National Football Foundation

For more than three decades David Scobey was one of the most respected football officials working in the prestigious Southeastern Conference.

In college football circles, Scobey is best known for his action on the gridiron, but friends also know him as a man of many successful parts.

As a public servant he was Nashville's vice-mayor for 24 years. As a businessman he still runs a successful accounting firm which he started 50 years ago. As a dedicated family man, Scobey and his wife Ellen raised five great children who have given them seven grandchildren.

It is for his service to football that David Scobey has been named to receive the National Football Foundation Outstanding Official Award.

Scobey, a native of Nashville, has always been heavily involved in sports. He played second base in baseball and forward in basketball at David Lipscomb College and Vanderbilt University in the 1940s. In 1943 he served the US Navy in its officer training program. Later, he played semi-pro baseball for Du Pont Co. in the old Nashville City League and minor-league basketball with the former Nashville Vols.
Scobey's alma mater Vanderbilt beckoned him back as a part-time baseball coach and assistant basketball coach from 1949-55. It was in 1950 that he started his accounting firm, which is still in business.

He began his officiating career calling high school games in 1945. In the early fifties, Scobey began officiating Ohio Valley Conference, small college and junior college football games. He moved up to the Southeastern Conference in 1955 calling both football and basketball. He served the SEC as a head linesman for 25 years and was named the number one linesman in the conference eight different years.

Scobey officiated 12 major bowl games including the Cotton, Sugar, Gator, Liberty, Bluebonnet and Sun Bowls and the 1976 Orange Bowl where Oklahoma defeated Michigan 14-6 to win the national championship. He retired from officiating in 1980.
He was once asked what it was like officiating when high profile coaches such as Bear Bryant, Shug Jordan and Johnny Vaught were prowling the sidelines watching every move and call.

"Whether I was calling a high school game or a college bowl game, I always tried to ignore everything except what was happening on the field," Scobey reflected. "Surprisingly, I didn't really have any problem with those coaches. I never heard a word out of Bear Bryant as far as arguing a call. He might have an assistant who would yell at the officials but I never had a word or a confrontation with Bryant."

Retirement did not mean the end of Scobey's football involvement. He worked as an observer for the SEC, reporting to the commissioner's office on the quality of officiating performances. He also acted as rules interpreter for the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association clarifying rules for over 100 high school football officials during their weekly meetings.

His name recognition as player, coach and official were said to be of help when he ran for public office as Nashville Metro Council member at-large in 1963.

"I think that's probably the only thing that got me elected," Scobey said. "If they know you, and they don't know too much bad about you, they'll probably give you a chance."

Scobey sat as a council member for eight years until 1971 when he was elected vice-mayor, presiding over council meetings, controlling all committee appointments, ruling on disputes and serving as liaison between the council and the administration. He retired from that post in 1995 and during the 24 years he occupied this powerful and critical post, he never had any serious competition.

''I've never had any opposition," he once said, "just opponents." The man who succeeded him, Jay West had a parting compliment:" He's the ultimate role model, in my opinion. If Hollywood wanted to cast someone for the part of vice mayor in a movie about Nashville, David Scobey would get the part. And I would like to be his understudy."

David Scobey's understated take on these four very busy, successful lives: "I've enjoyed it all."