In the lead-up to the 1988 NFL season, Art McNally, then the NFL's director of officiating, made a history-defining call to a man named Johnny Grier. Grier had been a field judge in the NFL for several years, having just come off Super Bowl XXII, in which Doug Williams led Washington to glory. Like so many others who had been around Grier, McNally saw that this official possessed something special and felt he could take on a new role in his line of work.

"[He] asked me if I was ready to make the move, and I jumped at it, 'Yes indeed,'" Grier recalled in a 2014 interview with the Massachusetts School of Law.

The move Grier was excited to make was becoming an NFL referee. Ever since the debut of Burl Toller in 1965, there have been handfuls of Black officials in the NFL – field judges, linesmen, back judges and other positions. No one, however, had been a referee, the person responsible for general supervision of the game, and perhaps most importantly, the person with final authority on all rulings. No one, that is, until Johnny Grier.

Becoming the NFL's first Black referee was never a goal for Grier, who, true to his humble nature, once said, "Somebody had to be first." Grier did recognize, though, that being the first came with a certain power and influence, forces that could be used to help others and change the look of the sport.

It's impossible to talk about Grier's trailblazing legacy without mentioning historically Black colleges and universities in and around the D.C., Maryland and Virginia area. His officiating journey started as a student at the University of the District of Columbia, where, at 18, he officiated basketball games at his alma mater, Dunbar High School, in northwest D.C.

After getting into football officiating through his time in the Air Force, Grier honed his craft at the college level. In the early 1970s, he was a referee in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), whose eight members are all HBCUs and include institutions such as Norfolk State, Morgan State and Howard University. Officiating wasn't just an interest for Grier; it was a passion, and he poured his all into being great at it.

"You have to be willing to give up a lot of other things, because it takes a lot of time to do a proper job of it. He cared a lot about doing a proper job of it," said former NFL referee and one of Grier's closest friends, Ben Montgomery.

Grier's enthusiasm for officiating and technical skills helped him stand out as a candidate to move up to the NFL. His pride in his work only ramped up as he entered the highest level of football officiating. Whether it was studying tape or how his uniform looked, Grier took every detail seriously.

"Growing up, I remember him putting everything in a clothes bag, making sure his uniform was intact," his son Lowell Grier said. "He had me polishing his shoes. His brass belt buckle had to be shined up. I remember the rules and regulations books that would come in the mail, video tapes that would come from DHL at the time. Tapes were all over the house. … My mother and I just could not get around it."

It was in part that approach to officiating that saw Grier earn respect from those around the league. His high standards rubbed off on those around him, and his leadership qualities were apparent. If McNally was looking for talent to promote, Grier was, in many regards, an obvious choice.

"Whether the world was ready for it [a Black referee] or not, there it was," Montgomery said with a laugh.

Though taking on the referee job was groundbreaking, Grier didn't prop himself up as a pioneer.

"He did not brag about it. It just wasn't in his heart to brag about it," his son Lowell Grier said. "What mattered to him was being successful and putting his name out there, showing the NFL what he could do."

And that he did. For 16 years, Grier became a prominent refereeing face in the league and garnered admiration from his colleagues for his professionalism, humility and respect. Highlights from his referee tenure included 15 playoff games, the 1993 AFC championship and being on the field for the debut of Art Shell, the NFL's first Black head coach. But perhaps what stands out more than anything else in talking to those who knew Grier was his dedication to bringing others into officiating and improving officiating.

"He had a sense of, 'I've been fortunate but it's not just about me. Let me bring people along' and that was especially big for African Americans in officiating at that time."

In the 1990s, Grier worked as the director of officiating for the MEAC, the HBCU athletic conference where he got his start. In 2001, he made his own history-defining officiating move by hiring Annice Canady, who became the first woman and first Black woman to officiate a Division I football game.

A leg injury in the early 2000s forced Grier to retire from his on-field duties. His son, Lowell, said the transition was "really hard" for Grier, though his career's end brought new opportunities to dive into mentorship and supervising. Shortly after he retired from officiating, he assumed a role as Supervisor of Football Officials for the MEAC.

"He was known as being one of the best, and so that added credibility when he was our supervisor," said Dr. Dennis Thomas, former Commissioner of the MEAC. "He made us better."

One of the many referees directly impacted by Grier was Keith Parham who was hired as a full-time official in the MEAC in 2005 and eventually went on to work in the NFL. He remembers the complete trust officials had in Grier's judgment as a supervisor.

"One of the stories he told us when he'd go to supervisor meetings [was that] he'd step into the hotel, and before he could go to his room, they would just descend on him like, 'Do you have any guys?! We need guys," Parham said with a laugh. "He was like, 'Alright, well, let me check into my hotel room first.' And he would give a list of guys, 'Here's who I have who is ready.'"

The MEAC-to-NFL pipeline Grier helped establish an official partnership between the conference and NFL officiating in 2021. In addition to his work at the college level, he also took on the position of Northeast Regional Supervisor in the NFL office. Whether it was jumping on a call with the NFL, sitting in on a meeting with the MEAC or, later in life, the PAC-12, Grier loved offering his insights and being a source of support, and those efforts had a ripple effect.

"His tentacles, for lack of a better word, are all over the NFL, collegiate and high school levels to this day," Parham said.

Grier worked as an officiating supervisor until a year before his death in 2022. Even in his final months, he had a habit of calling friends to discuss a play he'd seen on TV. The desire to improve officiating and help others -- in any way he could find -- could never be tampered with. That's just who Johnny Grier was, and officiating is better because of it.

"He just wanted to do what he had a passion for, and that was being on that field and helping people," his son said. "No what who you were, he didn't care; if you needed help, he was there."