ART MCNALLY, the first on-field official inducted into the Pro Football HOF, passed away at 97, according to Josh DuBow of the AP. McNally's passing comes “less than five months” after his HOF induction following “more than a half-century working as an on-field official, the head of officiating for the NFL and an adviser to the league who is credited with modernizing the practice of how games are officiated.” His “fingerprints are all over how games are officiated even today," but McNally’s “biggest impact came in how the NFL evaluated and trained officials in a system that is still mostly in place.” Under McNally, the NFL “standardized how officials worked a game in their positioning and what calls they made to bring more consistency to the sport." McNally also “helped implement the NFL's first use of instant replay" in the 1980s. While that version “was abolished in 1991,” McNally “provided guidance to his successors when replay returned in 1999.” He was “steadfast in his belief that the league should use any tool to help officials make the correct calls” (AP, 1/2).
