It’s hard for firsts in a Super Bowl to happen given Sunday will be the 58th installment of the big game, but there will be one piece of history being made.
Terry Killens will become the first man to ever play and referee in a Super Bowl after he was named a part of the crew that will officiate Sunday’s game between the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs.
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Killens has ties to Houston, having been drafted by the Houston Oilers in 1996 and spending a year in the city and with the Oilers before the franchise moved to Tennessee.
Killens will serve as the umpire for Shawn Hochuli’s crew and will come 24 years after he played in Super Bowl XXXIV as a member of the Tennessee Titans.
Largely a special teams performer, Killens made a tackle during a kickoff in that Super Bowl as part of a seven-year NFL career.
When his playing days were done, Killens turned his attention to officiating, starting as a high school referee in his native Ohio, according to CNN.
Killens eventually worked his way up to the college ranks and in 2019, became an NFL official.
“I’ve been where those players are at,” Killens said to CNN. “I understand what they’re trying to do and what they’re going through. So at times, especially in football games, when the pressure is on and things might not be going their way and they’re getting a little frisky, what we call it, I step in and talk to one of them and just tell them, like: ‘We need to calm down,’ but sometimes, I can take a look at a player and know he’s one I need to avoid and probably go to the captain and talk to him.”
Now, he’ll do something no other man has done, with Houston being a small part of that historic journey.