July 16, 1978.
In the football locker room at Folsom Field. Bruce Campbell, working security, is chatting it up with his new best friend, singer Mick Jagger, before Jagger and the Rolling Stones take to the stage. Keith Richards soon enters and the three men immediately bond. It was a moment frozen in time – a moment of kinship, a moment of mutual respect, a moment of shared humanity.
That is the essence of Bruce, who starred on CU’s offensive on his other times in the stadium. But whether it was dishing it with the Stones, shaking hands postgame with Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer, making a tough call as a football referee against Grambling University and legendary coach Eddie Robinson, coaching girls’ basketball in New York, or kicking it with Spike Lee at Madison Square Garden, Bruce has been the same person. Honest. Hard working. Dedicated. Driven. Humble. Real.
Bruce Campbell's journey took him from Harlem to rural Kansas, to Boulder, to the world, and back to the Bronx. As a child, he played sandlot football at Macombs Dam Park, now the site of the new Yankee Stadium. In his youth, he sold concessions at the old ballpark, proud that he got a chance to see his hero, Reggie Jackson, up close. He went to his first football game there with his father and watched the New York Giants play the Dallas Cowboys.
And thanks to former CU coach Chuck Fairbanks, Bruce realized his father’s dream to have his son play pro ball when Fairbanks signed Bruce to play with the USFL Jersey Generals, not long after Mr. Campbell succumbed to cancer.
In 2019, he received a Minor League Football award for his 30-plus years as a referee, where he earned the respect and admiration of peers, coaches and players.
Respect.
Meet Bruce Campbell…
