Loran Smith
NASHVILLE, Tennessee – When Art Demmas was a senior lineman at Vanderbilt, he played in the Gator Bowl in 1955, the Commodores defeating Auburn 25-13.
Demmas would never have believed it would be over half a century before Vandy would win another bowl game, which came about in December when the Commodores defeated Boston College 16-14 in the Music City Bowl.
Attitudes were much different when Demmas played college football. Players entered college thinking degree and not the National Football League. He did not have a future in the NFL as a player. The league, however, was in his future.
Players not interested in coaching often remained close to the game by becoming officials, which meant that officiating might have been better in days past. Not many former players choose officiating as a vocation today.
As with playing talent, the NFL usually gets its officials from the college ranks, which is how Demmas became one of the league’s foremost umpires for 29 years. Before that, he spent eight years working SEC games.
Art worked four Super Bowl games, which means that he has four rings in his possession. Being chosen to work the ultimate game in pro football is an honor he doesn’t take lightly, but he is a sentimental man and a traditionalist.
It was good pay, and it merged nicely with his job as a financial consultant. He was away from home on the weekends in the fall, but today he enjoys NFL retirement benefits.
Although he didn’t have a lot of time on his hands, Demmas, nonetheless, found time to take on another assignment. Since 1991, he has served as the Southern Regional Director for the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame. “You meet the nicest people in college football,” he said.
Over drinks with his wife, Nancy, at his home on Windsor Drive, he reminisced about his officiating experiences, noting that coaches are the nicest guys in the world, too. “Until the game starts,” he smiled. Nancy plugged in a video that showed prominent NFL coaches in smiling, jovial moods as they greeted officials pregame.
When the game started, it was a different matter. It didn’t take long for Dr. Jekyll to instantly transform into Mr. Hyde. “Hyde always takes over at kickoff,” Nancy laughed.
Art recalled an interesting scene with Bill Parcells, the longtime NFL head coach.
“When Bill coached for Steve Sloan at Vandy, he was my tennis partner,” Art said. “We were pretty good friends.”
Now for the rest of the story. When Parcells was with the Patriots, Art was working a game in which New England had a two-point lead with time running out. The Patriots could run out the clock with a first down. On a pass completion, the official spotting the ball didn’t have the best angle, but Art was lined up perfectly. After the initial spot, which Art realized was off the mark “a foot or so,” he went over and moved the ball back where it should have been, causing Parcells to go into a tirade.
“You moved the ball, what is going on?” Parcells protested. Art looked Parcells firmly in the eye and said, “Coach, that’s enough.”
The coach, knowing who held the advantage, turned to one of his assistants and said, “Can you believe that (jerk) was my tennis partner at Vanderbilt?”
