FOX 2 – Usually, the best officials are the ones you don’t notice in games – but Shawn Smith defies that description, although not for any controversial calls Sunday.

The backstory:

The lead official at Super Bowl LX yesterday is a Detroit Cody High School graduate and Ferris State University alum.

A 1994 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in accountancy, Smith has been an alternate referee for a couple past Super Bowls but yesterday was his first time on the field.

According to Ferris State, Smith is in his 11th season as an NFL official and 8th as referee, which is the lead official, recognizable by the white cap.

The referee manages the entire officiating crew, announces the penalties, and is the final authority on rulings.

Smith got his start officiating Pop Warner games in junior high school and also officiated flag football at Eastern Michigan University, according to Football Zebras, a release by Ferris State University said.

The former Cody Comet was recruited to run track and play football at Eastern Michigan University before transferring to Ferris State.

While at Ferris, he began to officiate high school football and later to the Division II gridiron.

At the collegiate level, Smith officiated in Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference, and the Big Ten Conference. He was hired by the NFL in 2025.

SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 08: Referee Shawn Smith gives a thumbs-up prior to the start of Super Bowl LX between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots at Levi’s Stadium on February 08, 2026 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Ke

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READ MORE FROM OUR 2026 WEDDING FEATURE HERE

Caleb and I met in 2017 at UW-Milwaukee. We were part of the Film, Video, Animation & New Genres undergrad program, and he worked in the Visual Arts & Film Equipment Room. During one long wait to return an audio recorder, I heard the whimsical instrumentation and soft-voiced poetic singing of Sufjan Stevens’ album Illinois through the open door. I had recently become obsessed with Sufjan’s music and was excited to talk to someone about it. We chatted about the album, and when I walked away, I mused, “If I date someone, they should definitely like Sufjan Stevens.” 

When we ran into each other again a few months later at the Kenilworth building for a film class, we had a longer conversation about shoulder mounts for cameras, bands we like, and family members’ embarrassing posts on Facebook. Afterward, I emailed him to follow up on some of our conversation topics, and I included Minions memes. 

A little over six years later, I proposed to him on my birthday in the alley near the Kenilworth building. We planned our wedding for the summer at the Humboldt Park Pavilion. I hosted trivia centered around facts about Caleb and me, awarding the winner the honor of signing our marriage certificate.

Many decorations were informed by my Mexican-American heritage, and love of bold colors and patterns: Mexican blanket-patterned table runners and an ofrenda-style table as a memorial to my mother. Almost all of our decorations were secondhand, sourced from Facebook Marketplace or eBay.

We asked guests to bring snacks and drinks to share instead of gifts, and we hired Pedro’s South American Food as our caterer. Caleb’s ex-boss from the Visual Arts & Film Equipment Room baked a delicious chai cake with vanilla buttercream in the shape of a sea turtle dotted with sunflowers. Over five years of sharing a duplex with our landlords, we had become friends, so their daughters were our flower girls. Of course, I had to walk down the aisle to a Sufjan Stevens song.

The Magic Moment

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal authorities have denied attempting to expedite an end to asylum claims by the family of a 5-year-old boy who was detained with his father during the immigration crackdown that has shaken the Minneapolis area.

Images of Liam Conejo Ramos wearing a bunny hat and Spider-Man backpack surrounded by immigration officers stirred outrage over the crackdown.

Danielle Molliver, a lawyer for the boy and his father, told the New York Times that the government was attempting to speed up the deportation proceedings, calling the actions “extraordinary” and possibly “retaliatory.”

The government denied that.

“These are regular removal proceedings. They are not in expedited removal,” Department of Homeland Security official Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, adding “there is nothing retaliatory about enforcing the nation’s immigration laws.”

Molliver told the Times that an immigration judge, during a closed Friday hearing, gave her additional time to argue the family’s case.

The boy and his father, Adrian Conejo Arias, who originally is from Ecuador, were detained in a Minneapolis suburb on Jan. 20. They were taken to a detention facility in Dilley, Texas.

They were released following a judge’s order and returned to Minnesota on Feb. 1.

Neighbors and school officials have accused federal immigration officers of using the preschooler as “bait” by telling him to knock on the door to his house so that his mother would come outside. DHS has called that description of events an “abject lie.” It said the father fled on foot and left the boy in a running vehicle in their driveway.

The government said the boy’s father entered the U.S. illegally from Ecuador in December 2024. The family’s lawyer said he has an asylum claim pending that allows him to stay in the U.S.

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