Chain Gang

Gerry Hodges has been a linesman for 30 years. He has spent between four and six weekends every fall marching up and down the sidelines.

Being a linesman isn’t a lifetime appointment, but it is a job where people shouldn’t notice you unless you’re being hit by a football player.

What they do is simple, really: follow the officials like lemmings.

“The main responsibility is following the officials and paying attention,” he said. “There aren’t a lot of mistakes, you just have to make sure you don’t have the wrong down.”

On each lines crew, there are six people and each has a different job. Two people are in charge of the 10-yard chain. There is the official down box, which shows which down it is, and the official box.

There is also the alternate down box, which is found on the visitor’s side of the field.

The last person on the crew is in charge of the orange tarp, which approximately marks where the first down is and it lies between the first down box and the field of play.

The person in charge of the clip, which marks the official spot, is probably the most important job, Hodges said.

The clip keeps the spot even when a linesman and the official sticks are bowled over by an errant football player who is run out of bounds. The clip also marks the original spot in case a measurement needs to be made.

The two people on the official down box and the official box do the same job week after week, but the other four linesmen rotate through so everyone gets a different look every weekend, Hodges said.

The linesmen need to pay attention to the officials as they check the down and the spot of the sticks every time, Hodges said.

Because the officials are always looking to make sure the linesmen are doing things right, mistakes aren’t very common, Hodges said. The biggest problem is getting equipment broken or bent because they couldn’t get out of the way.

Earlier in Hodges’ years as a linesman, there weren’t replacements lying around, but now there are alternate sticks ready in case something does get broken.

The only problem Hodges said he could remember was when the linesmen are mistaken for the officials and get an earful before the coaches realize they’re just the linesmen.

Each school is responsible for providing their lines crew, which means the linesmen don’t have to travel, so it’s a pretty easy job. That is why Hodges said he has been at it so long.

-krn@cc.usu.edu