Longtime American rugby referee and champion of the game Pat McNally has died.

McNally, who played rugby at Cal State Long Beach in the late 1970s and early 1980s was an energetic and well-liked rugby referee who maintained good humor even when others didn't.

He was also a favorite of this reporter as he was singled out by his employer for an example good time-wasting at his job: "Pat looks at rugby news on his computer, and that's perfectly appropriate." What he was reading was Alex Goff's articles.

McNally referees through the 1980s, 1990s and into the 2000s. He took on organizational roles, serving as USA Rugby's National Sevens Referee Manager, and moved up to be USA Rugby's Northern Hemisphere referee selector, helping evaluate and find referees for the World Sevens Series. 

Professionally he spent 35 years in surveying, right-of-way planning, and other complicated aspects of land use and development. He retired in 2020. 

McNally was hugely respects and liked. Below are just a couple of the social media posts about his death: