Tony Corrente

Tony Corrente (born c. 1952) is an American football official in the National Football League (NFL) since the 1995 NFL season. He wears uniform number 99. His officiating career is most notable for being the referee of Super Bowl XLI. He has also served as the Coordinator of Football Officiating for the Pacific-12 Conference since June 2011.

Personal
Corrente resides in La Mirada, California. He has earned a bachelor's degree from California State University, Fullerton in 1975 and a master's in education from Azusa Pacific University in 1988. Outside of his NFL officiating duties, he teaches social sciences at La Mirada High School. As a former baseball coach, his teams won the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section 3-A Championship in 1988 and were the runner-up for the same title in 1991.

Early years
Corrente began his officiating career in 1971 working high school and junior college level games as a member of the Long Beach and San Gabriel Valley Football Officials Associations. Between 1971 and 1981, Corrente officiated three California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section Championships and seven Junior College Bowl games as both a Referee and Back Judge.

In 1981, he was appointed to the staff of the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (later renamed Big West Conference) where he officiated the Freedom and California Bowls. His last 6 years in the Big West was as a full time Referee. In 1991, Corrente joined the officiating staff of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) where he officiated the Alamo, Aloha, and Rose Bowls.

National Football League
In 1995, Tony was selected to become a member of the NFL officiating staff as a back judge before being promoted to referee at the beginning of the 1998 NFL season. In his three seasons as a back judge, he worked two playoff games including the 1997 NFC Championship Game. Tony also officiated in NFL Europe working the World Bowl in both 1995 (Back Judge) and 1998 (Referee). In 1998, he became a referee after Dale Hamer returned to the head linesman position and Gary Lane returned to the side judge position. Corrente worked the NFC Championship Game in 2001 between the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey and the 2010 AFC Championship Game between the New York Jets and the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Since joining the NFL in 1995, Corrente has been involved in 13 post-season assignments including 3 AFC/NFC Championships and as the alternate Referee in Super Bowl XL and as Referee in Super Bowl XLI between the Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts.

Corrente's officiating crew for the 2011 NFL season consists of umpire Fred Bryan, head linesman John McGrath, line judge Darryll Lewis, field judge Gary Cavaletto, side judge Allen Baynes and back judge Greg Wilson.

Corrente was treated for throat cancer during the 2011 NFL season. In the second half of the season opener at M&T Bank Stadium on September 11, he sustained pain in his head, back and buttocks after being knocked backwards to the turf while trying to break up a skirmish between Matt Birk and Michael Oher of the Baltimore Ravens and Ryan Mundy and LaMarr Woodley of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Based on advice from a former member of his officiating crew, Corrente took Motrin instead of Tylenol for pain relief following the match. Unaware of its antiplatelet effect, he experienced bouts of coughing up blood while continuing to use the drug for the following two weeks. After the discovery of a cancerous mass at the base of his tongue, he opted to eliminate the tumor through chemotherapy and radiation instead of having it surgically removed. The seven-week course was performed at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Corrente was inactive from officiating during Weeks 13 through 15. He was able to referee the New Orleans Saints' 45–28 victory over the Detroit Lions in an NFC Wild Card match at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on January 7, 2012.