Former Board Member Zaborniak Wraps Up Big Ten Career
Dec. 22, 2011 — Henry Zaborniak, Pickerington, Ohio, has wrapped up a 15-year career as a Big Ten football official.
The former NASO board member, who serves as an assistant commissioner for the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA), worked his final regular-season game Nov. 19, 2011, as Northwestern defeated Minnesota. His career ended on a high note Jan. 6 when he was selected to serve as an alternate at the Cotton Bowl.
“I was very pleased (to get the bowl assignment),” he said. “They certainly didn’t have to put me on that. They could have used a younger guy.”
It wasn’t the first high-profile assignment for Zaborniak. “I had Notre Dame-USC three times and Michigan-Michigan State four times,” he recalls. “I had every rivalry game in the Big Ten except for Michigan-Ohio State.”
Zaborniak found humor in that as well. “Every crew I left, the next year, they got the Michigan-Ohio State game. So maybe I was holding them back,” he said with a laugh.
But truth be told, Zaborniak said having that game would result in “a no-win situation” for him. “Although I would have loved to have had it, because of my job and the Internet, which allows people to find out where you live, I think I’m just as happy that I didn’t work it.”
The requirements and rigors that come with being an official in a major conference have increased over the years. It was those demands that led Zaborniak to step away. “I just don’t have the desire to be gone on weekends and put as much time into it as you need to put into it,” he said. “There’s all of the film review and being gone Friday and Saturday and sometimes part of Sunday. And I have more to do on my job.”
Working in the Big Ten allowed Zaborniak to officiate in stadiums synonymous with collegiate football history. “My two favorite places — partly because of the size and partly because of the energy — were Camp Randall (home of the Wisconsin Badgers) and Ohio Stadium (on the campus of Ohio State). Those are special places.”
He is happy that his position with the OHSAA allows him to maintain contact with officiating and officials. “It probably softens the blow,” he said. “The hardest thing for officials isn’t what happens on Friday night. The most difficult thing for (retired) officials to adjust to is they’re not around their buddies any more. I’m still in the officiating business.”