- Date Of Birth: April 26, 1934
- Date Of Death: March 20, 2021
- Occupation: Football player
- City: Morgantown
- State: West Virginia
Frederick Mount Wyant Jr. (April 26, 1934 – March 20, 2021) was an American football quarterback who went on to serve as an American football official in the National Football League (NFL) for 27 years from 1966 through 1992, with 19 of those years (1971–1989) as a referee. Wyant originally wore number 75 as an official before switching to number 11, which he wore as a player, in 1983. (He also wore #11 from 1979 through 1981, when officials were numbered separately by position, instead of together as a pool).
Following his playing days, Wyant worked as a high school and small college football official for three years, then as a major college football official for five years, before becoming an official in the NFL as a line judge in 1966. Wyant was promoted to referee in 1971 upon the retirement of Walt Fitzgerald. Along with fellow veteran referee Ben Dreith, he was demoted to line judge in 1990 and retired from officiating two years later.
Wyant was notable for his perspective of the NFL as outlined in Rene A. Henry’s book, “Offsides.” Wyant was the referee in the 1981 AFC divisional playoff game between Miami and San Diego, a game won by the Chargers, 41–38 in overtime. This game would become known in NFL lore as “The Epic in Miami”.
Wyant and his wife Dolores, resided in Morgantown, West Virginia. They had three children and three grandchildren. After months of deteriorating health, Wyant died March 20, 2021, at the age of 86. – Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License from Wikipedia.
