Who is Wilbur Hackett?

A Pharmacist from Tennessee? A farmer from the Mid-West? The Lead Mechanic and owner at Wilbur’s Garage in Acworth, Georgia (real place by the way)?  The answer to all of those is simply, NO. 

Wilbur Hackett is, aside from being a former starting linebacker for the University of Kentucky Wildcats in 1968 – 1970 and the first African-American team captain in SEC history, a little known football official in the SEC.  And suddenly, Mr. Hackett finds himself in an awkward position.

See, in a game last weekend that pitted The Gamecocks of South Carolina against the Tigers of Louisiana State University, Wilbur Hackett had possibly the best tackle of the game.  That’s right, THE OFFICIAL had the best tackle of the game.  How is this possible?  Well, that depends on who you ask.  If you ask Charles Bloom, an SEC spokesmen, he’ll tell you that “since the umpire who’s located behind the defensive line is more prone to contact, the umpire had to protect himself”. If you ask “The Old Ballcoach” Steve Spurrier, he’ll echo what Les Miles, Head Coach at LSU, says.  They both believe that the Umpire was merely trying to move out of the direct path of the field of play.

I tend to look at this a little bit differently. For years, I’ve watched and played football. My playing days were mainly on the offensive side of the ball, so I can honestly say that I’ve seen plenty of linebackers read the play and move to make a tackle.  Frankly, what I saw last Saturday night, wasn’t much different from what I saw as QB; I saw a linebacker read and react to the play and make a big hit and a takcle.  The problem here is, he was in black and white stripes, not LSU gold and purple.

Now, call me crazy, but it sure as hell looks like instead of “trying to move out of the direct path of the field of play”, he was reading, reacting and tackling South Carolina QB Stephen Garcia.  At least that’s what the video above shows…. Frankly, Wilbur Hackett was showing everyone his best Brian Urlacher impersonation…..and no, not the Brian Urlacher that challenged someone to an “Honor Duel” in recent Old Spice commercials. My questions in all of this is what would possess an umpire to do such a thing?  Was there an exchange of some unpleasantries on the field that those of us viewing the game couldn’t have known about?  That’s something my firends we’ll probably never ever know….

What I do know though, is that with as many cameras on filming Collegiate and Professional games, Officials today are held to a higher standard than they once were and mistakes are scruitinzed more than ever.  Proof? Simply look at Ed Hochuli and what he’s been going through since the Charger vs. Broncos game in Week 1 this season. Hochuli has been lambasted, harrassed, demoted and even received death threats for the call that he made during that game. Now, I’m not suggesting that South Carolina fans should do anything like that to Wilbur Hackett, and as a matter of fact anything like that would be deplorable. What I am saying, is that at some point, Mr. Hackett has to explain his actions to everyone, including South Carolina fans. Because frankly, that was about as intentional and blatant as it gets. 

Word out of the SEC is that Hackett will not be punished for anything that happened on the field and he’ll continue officiating, but, what if that tackle had cost South Carolina a chance at winning that game?  What if it had been on a bigger stage in a game that had Championship implications? Would the SEC change their tune then? Bottom line, a mistake is a mistake and we all make them, what you see in the video above was no mistake and the SEC must do something about it.  Apparently, several media outlets tried to call and speak with Mr. Hackett, but big surprise, he was unavailable for comment.  He was probably looking for a hole to hide in or something. My guess?  He was sitting in his Lazy-boy analyzing game film of the Razorbacks, Gators or Bulldogs trying to get a read on the next QB he plans on punishing once he’s outside the pocket.