Dear friends,

I am deeply honored to be the 2017 recipient of the prestigious McNally Award and wanted to share this press release with you. And I want to take a moment to thank you for riding along on this journey with me and for being such an important part of my life. 

Thank you!

Jim Tunney

PRESS RELEASE

Dr. Jim Tunney, of Pebble Beach, California, is the 2017 recipient of the National Football League's prestigious Art McNally Award. He was presented this award at the summer seminar of the NFL's officials in Dallas, Texas.

The Art McNally Award is an annual award created in 2002 by the then National Football League(NFL) Commissioner, Paul Tagliabue, and given to an NFL game official who exhibits exemplary professionalism, leadership, and commitment to sportsmanship, on and off the field.

Jim Tunney's career in the NFL is exactly that - exemplary. He was the on-field official for 31 years and was given the title of "Dean of Officials." He was the referee in three Super Bowls (VI - XI - Xii). His back-to-back Super Bowls have never been equaled. Further, he received 29 post-season assignments (out of a possible 31); ten championship games; six Pro Bowl assignments and a record 25 Monday Night Football games, when MNF was the game of the week. Because of his posture for signals on the field, he was the model for officials signals in every game-day program for 19 years.

Tunney graduated from Alhambra High School in Southern California where he played basketball and baseball. In his senior year, he was president of the school's honor society and later was inducted into the Alhambra High School Sports Hall of Fame. 

His undergraduate degree was at Occidental College in Los Angeles where he played football, basketball, and baseball. In his senior year, he coached the freshman baseball team at OXY, which won the conference championship with a 23-2 record. Upon graduation, he was named Athlete of-the-Year. As a physical education major, he began his four-year teaching and coaching at Lincoln High School in East Los Angeles. His four-year career in high school basketball coaching produced two league championships, the last of which was an undefeated season, the only undefeated basketball season in the 110-year history of the school.

His educational career took him to the University of Southern California where he completed his Master's in Education and followed that by earning his Doctorate in Education (Ed.D.)

Moving into high school administration, he served five-years as Boys;' Vice-Principal at Lincoln, then principal at Fairfax High School in Los Angeles for seven years where he was inducted into its hall of fame - the only administrator in the history of the school so honored.

Leaving Fairfax, he was the educational director of the Herb Alpert Family Foundation for two years. He then returned to the Los Angeles Unified School District as principal of Benjamin Franklin High School for one year and then assigned as principal at Hollywood High School in Hollywood Ca. for two years. He then accepted an assignment as Assistant Superintendent, then Superintendent in the Bellflower Unified School District for three years.

When he moved to the Monterey Peninsula and was recruited to be the Headmaster at York School, a private highly-academic high school. Following that he ran for public office as a trustee at Monterey Peninsula College - a 2-year community college, where he served for 12 years - several as chair of the board. Both institutions have awarded him the title of emeritus. The Monterey Peninsula has honored him with several public official awards.

In 1993, he founded the Jim Tunney Youth Foundation (501c3) which makes financial grants to local youth organizations. To date, the foundation has granted over quarter million dollars.

When he left his position as district superintendent, he formed his own professional speaking business and speaks to Fortune 500 companies, large and small corporations and associations on topics of leadership, team building, integrity, and customer service. He joined the National Speakers Association and has served on its' board of directors and elevated to president. He was inducted into NSA's Speaker Hall of Fame and holds every designation and award given by that association, including the Cavett, the "Oscar" of professional speaking.