Coming from an athletic family, Sanford rivers had a head start on his avocation today-officiating in the National Football League. As an athlete growing up on Youngstown's South Side, he didn't have to take a back seat to anyone and is a prime example of an athlete who earned a degree and has been as successful off the field as he was on.
Born on October 16 1943 he graduated from nearby South High School where he studied College Prep Course. As a scholastic athlete, he was a three sport letterman, earning an "s" in football, baseball, and track and field. A three-year letterman in football, he also participated in the O.H.S.A.A. (Ohio High School Athletic Association) Track and Field Championships as a member of the 880 Relay Team. He was good enough as a Warrior to earn a football scholarship down the road and played collegiately for the late Dwight "Dike" Beede at then Youngstown University.
He helped the Penguins to a 17-6-3 overall mark during his three letterwinning seasons, starting as a defensive back as a sophomore when he led the team in tackles and interceptions. He was switched to offense as a junior where he was the second leading rusher on the team. As a senior, he was the leading rusher and was the leading scorer, being voted the team's "Most Outstanding Back" that same year.
After his senior season, he signed with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League in 1967, but realized he was not interested in being a professional athlete so he returned to YSU where he graduated with a BS in Business in 1968 (he later earned his Master in Education from the University of Pittsburgh in 1977), attending graduate school at Carnegie-Mellon University upon graduation where he began to officiate. Playing intramural sports, one of the rules of the IM Dept. was that you had to stay back to referee the upcoming game, he was spotted by the well-respected major college official Earl Birdy of Pittsburgh, who in turn encouraged him to become a football official.
The rest they say is history as Rivers' career, since that time in intramurals at Carnegie-Mellon, has skyrocketed. His first college game assignment was the Bowling Green State-West Virginia game in Morgantown, W.Va, as a Head Linesman. Since that first game, rivers has work over 60 major college clashes, strictly as a Head Linesman. His post-season assignments included the Peach Bowl and the Liberty Bowl, while one of his most memorable games was the 1987 Army–Navy clash when no penalties were called.
In 1989, his call to the National Football League came and he entered the 1993 campaign with four professional seasons under his belt. In that short four-year period, he was a post-season alternate for the Houston Oiler-New York Jets game in 1991, and last season worked the San Francisco 49er-Washington Redskin play-off clash.
A high hurdler record holder at South when he set the mark in 1962, he was selected as the "Official of the Year" by the NFL's Pittsburgh Office.
The brother of former NFL standout Jamie Rivers (nine seasons in the NFL), he and his wife Carroll, have a daughter Robin and a grandson Aaron.
