Ronald Leslie Botchan (February 15, 1935 – January 28, 2021) was an American football official from the National Football League (NFL). Prior to that he was an American football linebacker in the American Football League from 1960 to 1962. As an official, Botchan worked as an umpire for nearly his entire NFL career and wore the number 110. Regarded as the "NFL's best umpire" by the media, Botchan was assigned to a record-number five Super Bowls: XX in 1986, XXVII in 1993, XXIX in 1995, XXXI in 1997, and XXXIV in 2000. He was also an alternate in Super Bowl XXVI in 1992, and Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002. He rapidly ascended to the NFL ranks after nine years of officiating high school and college games and attributes his success to being "coachable". High school and college years Botchan played linebacker at Belmont High School and later at Occidental College in Los Angeles, California. At Occidental, Botchan was a teammate to Jack Kemp and Jim Mora; and was a collegiate All-Conference baseball player and an All-Conference and Little All-American linebacker. Professional career NFL player Botchan was drafted by the Baltimore Colts in 1957, but went to play football in the United States Marine Corps. He was selected to the All-Marine and All-Service teams playing linebacker for the Marine Corps Base Quantico and Camp Lejune teams. In 1960, Botchan was approached by scouts of the new upstart American Football League (AFL) and signed a contract for $6,000 to play for the Los Angeles Chargers under head coach Sid Gillman as a starting linebacker. Ron signed with the Houston Oilers the next year only to have his football playing career ended due to a knee injury. He played in the first two American Football League Championship Games, losing the first with the Chargers vs. the Oilers, and winning the second when the Oilers again defeated the Chargers in the 1961 AFL Championship. Coaching After his playing days ended, Botchan took up coaching football. From 1966 to 1972, Ron built the Los Angeles City College team into a winning program that included several league championships. NFL official Botchan's officiating career began in 1972 after moving away from coaching and until 1976 was working high school and junior college football games. He was assigned two games as an umpire in the Pac-10 between 1976 and 1979 before applying and being accepted to the NFL