Walt Coleman

Walt Coleman III
Nationality	United States
Occupation	NFL official (1989–present)

Walt Coleman III is an American football official who has officiated in the National Football League (NFL) since the 1989 season. He wears uniform number 65.

Coleman resides in Little Rock, Arkansas and is a sixth-generation family operator of Hiland Dairy.

His son, Walt Coleman IV, joined the NFL as an official in 2015.

Outside of officiating, Coleman serves on many local boards and associations including the Little Rock Boys and Girls Club and Greater Little Rock YMCA. Coleman is a former president of the Arkansas Dairy Products Association and Major Sports Association of the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Coleman was inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame in February 2009, joining his father, Buddy Coleman, a 1994 inductee.

Coleman worked for the Arkansas Activities Association, the governing body for high school athletics in Arkansas, for 14 years before moving up to the college level. His college officiating career included five years in the Southland Conference (Division I-AA) and five years in the Southwest Conference (Division I). He was never promoted to referee during his college officiating career since he could not justify heading a crew with his five years experience in each conference.

Coleman served as a line judge for the first six seasons before being promoted to referee at the start of the 1995 NFL season when Dale Hamer was forced to sit out that season after undergoing open-heart surgery. Mike Carey had been promoted to referee when the NFL added another crew for the 1995 season in anticipation of the arrival of expansion franchises Carolina and Jacksonville.

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