Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

NFL official to speak at Chamber banquet

National Football League official Walt Coleman will be the featured speaker at the Prescott-Nevada County Chamber of Commerce Banquet Tuesday, March 26.

This year's theme is "A Night at the Movies," with dress again being casual.

Coleman is a 1970 graduate of Little Rock's Central High School, and earned his BS degree in Business Administration from the University of Arkansas.

Coleman has been officiating football since 1974, spending 14 years calling high school games in Arkansas.

From there he worked games in the Southland Conference, and from 1984-88 called games in the former Southwest Conference .

Coleman spent four years officiating football in the NFL in Europe, and was the referee in the World Bowl in 1995. This game was played in Edinburgh, Scotland.

He began calling games in the NFL in 1989, and has had to make decisions in major contests.

Coleman was the line judge for the divisional playoff game between Washington and Atlanta in 1991, then for the Philadelphia-Dallas game in 92.

In 1993, he was line judge for the Giant-Forth-Niner divisional tilt, and was also line judge in the 1994 wildcard playoff between New England and Cleveland.

Coleman stepped up to referee status in 1996, when he called the Philadelphia-San Francisco wildcard game.

In 97, he was referee at the divisional game between New England and Pittsburgh.

He called the NFC Championship game in 98 between Atlanta and Minnesota, following this up with refereeing the divisional championship in 99 between the Vikings and Rams.

Coleman was the alternate referee for the 2000 Super Bowl between Tennessee and St. Louis in Atlanta.

He also was the referee for the divisional playoff game in 2000 between New Orleans and Minnesota.

In 2001, he called the divisional game between the Raiders and Patriots.

But Coleman's life is more than football.

He's the past president of the Major Sport Association for Greater Little Rock Chamber of Commerce; past president of the Arkansas Dairy Products Association; past president of the Downtown Little Rock Kiwanis, where he's a George F. Hixon Fellow with Kiwanis International; and is the past chairman of the Arkansas Area Council of Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

Coleman won the young executive award in 1987 from the Little Rock Chamber, is a former board member of the Milk Industry Foundation in Washington, D.C.; and is currently a board member of the Little Rock Boys and Girls Club.

He and his wife, Cynthia, have two children, Walter and Courtney.

Coleman won't be the only celebrity at the Chamber banquet this year, as Miss Arkansas, Jessie Ward, will do double duty as mistress of ceremony and provide the entertainment.

She will also assist Chad Cornelius with the annual auction, which has been cut down this year to help save time. The Nevada County Fair Queens will also assist with the auction.

According to Mary Godwin, executive director of the Chamber, the auction raises enough money for the Chamber to be able to do other events throughout the year.

Local songstress Brandi Karlovec will sing the national anthem to kick the banquet off.

This year's meal is being catered by Mike and Kyla Chambliss. The menu be barbecue brisket, ham, baked beans, potato salad, peach cobbler and tea. The dinner will be buffet style, as it was last year.

The awards to be presented at the banquet include recognition of the past president, Carrie Nivens, recognition of the Farm Family of the Year, the Treasure of Gold and teacher's of the year from the county's three districts.

The festivities will conclude with the naming of Citizen of the Year.

The banquet will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 26, at the McRae Middle School cafetorium.

Tickets are $15 and can be purchased either at the Chamber office or from any Chamber member.

Godwin suggests those planning to attend buy their ticket early, as the MMS cafetorium has a limited seating capacity and has filled up quickly for the banquet in recent years.