratore Gene Steratore is an American football official in the National Football League ( NFL ) since 2003 . He entered the league as a field judge and was promoted to referee at the start of the 2006 season , one of two new referees ( Jerome Boger the other ) for that season , following the retirements of Bernie Kukar and Tom White . He wears uniform number 114 . After Bill Vinovich ' s retirement in 2007 , Steratore has been the only NFL referee to also officiate National Collegiate Athletic Association ( NCAA ) Division I men ' s basketball games , which he has done since 1997 . Personal . Steratore lives in his native Pittsburgh suburb of Washington , Pennsylvania . He also is a college basketball referee , mainly working in the Northeast . He officiates in many conferences , including the Big 10 Conference , Big East Conference , Atlantic 10 Conference , Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference , and the Colonial Athletic Conference . He also has officiated in the NCAA Men ' s Division I Basketball Tournament and the NIT . He worked the second - round game between Southern Mississippi and Kansas State in the 2012 tournament at Pittsburgh ' s Consol Energy Center . Gene has an older brother , Tony , also an NFL official , who is a back judge currently assigned to Jerome Boger ' s officiating crew . His father , Gene Steratore Sr . , was a college football official and basketball referee . Steratore resides in Washington , Pennsylvania , where he and his brother are the co - owners of Steratore Sanitary Supplies , outside of his NFL officiating duties . NFL career . Steratore took over briefly as referee during a December 28 , 2003 regular season game 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 . 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 . Exactly one year later , he refereed the Baltimore Ravens ' 33 – 14 victory over the New England Patriots in an American Football Conference ( AFC ) Wild Card match at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough , Massachusetts . Steratore ' s 2011 NFL officiating crew consists of umpire Bill Schuster , head linesman Wayne Mackie , line judge Ron Marinucci , field judge Bob Waggoner , side judge Mike Weatherford and back judge Dino Paganelli . 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 . Late in the fourth quarter , Lions receiver Calvin Johnson caught what was originally ruled as the winning touchdown for Detroit . However , Steratore reviewed the play and overturned the call to an incomplete pass , ruling that Johnson lost control of the ball while going to the ground before he " completed the process of completing the catch " . The rule applied in this situation states , " If a player goes to the ground in the act of catching a pass ( with or without contact by an opponent ) , he must maintain control of the ball after he touches the ground , whether in the field of play or the end zone . " Despite speculation that the Calvin Johnson ruling was incorrect , Steratore was supported by the National Football League and backed by its former vice president of officiating Mike Pereira on Fox Sports .