caption death_date birth_place birth_date image article_title name
conway on a 1953 bowman football card 3 august 2012 north kansas city , missouri 16 march 1930 al conway - 1953 bowman.jpg al conway
 alfred joseph conway
al conway

alfred joseph conway -lrb- march 16 , 1930 -- august 3 , 2012 -rrb- was an american football official 28 seasons .
he worked in the american football league -lrb- afl -rrb- in its last year , 1969 , and in the national football league -lrb- nfl -rrb- from 1970 to 1996 .
over the course of his career in professional football , conway officiated 31 playoff games , including four super bowls -- super bowl ix in 1975 , super bowl xiv in 1980 , super bowl xvi in 1982 , and super bowl xxii in 1988 .
on the field , he wore uniform number 27 .
as a student at north kansas city high school , conway excelled in football , track and field , basketball , and baseball .
upon graduating , conway was considered by many to be the best running back in football in the kansas city metropolitan area and perhaps in the entire state as a senior and one of the best athletes of all time to hail from missouri .
after high school , conway was recruited to play football for coach earl blaik at the united states military academy .
he participated in track and field as well , but finished his final year of college at william jewell college in liberty , missouri .
after finishing college , conway was a number one selection by the philadelphia eagles in the 1953 nfl draft , but had his career ended early due to a string of injuries .
staying close to the sport he enjoyed the most , conway took up officiating and joined the afl in 1969 as an umpire .
later , where he worked several seasons in the nfl on the crew of highly regarded referee pat haggerty .
after retiring as an official following the 1996 nfl season , conway became involved in training newly hired umpires and also serves as an observer for the nfl .
conway and his wife , bev , resided in branson , missouri and had five children , mike , susie , jim , patty , and david .
