In some cases, though, it's still true today, like in the real-life showdown known as the National Football League. And Bill Leavy is a perfect example.

Leavy has traded in the black cap he wore as a back judge for the referee's white hat, and in just a few short years as an NFL official, he's already a crew chief, calling the shots, checking the replays, signaling the penalties and flipping the coin on national television.

It's all second nature for Leavy, who has plied his trade for nearly 30 football seasons, working his way through the high school, collegiate and professional ranks.

That's a lot of coin flips.

But there's one season that stands out in his mind more than the rest. It was his first as an NFL white hat—a referee—and it came on professional football's first day back on the field following the tragic events of Sept. 11.

Leavy and his crew were in San Francisco to work the game between the 49ers and the St. Louis Rams.

"It was an emotional day for the players, for us, for the country," says Leavy, a longtime resident of Willow Glen. "We felt it in the stadium. ... The patriotism was obvious. It was a football game, but everyone was there together."

As if all of that wasn't enough—his first game as a crew chief and the first game back after Sept. 11—as a former San Jose police officer and firefighter, Leavy faced even more emotion.

"My replay guy, Bill Richardson, is a former chief with the San Francisco Fire Department, and he asked me to wear an SFFD hat," recalls Leavy. "Before the toss, I announced that it was my special privilege to be there that day after serving 27 years as a police officer and firefighter in San Jose."

"It was all just spontaneous," he adds. "Afterwards, the [football] captains even applauded in honor of the people who had died. There were lots of goose bumps. It was an emotional time."

It was emotional, at least until kickoff. Then the fans, the players and the officials lost themselves in a football game. And Bill Leavy was doing what he knows he was always meant to do—officiate.

"I remember as a kid knowing all of the official's signals," he says. "I had a feel for it early on. I've enjoyed it all—high school, college. It's been a fun ride."

But it's been a lot of hard work, too.

"I've put a lot of effort into it, and it paid off," he says.

PAL was the beginning

Leavy is a 1965 graduate of Santa Barbara High School, where he competed on the swimming team. His athletic interests shifted in the years to follow when he played intramural football at San José State University (SJSU).

He joined the San Jose Police Department in September 1969, just before earning his degree in law enforcement from SJSU in the spring of 1970.

Two years later he joined the staff of the San Jose Police Athletic League, and it was there that his career as a football official began, thanks to fellow PAL officer Noel Lanctot.

"I met Noel, and he got me into it," Leavy recalls. "He said that he was doing high school football and that I should try it."

"As soon as I went into it, I knew it was something I really wanted to do," he adds. "So I did what I needed to do to get better."

Leavy rapidly worked his way through the officiating ranks and was working as a high school varsity official in his fourth year in stripes.

"I remember my first varsity game was at San José City College," he says. "That was one of the highlights I remember. That was a big deal—working under the lights at San José City College."

Eventually, Leavy became a white hat and had his own crew.

He worked many big games as a high school official, including Central Coast Section playoff and championship games, and a few of the Charlie Wedemeyer all-star football games.

"That was a highlight for me early in my career," Leavy says of the summer all-star classics he worked in 1979, '82 and '85. "It's an honor to be selected and to see all of the good high school players."

By 1984, Leavy was working Division I college football in the Big West Conference. While working in the Big West, he applied for a position in the National Football League. And waited, and waited ...

He spent 11 seasons in college football. During that time, he worked four college bowl games and waited to hear from the NFL.

Word finally came in December 1994.

"I was at work at the fire station, and Jerry Seeman called," Leavy says. "I said, 'Yeah, sure, Jerry Seeman.' I figured someone was setting me up for a joke. But he told me that I was one of 12 finalists, and to come to New York for an interview in January."

Leavy gets the call

He waited two months after his interview before he received his memorable call from Seeman.

"It was March 27, 1995," Leavy says, recalling the moment, "and Jerry Seeman told me the words every official wants to hear—'Welcome to the National Football League.' It was probably one of the most exciting days of my life."

But the excitement was just beginning.

Leavy worked his first NFL game in the 1995 exhibition season, and what a matchup it was: Buffalo versus Dallas in Texas Stadium, a rematch of Super Bowl XXVIII, played earlier that year in the Georgia Dome.

"I remember walking down the ramp into a sold-out Texas Stadium, and it was hot and humid," says Leavy. "I met coach [Marv] Levy and coach [Barry] Switzer. I was real nervous."

"For about the first half of the first quarter, I was thinking, 'Can I do this in the NFL?' " he says. "But as the game went on, I felt more and more comfortable."

It takes a lot of hard work for NFL officials to gain that comfort level. Life in the NFL is more than just football on Sunday afternoons—it's hours upon hours of watching game films; it's studying weekly training tapes; and it's preparation—a five-day clinic each summer, a physical stress test and classroom work.

But most of all, it's about using good judgment.

"One thing an official lives and dies by is his judgment," Leavy explains. "Your judgment is the key."

Leavy knows it, and he hears it constantly from Seeman.

"Seeman's favorite expression is, 'Make Super Bowl calls only'—that's pounded into our heads constantly," Leavy says. "We approach every game with the idea that we're going to do the best job we can in this game. Make the right calls, be in the right place, use good judgment."

Super Bowl XXXIIII

Leavy was literally making Super Bowl calls in January of 2000 when he worked as the back judge in Super Bowl XXXIIII in New Orleans.

"It's definitely a different atmosphere," says Leavy of the Super Bowl. "We looked at volumes of film. We spent a lot of time studying. ... We even practiced the coin toss six times the Friday before the game."

And the game itself is different, too.

"The stress level was much higher than normal," admits Leavy, his Super Bowl ring glittering in the noonday sun. "On that last drive by the Tennessee Titans, I couldn't spit."

"I was on the end line, and it was overwhelming thinking that the play was going to happen," he adds.

When the Titans ended up a yard short of the goal line, Leavy could breathe a sigh of relief for the call he didn't have to make.

Of course, Leavy's a guy who's not afraid to make the call, and he does his best to get the calls right. That's why he's wearing a white hat in the National Football League, and that's why the players of the NFL consider him to be a pretty good guy.

See, nice guys don't always have to finish last.