The road from Mason, Ohio to Las Vegas — with a stop at Penn State along the way — to become the first man to play in and then referee in the Super Bowl has not been an easy one for Terry Killens.
No member of the Penn State family knows that more than former Penn State cornerback Mike Wallace. That’s because Wallace — like Killens, a former Nittany Lion football player — is also Killens’ first cousin.
“Terry reminds me of the story of Job in the Bible,” Wallace said this week from California, where he is founder and CEO of Free Life Enterprises. “Terry has endured so many earth-shattering losses, including the passing of his wife, Rhonda, and continues to get blessed and used by God in such abundant and profound ways. He’s truly an inspiration on and off the field.”
That is not only the case now, with the Super Bowl looming. It’s been that way for decades with Wallace and Killens. As a youngster, Wallace looked up to his older cousin.
“Terry is one of my biggest heroes,” said Wallace, who was known on campus for his football and his music — his stage name was Mike Wallz when he played Rec Hall. (He’s now @MikeWallz the artist/executive on Instagram.) “Terry is a big reason I committed to Penn State. It had been in my blood from the beginning. The belief I could play at a high level was because of him, too.
“When you’re an ankle-biter as a little league football player,” Wallace recalls fondly, “and you go to NFL games to watch your big cousin play, getting to meet teammates like Eddie George, and getting those types of experiences really instills a deep belief that I could do this too.”
Rhonda Lynn Killens passed away of breast cancer at age 46 in 2020. She was Terry’s high school sweetheart at Purcell Marian High School in Cincinnati and together they raised five children.
It is a shame that she will not be there on Sunday, when Kansas City and San Francisco square off in the Super Bowl in Las Vegas. For Killens, it is a dream come true. And along the way, a very hard road to get there.
BACK ON THE FIELD, IN STRIPES
Killens was a standout linebacker for the Nittany Lions, then was selected by the Oilers/Titans franchise in the third round of the 1996 NFL Draft. He played seven years in The League, including the 1999 season when the Tennessee Titans, who went to Super Bowl XXXIV and lost 23-16 to the Rams in Atlanta. He made a tackle playing special teams.
After retiring as an NFL linebacker, and wanting to stay close to the game, he gave coaching a try. The Cincinnati native got his foot in the door as a coach at his former high school, Purcell. The emotions of the game were hard for Killens to process from the sideline, though.
“I was only 30 years old and I was still thinking more like a player,” Killens told me back in 2018, prior to a visit to the University Park campus as the featured speaker at the season-ending State College Quarterback Club banquet. “The wins and losses, especially the losses, I took hard and it was hard to let them go. I wasn’t in control anymore.”
On the suggestion of a friend, Killens said he took a football officiating class, opening up a new part of his football life that, he says, made him “fall love with the game all over again.”
“It was learning about the mental game, the rules of the game, how to control the game,” Killens said. “Being an official, you’re a steward of the game, a protector of the game.”
Coaching, he knew, was a nomadic lifestyle, and Killens, who was starting a young family, didn’t like the prospect of having to look for a new job every few years or so. As he entered the officiating ranks, he quickly realized he could apply the same dedicated approach he used as a player to his new profession, with a few important differences.
“As a player I had to look at the offense, basically. Study who I was going up against,” said Killens, who works as an umpire. “As an official, you have to study both teams, all three phases. Have to be on top of your rules. You might have a rule that almost never comes up but, boom, that one time, here it is. Something you never think that would happen, you have to be ready for.
“That’s the part I like the most — the preparation. You still have to be physically fit. If a coach asks you a question, you have to be able to answer it. Communication is the key, and that’s what I enjoy.”
THE LONG ROAD TO VEGAS
Killens knows the 49ers well, having spent two seasons with the franchise after his initial stint with the Oilers/Titans. He finished his NFL career with the Seahawks.
Killens started his second career as a referee for high school JV games. He then advanced to high school, Division III, Division II, the ACC and then up through the pro ranks in the Alliance of American Football. He first refereed in the NFL in 2019.
“I remember when Terry first started reffing, first in high school, then college, then eventually the NFL, now the Super Bowl,” Wallace recalled. “He didn’t skip not one step. And he didn’t get any type of special treatment just because he was an NFL vet.”
It’s been over five years since I talked with Killens prior to his return trip to Penn State. So much has happened in his life, both good and bad, in that time. But the conversation still resonates. He was passionate about his alma mater. And he was passionate about his new career.
“Anybody who’s competitive, their goal is to make it to the highest level,” Killens said then. “Just like in football, the higher you go the tougher it is to get there. Right now, my goal is to be the best official where I’m at and just keep improving. And, hopefully, I’ll get noticed.”
