T1B

Jim Filson didn't give up his dream of working as a Big Ten football official despite losing sight in his right eye after an accident six years ago. Supported by Dave Parry, the Big Ten's supervisor of officials, Filson, an eight-year conference veteran, returned to the field the fall after the accident and officiated the next five seasons. He said he received higher performance ratings with one eye than he did with two, and earned the prestigious postseason assignment of working an Orange Bowl.

But last spring, the Big Ten fired him. In a lawsuit filed Monday in the Northern District of Illinois, Filson claimed under the American Disabilities Act that the decision was made strictly on the basis that he has vision in only one eye.

Filson said in the suit that Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delaney fired him after Michigan coach Lloyd Carr complained that Filson was officiating with one eye.

"Mr. Delaney's perceptions about me are false," Filson said in a statement to the Illinois Department of Human Rights. "I fully meet all of the physical requirements of the job, as was exhibited by my very successful performance on the field in the five years after my accident and before my termination."

Since the suit was filed, the officiating community has been abuzz. Discussions have centered on three main topics:

• Do officials, who have been seen by conferences as independent contractors, have the same rights as employees?
• What physical requirements must a person meet to be an official?
• Does a league or conference have any right to enforce those requirements?

Filson worked in the Big Ten for eight seasons before he fell and hit his right eye on the corner of a table in an accident in March 2000. He permanently lost his vision in the eye. In the lawsuit, Filson said he informed Parry with the Big Ten about the accident and subsequent surgery to have his eye removed and a prosthetic put in its place. The suit said Parry encouraged him to try to return to the field.

After consulting with several medical experts and working spring and summer basketball and football games to test his vision, the suit said, Filson decided he was able to officiate. He returned to officiating that fall, the suit said, with Parry's approval and understanding of Filson's situation.

Filson's suit said he spent the next five seasons officiating without incident and that his reviews were "substantially better" in the five seasons with one eye than they were in the eight seasons when he had both.

Before the spring of 2005, the suit said, a reporter informed Michigan's Carr that Filson was officiating with one eye. Carr complained to Delaney, the Big Ten Commissioner, the suit said. Without any vision test or medical exam or formal meeting, the suit said, Delaney told Parry to fire Filson. The official was dismissed May 3, 2005.

In a subsequent meeting with Filson, Delaney explained the action because Filson did not "have two eyes" and failed to meet the "minimum physical requirements" of the job, the suit said. Delaney said that if Filson missed a judgment call and the public or coaches knew the official had only one eye, he would have "hell to pay."

Carr also declined to comment.
The case is being watched. Tommy Hunt, who officiated in the ACC for 26 years and is now the league's Coordinator of Football Officials, referred to it as "a strange one."

"I hate to say it, but there are two things you have to be able to do in officiating: You have to be able to move and you have to be able to see," he said. "But if the guy is performing on the field, I'm not sure if the conference is going to have much of an argument, even if he has only one eye."

There is legal precedent here. In 1996, Lorenzo Clemons sued the Big Ten claiming he was wrongfully dismissed "due to a perceived disability of obesity," and because he is black. Clemons also sued under the Americans with Disabilities Act. He lost the case.

"But with me, they had the ratings," Clemons said this week. "They consistently gave me lower ratings all along, knowing what they were going to do with me. But with Jimmy, he's always had high ratings. I mean, if he was really that bad, then why didn't they do this earlier? And why did they send him to an Orange Bowl?"

In 2003, a deaf basketball official, Marsha Wetzel, sued the Eastern College Athletic Conference, contending the league failed to provide her the same opportunity to participate that was afforded others.

Also suing under the ADA, Wetzel won her case and the league was forced to have sign-language interpreters and other aids available to her for meetings, training seminars and games.

Also at issue are the rights of individual referees. Most conferences view officials as independent contractors and pay them about $750 a game to work 12 weekends a year. Officials see themselves as employees and thus eligible for the same rights.

Sky wrote:But really, if the one-eyed ref was doing fine, let him work.

It wasn't until one guy bitched about one game (which could happen to any ref) that led to his termination.

BlindRef wrote wrote: Lloyd is such a bad guy for reporting a lying official.

You suckeyes are just grasping at straws.

It would be easier to take any shit from you guys if

a) you had ANY academic standards whatsoever.

b) your coach hasn't left a trail of corruption every where he's been

2nd fiddle

Sky wrote:I don't think I need to point out the irony of BlindRef posting in a topic about a one-eyed ref, right?

BlindRef wrote wrote: You suckeyes are just grasping at straws.

It would be easier to take any shit from you guys if...

...your coach hasn't left a trail of corruption every where he's been

buckeye_in_sc wrote:You must have better sources than ESPN so please tell us...

Lloyd having this dude shit-canned has an equal effect on every team in the conference. You should be thanking Lloyd for taking the heat on this one, a stand up team (conference) player.

MgoBlue-LightSpecial wrote:

Lloyd having this dude shit-canned has an equal effect on every team in the conference. You should be thanking Lloyd for taking the heat on this one, a stand up team (conference) player.

Rrrrrrrrrrright. You really think Lloyd was looking out for the conference, huh? You don't find it even a little coincidental that his bitchings came after a loss?

Are you honestly attempting to convince us that Lloyd would've reacted the same way had Michigan won the game?

WolverineSteve wrote:I'll re-read the article, but I've yet to see where it mentions that Lloyd complained after a loss, or blamed one-eye for a loss, or says he hates disabled people.

Fuck Ohio State.

Sky wrote:So take your fucking 4th Qtr choking, no hand-shaking, 7 wins is good enough, can't win the home opener, blames the fans, blames the players, rim jobs Tressel, does just enough to keep his job, no talent coach and go fuck yourself.

WolverineSteve wrote:So the thread title and most of the anti-Carr posts have been blatant lies. Typical.

Carr is highly regarded by peers and conference officials. You don't like him, I think he'll sleep fine at night even though his approval rating among those wading in the shallow end of the gene pool suffers.

You ignorant hillbilly, inbred fuck. You should love Carr. If he is in fact the UM coach your pussy team has had any fucking success against. Fuck, UM fan tried to take up a collection to retain Cooper. Save me the 7-win season crap you douche-nozzle, it wasn't long ago that Fuckeye nation was bemoaning a bowl-less campaign. I was in the Big House the afternoon when OhowIhateOhioState failed to win their 7th game, rendering them bowl in-eligible. So take your 7-5 smack and shove it right up your Cinci cream ale drinking ass! We will be back this year!

Fuck Ohio State

Go Blue!

OhowIhateOhioState

Sky wrote:...douche-nozzle and Cinci cream ale ...