The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) announced today (2/3/11) that football officials Bill Riccio, Jr. (West Haven, Conn.), Jerry Hughes (Kearney, N.J.) and Gary Janis (Auburn, N.Y.) have been named the 2010 recipients of the Red Hill Award for excellence in football officiating. The recipients of the Red Hill Award will be honored on February 17 at the annual Eastern College Football Awards Banquet presented by FieldTurf, an event held in the Lexus Gridiron Club at the New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
The award is named for Red Hill, who was an ECAC football official for 29 years. Hill served as the director of the Eastern Association of Intercollegiate Football Officials Boston Chapter for 12 years. He served as the vice president and the president of the EAIFO, and was responsible for instituting many of the EAIFO policies. Over his career, Hill made numerous contributions to the EAIFO and to college football officiating in general.
Riccio's career has expanded over a multitude of positions as both an official and rules interpreter. He has been officiating since 1974 while enrolled as an undergraduate student at Southern Connecticut State University. He is still a member of the New Haven Football Officials Association, and has been a rules interpreter since 1982. From 1981-83 he was a member of the Eastern Association of Intercollegiate Football Officials Metro Chapter and, then in 1983, he joined the Connecticut Chapter where he still holds membership. Since 1987, Riccio has been a rules interpreter for the EAIFO. In 1994, he became a New Haven representative for the Connecticut Football Officials Association. From 2001-09 he was an Associate State Rules Interpreter, becoming a State Interpreter in 2010. Riccio was appointed as an officials' representative to the National Federation of State High School Associations Football Rules Committee between 2006 and 2010; for the 2011-12 season, he has been named to the NFHS Manual Sub-Committee for Section I (New England, New York and New Jersey). In his 37 years in football officiating, Riccio has received 10 NCAA playoff assignments, three collegiate league championship games and two ECAC bowls. He has also officiated five state high school championships and three state semifinal games. During the spring, Riccio takes to the diamond as a member of the Greater New Haven Baseball Umpires Association, a tenure he's had since 1972. In 2003, he became Vice-president of the GNHBUA, and since 2007 has been the Association's President. In 2010, Riccio was inducted into the Connecticut Football Officials Hall of Fame. Off the field, Riccio has been a publication editor, assistant teacher, and most notably, an organist for various parishes around Connecticut.
Hughes has been a football official since 1972 when he started at the high school level. In 1988, he was accepted into the EAIFO, and has since been involved in many big-time matchups across all divisions. Hughes has officiated three ECAC bowl games, two NCAA playoff games and was the referee for the 1999 Lehigh-Lafayette rivalry contest. He was also the referee for the 2000 Division III All-Star game in Paterson, N.J. From 1996-98, Hughes was a Division II-III representative for the EAIFO Metro Chapter, and was on the Metro Chapter's executive board from 1999-2002. He was the chapter's president in 2001. Between 2003 and 2005, Hughes officiated arena football in the National Indoor Football League after being a substitution official for the league's New Jersey Red Dogs from 1999-2002. In 2004, he was the chairman of the Division I football clinic held at Princeton University. Since 2006, he has again been a representative for the EAIFO Metro Chapter, and since 2000 Hughes has been a practice official for both Rutgers University and the New York Giants of the National Football League.
Janis has seen a long career of officiating, dating back to 1973 when he started with high school football. He stayed at the high school level until 1985, and started officiating collegiate games for the EAIFO Empire Chapter in 1980. In those 30 years since, he has worked six ECAC championship bowl games, three Cortaca Jug games (SUNY Cortland vs. Ithaca College) and three NCAA Division III playoff matches. He also worked the 100th Harvard-Dartmouth contest, as well as the first night game in the history of Princeton University football. Since 1974, Janis has been a high school lacrosse official in New York, and since 1977 he's worked at the collegiate level. Before becoming an official, Janis was a decorated member of the United States Army, receiving a Bronze Star for his service in Vietnam between 1967 and 1969. He was a member of the U.S. Army National Guard from 1972 to 1977 while starting his career in education in the Auburn Enlarged School District in 1973. He stayed there until 2003, and has since worked part-time for Bass Pro. Elsewhere in the New York community, Janis has been a commodore of the Owasco Yacht Club and is currently on the club's board of directors. He also volunteers at the Matthew House, a hospice residence facility for terminally ill cancer patients. Janis has been married to his wife, Mary Ann, for 42 years. They have three daughters and four grandchildren.