Robert "Bobby" Gaton, a Georgia Tech wingback in the 1940s who went onto become one the game's most prominent officials and the recipient of the NFF Outstanding Football Official Award in 1995, passed away in June. He was 101.
 
Gaston started officiating high school games in 1950, began working Southeastern Conference games in 1957 and hung up his cleats after the 1982 Orange Bowl game which saw Clemson beat Nebraska for the national championship.

Gaston continued his love for the game, later becoming the coordinator of football officiating for the SEC in 1988.

Gaston's first college Bowl game was the 1944 Sugar Bowl, but then he was playing, not officiating. He played wingback in Hall of Fame coach W.A. Alexander's Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets' single-wing offense. His backfield coach was another man who would also end up in the Hall of Fame, Bobby Dodd.

A month after that Bowl Game, Gaston traded in his football togs for a World War II Naval uniform. He spent two years in the Navy and, as a landing craft boat commander, he saw action in the Pacific. After his service hitch, he returned to Georgia Tech and graduated in 1947. For eight years he ran a Texaco and Firestone dealer franchise. Then, in 1956, he decided to try the insurance business. It turned out to be a good decision. By 1968, he was a vice-president for Insurance Agents, Inc. In 1976, he opened his own company, Advanced Insurers, Inc. A very successful businessman, the Atlanta Insurance Women's Club one year named him "Boss of the Year."

During the years he roamed the gridiron, Gaston officiated 19 Bowl games. He even worked "hurt." One year he broke his arm working a preseason scrimmage. For the first six weeks you could easily pick him out from the rest of the crew. He was the one running around with the cast.

As SEC coordinator of football officiating, it was Gaston's responsibility to select, train, assign and evaluate all conference officials. All supervisors do that, but Gaston introduced some unusual wrinkles, including a conditioning program that included a stress test, a mile-and-a-half run, flexibility and agility drills. After completing the rugged tests, two officials found problems they didn't know existed until they went through Gaston's program. One official underwent a heart bypass, the other underwent an angioplasty procedure.

He also produced weekly video tapes, putting together a 25-minute reel of good calls, questionable calls and "controversial" calls. Gaston ended each tape with a motivational pep-talk, signing off with a message: "Hope you're not the star of next week's tape."

Born Oct. 18, 1923, Gaston was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in addition to being recognized by the National Football Foundation.