Walt Anderson (American football official)

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Dr. Walt Anderson is an American football official in the National Football League (NFL) since 1996. Anderson spent his first seven seasons in the NFL as a line judge before being promoted to referee for the start of the 2003 NFL season. He wears the uniform number 66.

Anderson is a 1974 graduate of Sam Houston State University in Texas and played football for the school and was a two-time Academic All-American. Wanting to stay active in football following college, Anderson decided to pursue a career in officiating.

He began officiating junior high and little leagues, high school, then eventually college. In 11 years of college experience, he worked games in the Lone Star (Division II), Southland (Division I-AA), and Southwest Athletic Conferences (Division I). At the college level, Anderson was scouted by ex-NFL officials who were looking to fill openings at the professional football level.

Anderson joined the NFL in 1996 and since then he has worked playoff games in every year of eligibility, including five Wild Card, two Divisional and three Championship games, with the pinnacle being Super Bowl XXXV in 2000 as of the 2006 NFL season. Anderson cites Super Bowl XXXV as being his most memorable game^[1].

On April 26, 2006, Anderson was named Coordinator of Football Officials for the Big 12 Conference. He was preceded in the position by former NFL field judge Tim Millis.

Anderson is also a retired dentist (Doctorate of Dentistry, University of Texas Dental Branch, 1978) is married to Afshan and have five children. They currently reside in Sugar Land, Texas.

Anderson's 2006 NFL officiating crew consists of Butch Hannah, Phil McKinnely, Gary Arthur, Terry Brown, Rick Patterson, and Billy Smith. Anderson's crew worked the NFC wild card game on January 6, 2007 between the Dallas Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks at Qwest Field. Mike Weir replaced Brown as the field judge on the crew for the playoff game, since Brown is ineligible for the playoffs as a rookie official. ^[2]