When it came to wearing the stripes, no one has done it prouder or more effectively than Steve Kirck. Beginning as a member of the New Haven Football Officials Association from 1972, Kirck moved up the officiating ranks. For the NHFOA he was a member of the Program and Clinic Committees and served as the organization’s president and vice-president. He became a member of the Metro Chapter of the Eastern Association of Intercollegiate Football Officials in 1981, migrating to the Connecticut Chapter when it began in 1984. After serving a six-year period of Division II and III games, he was moved up to work games in the Ivy League, Patriot League, Yankee Conference, Atlantic-10 Conference and the Colonial Athletic Association, where he stayed until his retirement in 2011. Over that time he worked 211 Division I-AA (now FCS) games, and worked six playoff games in that division. Prior to that, he had a total of nine Division II and III playoff games under his belt. He ended his career doing the Yale-Harvard game in 2011. He currently works as a play-clock operator for the Colonial-Ivy-Patriot Group. Football wasn’t his only passion when it came to officiating, nor the only place he excelled. He was a 40-year member of IAABO Board 10, working on several committees and mentoring officials. He was a 25 year member of the Collegiate Basketball Officials Association, and worked for 15 years as a baseball umpire with the New Haven Baseball Umpires Association. He is a graduate of St. Michael’s College (VT), where he earned a bachelor’s degree in history. He then earned a master’s degree from Fairfield, and a CAS from the same institution. He served a two-year stint in the US Army from 1968-70. He has been awarded many times over the years for his service including, New Haven Tap-Off Club Official of the Year (1990), Connecticut High School Coaches Association Official of the Year (2000), a Rotary National Paul Harris Fellow (1992), Rotary Presidential Citation (2002), Jimmy Fund Award (2002), and was named a Knight of Honor by Notre Dame High School in 2003, the highest award the school gives to alumni and benefactors. He and his wife, Margaret have been married for 47 years, and have two sons, Stephen II and Jason. The couple has five grandchildren.