JUL 12
2025
JON BIBLE
Jon Bible, longtime college baseball umpire, died at age 75.
AUSTIN — Jon Bible, one of the most respected umpires in the history of college baseball, died Saturday after a short battle with a cancer. He was 75.
Bible, a Houston native who pitched for Robert E. Lee High School, was diagnosed with bile duct cancer in mid‑February and died from complications of the treatment for cholangiocarcinoma at Ascension Seton in Austin Saturday morning. He is survived by his wife, Carolyn. A memorial service will be held at a later date.
Highly decorated as an umpire since first officiating Little League games and then umpiring Texas Longhorn games for 42 consecutive seasons alongside equally noted umpire and good friend Randy Christal, Bible began calling balls and strikes at Longhorn baseball games in 1974. He worked the very first Texas game at Disch‑Falk Field against St. Mary’s in February 1975.
He was inducted into the Collegiate Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019, and Christal would later join him in that group.
“I lost one of my dearest friends whose avocation paralleled mine through the years,” Christal told the Houston Chronicle Saturday afternoon. “I know he made me a better umpire. He was outstanding and admired, and I really believe he was one of the top four or five greatest amateur officials, high school or colleges, that ever breathed.”
Bible was the great nephew of College Football Hall of Fame coach D.X. Bible, who served as head coach at both Texas and Texas A&M as well as Nebraska and LSU.
Always known as a strong‑minded umpire who never backed down from an argument, Bible recalled some of the legendary beefs he had with some coaches. Bible once got into it with then Longhorn pitching coach, the volatile Frank Anderson. One day after Anderson told Bible he had mellowed and was “turning over a new leaf,” the umpire got into a verbal tussle with Anderson by the fourth inning and ejected him.
As Anderson made the trek out of the Texas dugout, Bible yelled at him, “That new leaf didn’t stay turned over too long.”
Bible got his start when Lefty Graham, father of Rice legendary coach the late Wayne Graham, noticed him as a pitcher for Lee High and asked if he’d like to fill in for an absent ump at a Little League game. He did at age 17 and caught the bug instantly.
Few had a longer career in officiating than Bible, who worked both baseball and football games at the college and pro levels. Following a brief pro baseball career that extended to the Double‑A level with the Minnesota Twins, he got his law degree, one of three degrees he earned at the University of Texas, and taught business law at Texas State for more than 30 years.
He earned the first of seven College World Series assignments in 1979 and worked as many as 25 regional tournaments in his career. He was an avid fitness buff who jogged, cycled, played golf and did up to 200 crunches a day.
Bible also served as the first national coordinator of NCAA baseball umpires from 1990 to 1996. From 1970 to 1973, he worked as a minor league umpire, worked the 1984 ALCS games when regular umpires were on strike, and had a good chance to become a full‑time American League umpire but didn’t care for the nomadic lifestyle.
He started refereeing Southwest Conference football games in 1987 and continued until 1996, when he made the jump to NFL side judge. He also refereed three Big 12 football championship games.
“I enjoyed it and was successful at it,” Bible said years ago. “I had some good breaks. I’ve always gotten along with coaches and players. I never had much trouble. It’s one of those deals where if I had trouble I probably wouldn’t have stuck with it.”
Jon”s wife, Carolyn, was the TASO Controller for more than 20 years,
