Ever wonder what happened to Armen Terzian

**NodakPaul** · 07-26-2006, 08:38 PM

You know, the ref who handed the Cowboys the NFC Championship in 1975, and was subsequently knocked out by a fan's whiskey bottle... Anyway, I didn't realize that he ended his career in shame too.

"wikipedia" wrote:

Armen Terzian was an American football official in the National Football League (NFL) from 1961 to 1978. He was a field judge and wore the uniform number 23. He officiated Super Bowl XI, but Terzian is most remembered from an NFC Championship Game in 1975 at Metropolitan Stadium between the Minnesota Vikings and the Dallas Cowboys, in which he didn't call an apparent offensive pass interference penalty against Cowboy wide receiver Drew Pearson on Viking cornerback Nate Wright after Pearson scored the winning touchdown in the last seconds. Then some angry fan hit Terzian with a whiskey bottle in the back of the head and was knocked out in the ground for several minutes. He did not require stitches, but had to wear a large white bandage around his forehead for the final few seconds remaining in the game. According to Jerry Bergman, one of the officials working the game, said "The substitute official came in after the kickoff and got $5,500 for working 11 seconds." [1]

Ironically, it was another non-call that ended Armen Terzian's career in the NFL, this time as a replay booth official in a 1988 game between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys. Terzian failed to review a play where the on-field officials had erroneously awarded a safety to the New York Giants. Terzian's mistake provided the margin of victory, as the Giants defeated the Cowboys 12-10. NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle suspended Terzian for two games following the error, but Terzian chose to resign.

Apparently he was a cowboy fan...