Former National Football League official John Parry joined ESPN as an NFL Officiating Analyst in April 2019, less than two months after he served as head referee for Super Bowl LIII. In his current role, Parry contributes to weekly Monday Night Football telecasts from the booth and offers analysis on ESPN’s NFL studio shows, SportsCenter and more.

Parry retired after Super Bowl LIII as one of the NFL’s premier referees. He was an NFL official for 19 seasons in all, including his final 12 years as a referee. He worked three Super Bowls – SB LIII (head referee), SB XLVI (referee) and SB XLI (side judge) – and his 13 other postseason assignments include two Wild Card playoff games, seven Divisional Playoff games and one Conference Championship. In 2019, Parry worked the Cowboys-Rams NFC Divisional Playoff game in addition to the Super Bowl.

Prior to his accomplished career on the field, Parry served as a replay official for the NFL in 1999. Before the NFL hired him, Parry enjoyed successful tenures highlighted by multiple post-season bowl assignments while officiating in the Big Ten Conference and the Arena Football League. His journey to the top of sports officiating began when he umpired Little League baseball games during his summer high school vacations.

Away from the gridiron, Parry built a successful independent financial services business from the ground up following an 18-year career as a corporate pilot. A tennis fan, Parry also started a summer, youth tennis academy and officiated as a line umpire during qualifier rounds for the 2018 US Open.

A native of Michigan City, Ind., Parry was a second-generation NFL official. His father, Dave Parry, is a former Supervisor of Officials for the Big Ten Conference and he was the side judge in Super Bowl XVII.

Parry graduated from Purdue University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aviation Technology. He resides in Akron, Ohio.