Time to Celebrate: Football referee Keith Junot overcomes odds for 35 year career
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
The man overseeing the Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s football officiating realizes that Keith Junot conquered.
With 35 years of officiating in the Acadiana area, Junot, who retired early in the 2025 season, represents a small number of officials who have been able to perform at such a high level for such a long period of time.
“We have 1,300 football officials,” Lee Sanders, who is in his eighth year and oversees officiating for the LHSAA as the organization’s assistant executive director. “Less than 40 of them have had the kind of experience Keith had. That’s less than 0.3%. That kind of longevity is a credit to his dedication. People like Keith make high school sports, and high school football, possible for us in regions like Acadiana and places all around our state.”
Junot recalls a conversation with local football/basketball officiating icon Gerald Boudreaux in 1988, asking him to attend a meeting that would serve as the origin of his officiating career.
“I liked what I saw and signed up,” said Junot, who turns 68 next month
Junot moved from clock operator to on-field responsibilities to eventually leading to the dawning of the coveted ‘White Hat’ of a referee. Years of training, attending clinics and camps, coupled with a fitness regiment, combined with a passion for sports, contributed to an endeavor that lasted 3 ½ decades, filled with countless memories and a sense of achievement.
With his last full season in 2024, Junot intended to work the 2025 campaign before recurring knee injuries simply made it impossible. A couple of weeks after working the season opener, he visited an orthopedist who delivered some sobering news.
“He told me if I continued, I’d need a knee replacement,” Junot said. “That’s why I told (Regional Coordinator of Officials) Greg (Gautreaux) I was done.”
Professionally, he had already retired from several jobs and was enjoying a slower pace of life. Junot plays pickleball twice a week and is totally at peace about stepping away from his duties on the field in a profession that’s largely underappreciated by those outside of the yard markers on a field.
“I always said as long as I was having fun doing it, I was going to do it,” said Junot, the father of two children and grandfather of two boys. “When my body told me to stop, that was when I was going to stop. My knees weren’t what they were anymore, and I was having issues with them. My body was saying that I had a good run, that it was time. It was time for me to slow down a bit.”
Junot was a member of Rayne High’s football team, where in 1976 the Wolves (13-1) played in the Class 3A state championship game, where they were defeated by Curt Caldarera-led Lutcher, 29-13.
He took a somewhat unconventional path to a full-time position with the then-USL football equipment staff in college.
Junot was a cheerleader for two years and was called upon to help the team pack for road trips. That’s where he encountered the football team’s head manager, Dave Dunkleberger, who floated the possibility of earning a scholarship if Junot were ever interested in becoming a football manager.
Three months later, Junot took him up on his offer and joined USL’s staff for three years, and later graduated in 1982.
“When I went to talk to coach Dunkleberger, he was serious, and they paid for books and tuition,” he said.
Junot’s postgraduate journey led him to start work at a local tobacco company for 27 years. When his company was bought out, he accepted an early retirement package, moving to another job for 10 years before going to work for a friend at Champagne’s Market in Lafayette.
He wanted to slice up assorted fruits, which seemed like a good transition for about 1 ½ years. Then one Tuesday, he put down his knife after cutting pineapples and assessed his future.
“I said no, I’m done, this is it,” Junot said. “I looked around and wondered what I was doing. The manager came by, and I gave my two weeks.”
Both of Junot’s children had followed in his footsteps while they were in college. His daughter Kelli was a manager for the Ragin’ Cajuns soccer team, while his son Cody was also an equipment manager for both the football and baseball teams.
Because of his familiarity with the football equipment area from an early age, Junot said his son was able to provide a group tour to children from a daycare, as an 8-year-old.
“He could literally outfit a college student the proper way,” he said of his son. “One day, Big Lenny (former equipment manager Lynn Williams) was sick, and there was a daycare there for a tour. When Cody called to tell him, Lynn said to Cody to give them a tour because he knew everything. He also became a ball boy at 9 or 10 years of age through his senior year of high school.”
Junot’s first season as an official was spent primarily in the press box operating the clock for five games. The following season, as his knowledge of the rules increased, he worked five games on the field and served as clock operator for five more.
During this span, Junot gained on-field experience calling junior high and middle school games.
“By my third year, I was getting more on the field and getting experience,” he said.
The development process for an official takes into account the time spent becoming better at your craft. Pre-season meetings beginning in July cover rule changes and are a tool in the off-field process that also includes annual mandatory testing to become certified.
“Being certified is based on test scores, years of experience; also, being required to go to a camp,” Sanders said. “Lafayette hosts a camp every two years. Last year, we had about 350 officials who gathered on a Saturday and spent eight hours where they were trained by some of the best and brightest people in the officiating world.”
The Lafayette area is home to two of the state’s more celebrated officials in Greg Gautreaux and his son Daniel.
Greg Gautreaux’s career began with 16 years as a high school official, setting the tone for a 32-year run in college and 20 years in NFL Europe and the NFL. The highlight was his assignment to work Super Bowl XLIII on Feb. 1, 2009, which the Pittsburgh Steelers won, 27-23, over the Arizona Cardinals.
“Having Greg as a mentor, he knows what to look for, and he tries to teach that to all of us,” Junot said. “He was a great teacher.”
Daniel has parlayed his roots in the Acadiana area into a spot in the prestigious Southeastern Conference, where he was the lead referee in the league’s championship game in December. He was most recently the head referee of the Cotton Bowl between Miami and Ohio State, which served as one of the quarterfinals in the College Football Playoffs.
“They’ve brought in some of the best trainers that are around to help give our officials in Louisiana,” Sanders said. “They’ve had the tools, resources, and support to get them ready to work a great season.”
Junot was a member of a local health club, but when the meeting a week after the Fourth of July commenced, it signaled an increase in his outdoor activity to become acclimated to the Louisiana heat, which is a constant for at least the first two months of the regular season.
The spin and cardio classes gave way to the thankless task of running stadiums to build endurance, where officials are trying to keep pace with no-huddle, spread offenses, and are asked to keep up with athletes far younger than they are.
“At an earlier age, it was all easier to do,” Junot said. “As you get older, it takes more. The big thing is to get yourself outside, to get your body acclimated to the heat. It gets hot out there.”
Contemporaries such as Darrell Guidry and Bobby Hebert were veteran officials who were the kind of people who helped promising officials such as Junot along the way.
Advice is given, critiques are handed out, and Junot made sure to digest all of it. When Greg Gautreaux asked him for help with filling in at referee, Junot was ready.
“There’s no set timetable,” he said of the position. “It’s when Greg feels you’re ready or if you feel you’re ready. You can go up to Greg, and he’ll figure it out if you’re ready to do it or not.”
Junot had found a spot at umpire that suited him just fine. Situated between the offensive line and linebackers, umpires are charged with working in concert with the referee, first identifying the offensive line outfitted with permissible numbers – 50-79 – and making certain the offense has 11 players on each play.
“I had no intention of being a white hat,” he said. “The white hat is glamorous, but there’s a lot of things you have to be prepared for. I was happy at umpire. I’d found my niche. I was probably 20 years in before I became a white hat.”
Because of the positioning on the field, umpires are in the crosshairs of the action and are subject to physical contact.
He remembered a game between Comeaux and Crowley where the Gents had an option quarterback who flowed one way and stepped right into his path.
“I felt a linebacker coming. I was sandwiched in between them,” Junot said. “All I did was close my eyes, relaxed and prayed they didn’t hit me with a helmet. You get bumped around a lot. You get hit. Teams will run a drag (route) with their tight end across and use the umpire as a pick. If you step up or back, they’ll adjust their route.”
There was another game, because of a hurricane, which had been moved to a Saturday afternoon, where the humidity was thick. In the second quarter of the game, already in pain from an earlier hit, Junot sat out the remainder of the quarter because of dehydration and returned after halftime.
“We’ve lost about 50% of first-time officials that never make it to Year 2,” Sanders said. “Compare that to someone who’s done it for 3 ½ decades. That speaks to the unique nature of the achievement and being able to work high school football for that long.”
There are several layers to the number of commitments facing officials who aspire to make it a career.
Aside from weekly meetings that start with each season (they’ve been made easier to attend because of Zoom), the certification process requires taking a test for a time, coupled with clinics and camps, and the actual work is filled with junior varsity and varsity games.
“You’re watching film, which takes time away from your family,” Junot said. “It’s time-consuming. You have to have the full support of your family.”
Such opportunities to view game film are not always geared toward personal growth but have become a tool crews utilize in preparing for a game, Junot said. Having knowledge of a team’s tendencies, whether to throw or run, is helpful in their game research.
A statewide shortage of officials has long trickled down to the Acadiana area, which served 20-25 games when Junot first began. The number of schools has increased to 50, thus resulting in games having to be played on Thursday, as well as Friday and Saturday in other regions such as New Orleans.
“When I first started, I had a lot of experienced guys ahead of us,” Junot said. “You have to kind of wait your turn. There was a learning curve. Now we have a lot of schools. They’re doing evaluations of young officials, and if they seem like they can handle it, Greg will put them on a Friday night schedule.”
Verbal abuse from fans is among the deterrents driving officials away from the game. Junot believes that because of the distance between the stands and the field, it wasn’t something that was ever an issue.
“Lots of people holler, ‘He’s holding, he’s holding,’’’ Junot said. “You’re looking to make sure the offense didn’t get an advantage by hold, grab, or restriction. They’re fans. You just worry about those two teams and make sure you’re as fair as you can to both teams. Just make sure they’re playing a fair game and playing by the rules.”
Junot reached the pinnacle of his career in 2018. He was part of the officiating crew for the Division I non-select state championship game that Zachary won, 27-24, over West Monroe.
After seeing so many of his fellow referees and friends get the opportunity to work a game on the sport’s biggest stage in the Louisiana Superdome, Junot was appreciative of the opportunity.
“As an official, everyone wants to work toward that goal to be in the Superdome,” said Junot, who served as umpire on the crew. “I remember getting a call early on a Sunday. That was a great game.”
There had become a standard meeting place for Junot and members of the officiating crew to meet before a game, regular season, or playoff.
The Northgate Mall is now more of a distant memory for most on Lafayette’s north side of town, but to Junot, it holds many memories that will be forever cherished.
“We met there and came back and swapped stories,” he said. “Some of the older guys took some of the younger guys to the side. They gave them little critiques. We had great leadership when I started with guys (now all deceased) like Russell Ardoin, Cliff Barlett, and Jim Campbell. Their knowledge was passed on. As a young official, if you were smart, you took everything they gave you and stored it in the back of your head.”
Junot said the profession was about improving each year. There were always teaching moments, whether from a colleague or a star in the profession, such as either Greg or Daniel Gautreaux, that were of paramount importance in a career that lasted as long as Junot’s did.
“I didn’t just go out there and go through the motions,” he said. “Even if they were the two worst teams, it didn’t matter. That was my Friday night game. I told the crew we needed to go give them our 100% just like they’re going to give us 100%.
“It was always an honor,” he said. “When you’re working out there, I liked to see when a kid makes a great play. I liked to see the smiles on their faces or when they make a great tackle. You’re there for a bigger reason. You’re there for them. The game is not there for you, and you made sure they have the ability to play the game at the highest level.”
Sanders said the ability for teenagers to play a game they love largely rests on the shoulders of people such as Junot willing to make the kind of commitments needed.
“We’re just so appreciative and thankful for someone like Keith who is committed and made personal and professional sacrifices in terms of dedicating time and resources to help us play high school football,” he said. “It’s definitely a milestone that we celebrate. We always hate to see people who leave the profession, but certainly understand why.
“That kind of longevity is really rare, it’s something we love and want to celebrate, and we value,” he said. “People like Keith make high school sports possible. All of us will have a time when we stop doing the things that we love. We appreciate and are thankful for his contributions and service. That kind of longevity is something we want to applaud and celebrate.”