Tough Week for the Zebras

Two old time CFL officials, well known to many fans I'm sure, passed away this week.

Don Barker and Larry Rohan have blown their whistles for the last time so feel free to raise a glass to these great gents at some point this Grey Cup Weekend (a sad irony in of itself).

Donald "Don" Barker officiated in more than 500 CFL games including 10 Grey Cup finals.

After retiring he was the CFL Director of Officiating and a supervisor from 1985 through 1998. In 1999, he was inducted as a builder into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.[1]

Larry Rohan worked 15 seasons and 250 games in the CFL including 4 Grey Cups. After retiring from the field Larry continued on as the Game Day Supervisor in BC for many seasons retiring at the end of 2015.

I was lucky enough to know both these guys during my time on the field and was always impressed with how much they loved the game of football and how hard they worked to make the sport better for all.

RIP boys.

I've been watching the old Grey Cups on ESPN Classic this week, and saw Don Barker reffing the big games. Of course I'm old enough to remember him, but watching him, I could help but think that there was a man with a solid grasp of the game. Probably the best there was.

Of course I'm sure there were plenty of "fans" out there that constantly cursed his name...