Former "Wearer of the Green" now sports black and white

Getting in touch with a vice president of one of America's major insurance brokerage firms is no easy task, but it becomes doubly difficult if that executive spends his weekends roaming about the country officiating at pro football games.

Temporarily at rest, David R. Moss '58 of Detroit recently discussed his two careers: as a National Football League umpire on weekends and as a vice president with Alexander and Alexander of Michigan the other five days of the week. He had just returned from a weekend in Atlanta, where the New York Giants beat the Falcons 16-13 in overtime. And the suit and tie Moss had on as he talked were soon to be exchanged once more for a striped shirt and cleats, when the New Orleans Saints hosted the Chicago Bears.

At Dartmouth, Moss was remembered as a player of the game, not as an official. He was a pretty good one too: an all-Ivy end who won at least two games with receptions of touchdown passes. Now, 25 years later, green and white have turned into black and white as number 88 takes to the field as one of the NFL's 15 regular umpires.

Some people fish. Some hunt or work in the garden. I am a football umpire," Moss said of his hobby. "There is nothing more exciting than being involved in a game when two teams lock horns. You get as pumped up as the players."

Though Moss loves his avocation (his vocation, he stresses, is insurance) he has one complaint: that an umpire's view of the game is not all that great.

It's a bad seat,'' the umpire said of his position behind the defensive line. "I concentrate on a little area. When we go over the game films, I've only seen a little bit of a lot of the plays."

In pro football, the umpire is one of seven officials. Situated a few yards from the line of scrimmage, an umpire is responsible for watching the blocking of the interior linemen after the ball is snapped. Because they're between the ball and the goal line, umpires like Moss have plenty to worry about - namely running backs. Their heads must be kept clear of flying pigskin and their bodies must be out of the way of people like Earl Campbell, a ball-carrier for the Houston Oilers. Moss - now in his 24th season of football umpiring and his fourth in the NFL —'does recall, though, one collision, with "Mean" Joe Greene of the Pittsburgh Steelers a few years back. That recollection is understandable, given that few people spend their weekends dodging 250 pounds (or more) of hard-running football player.

The official, who stands six-foot-four and weighs in at 220 pounds, once had a chance to become a pro football player himself. Three pro clubs approached him while he was playing for Dartmouth, but Moss thought he would have been a "marginal" player in professional football.

But since he spends his weekends on the gridiron nonetheless, Moss remains in good physical condition. "There is no real conditioning for standing around on the field," the umpire said. "Probably the best thing I do is golf; I get a caddy and walk the 18 holes." Moss also runs some and plays squash regularly. As an official, he also spends hours reviewing the 110-page rule book to keep sharp.

After his graduation from college, Moss worked with Travelers Insurance for three years and then spent 19 years with Massachusetts Mutual before signing on with Alexander and Alexander in 1980. He and his wife Jo live in Bloomfield Hills, MI, and have three children: Steve (a Dartmouth '85) and Rick and Jackie (high school senior and sophomore respectively).

Moss's connection with football actually goes back even further than his Dartmouth years, to when he was a two-time North Shore All-Star for Marblehead (MA). His officiating days started in 1959 when a fellow Dartmouth alum asked him to help with a youth program. By being in what Moss termed "the right place at the right time," he moved up the ladder to high school and then college-level officiating, the latter for the Mid-American College Conference.

About four years ago, Moss set his sights higher still: He sent an application in to the NFL. After going through interviews, psychological testing, and private investigations, Moss was selected as an official for the pros and began in that role with the 1980-81 season. He has taken about 20 weekend trips annually ever since to oversee league games.

"The NFL was the best and that's where I wanted to be," the executive and umpire said. What is next for the man at the top of two professions? "The Super Bowl, because that's the best of the best," he said.

David Moss '58. sporting number 88 on his black-and-white-striped umpire's jersey, finds himselfin the middle of the action in a pro football game. Weekdays, though, he is more likely to be in themiddle of an executive conference at the insurance brokerage firm where he works.