There are not many game-related jobs in sports that are more thankless than being the referee.  If you do a good job, no one notices, but if you mess up, you can become famous far beyond your years.  It’s kind of like the CIA, except much, much more important.  (Editor's note: we're patiently awaiting a St. Louis Cards fan to nominate Don Denkinger to the list.) 

This week the Top 7 takes a look at the most famous referees in sports.
 

7. Mills Lane
He parlayed working the Tyson/Holyfield ear biting fight into a job as a crappy judge on TV, back when they were handing out crappy judge TV shows to pretty much anyone who wanted one.
 



6. Danny Davis
Back in the WWF’s late 80s heyday, Davis was an evil referee.  These were the days where wrestling storylines were built over months rather than minutes, so subtly, Davis would help bad guy wrestlers with matches.  After awhile, it became more and more obvious what was going on, before Davis finally turned into “Dangerous Danny Davis,” evil referee and wrestler.  The storyline ended shortly after that, and for good reason—a wrestling referee wasn’t the biggest draw in the world.
 




5. Mario
He was lucky enough to referee the greatest upset in the history of sports, as Little Mac defeated Mike Tyson, becoming the first person to knock out a heavyweight champion despite being just 1/25 of their opponent's weight.
 




4. Tim McClelland
He is the closest thing to Forrest Gump in MLB umpiring, as he did home plate for both the George Brett pine tar game and the Sammy Sosa corked bat game, the David Wells’ perfect game in 1998, and most recently, the Rockies’ one-game playoff comeback this past season where Matt Holliday did/did not touch home plate with the winning run.
 

3. Earl Hebner
You pretty much could have made a “Top 7 Most Famous Wrestling Referees” list, between Earl Hebner, his twin brother Dave (who cost Hogan the title against Andre the Giant) Nick Patrick of WCW/NWO fame, the aforementioned Danny Davis, and Earl.  Of all of them, Earl Hebner easily is the most recognizable.  He did nearly all pay-per-view main events for years, including probably the most infamous WWF moment of all-time—the Montreal Screwjob, where Bret Hart "gave up" in his match against Shawn Michaels at Survivor Series 1997.
 




2. Tim Donaghy
Yes, if you are caught betting on games that you are officiating, you are going to become famous.  Donaghy’s scandal seems to have faded a bit and hasn’t seemed to have much effect on the NBA this season, to the surprise of those columnists who predicted it would mean the “end of the NBA” when it happened.  Hyperbole is king nowadays.
 
 

1. Ed Hochuli
Everyone knows and loves Ed Hochuli.  They have to—he can kill you with his bare hands.  Those Chuck Norris Facts could have easily been named Ed Hochuli Facts and no one would have disputed any of them.

***click herefor Ed Hochuli's MediaSpace profile***



The Top 7 is written by Jason Major.  He wishes he could wear an on-field mic at all times during the day.  Email him at jason@joesportsfan.com

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