Markbreit began officiating in intramural college fraternity games 1953, after nearly being seriously injured several times attempting to play college football at the
University of Illinois. Markbreit began officiating as a career in 1957, when he joined the Central Officials Association, and began working public league and junior varsity games. By the late 1950s, Markbreit was officiating high school games, including several with the teenage
Dick Butkus. Markbreit officiated his first Big Ten game (at back judge),
Northwestern at
Indiana on September 25, 1965. He joined the Big Ten as a full-time back judge in 1966, and in 1968, was promoted to referee after taking charge of a 1967 game between
Missouri and Northwestern at
Evanston, Illinois, a few miles from his residence in
Skokie. He served as the back judge in the "Game of the Century" on November 19, 1966, between top-ranked Notre Dame and second-ranked Michigan State which ended in a 10–10 tie. He was referee for the
1969 Ohio State vs. Michigan football game, a 24-12 Michigan upset, and also the
Rose Bowl on
New Year's Day 1972 between Stanford and Michigan, which the Indians won 13–12 to deny the Wolverines a perfect season. Two members of Markbreit's 1971 crew,
Dale Orem and Bill Quinby, would later be members of Markbreit's crews in the NFL. Just before the beginning of the 1968 football season, Markbreit was offered (and declined) an early job offer from the NFL as a field judge (renamed to back judge in 1998). He felt that his lack of college experience would prevent him from obtaining the referee position in the NFL (although future NFL referee
Walt Coleman did not have experience as a collegiate referee prior to his promotion to crew chief in 1995). For the third time in four seasons, Markbreit officiated the annual
Michigan-Ohio State rivalry game at
Ann Arbor on November 20, 1971. Late in that game, furious over what he thought was a missed defensive pass interference foul against Michigan All-American
Thom Darden, Buckeyes coach
Woody Hayes stormed onto the field, launched a profanity-laced tirade at Markbreit, tore up the sideline markers, threw the penalty flag into the crowd, began destroying the yard markers and threw the first-down marker into the ground like a
javelin before being restrained by Buckeyes team officials. Hayes was suspended for one game and fined $1,000 by Big Ten commissioner
Wayne Duke. Moments after Hayes' tirade, Markbreit ejected Buckeyes linebacker
Randy Gradishar for punching Michigan quarterback
Tom Slade through his face mask, triggering a 10-minute brawl. He did not officiate the Ohio State-Michigan game again until November 22, 1975, his last game as a Big Ten official. His last collegiate game was one week later in
Cedar Falls, Iowa, a Division II playoff game between
Western Kentucky and
Northern Iowa played in a driving rainstorm. It was the last outdoor football game at UNI before the opening of the
UNI Dome. Markbreit joined the NFL as a line judge in 1976, and became a referee in 1977 upon the retirement of long-time referee
Tommy Bell, who was Markbreit's crew chief during the 1976 season. The other members of Bell's crew—umpire Gordon Wells, head linesman Ray Dodez, back judge
Tom Kelleher and field judge Ed Merrifield—asked NFL supervisor of officials
Art McNally to leave the crew intact and they would "bring Jerry along," and McNally did, with Bill Reynolds replacing Markbreit as line judge. Markbreit retired from the field after working a playoff game between the
San Francisco 49ers and
Atlanta Falcons on January 9, 1999. Markbreit officiated the
Holy Roller play, a game-winning play executed by the
Oakland Raiders against the
San Diego Chargers on September 10, 1978. With 10 seconds left in the game, Raiders quarterback
Ken Stabler lost the ball, and it rolled forward towards the San Diego goal line. Raiders
tight end Dave Casper batted and kicked the ball into the end zone, where he fell on it for the game-tying touchdown as time ran out. The Raiders won, 21–20. Markbreit ruled that Stabler fumbled the ball instead of intentionally throwing a forward pass, and the league backed up the call. A subsequent rule change permits only the fumbling player on offense to advance a fumble on fourth down or in the last two minutes of a half. Among NFL officials, it is still known as the "Markbreit rule." In November 1986, Markbreit was the referee at
Soldier Field when the
Green Bay Packers visited to play the
Chicago Bears. He ejected Packers defensive end
Charles Martin after he bodyslammed
Jim McMahon shoulder-first into the
AstroTurf. It was Markbreit's first ejection as an NFL official. Martin was suspended for two games by NFL commissioner
Pete Rozelle, the longest suspension for an on-field incident at the time (the record is now 12 games, imposed upon then-
Raiders linebacker
Vontaze Burfict for repeated violent acts, including illegal hits on
Colts players
Jack Doyle and
Nyheim Hines in the same game). Years later, Markbreit said that he felt Martin's hit was so far outside the bounds of the game that the only option was an ejection. His move set a precedent; any violent act that is not considered part of the game is grounds for ejection. The call was largely credited by the media and NFL executives in helping Markbreit land the assignment as the referee of
Super Bowl XXI two months later. Markbreit refereed
Super Bowl XVII. During the coin toss Markbreit became confused by the similar design of both sides of the coin: one side had two helmets and the other side showed two players holding helmets. Thus, he incorrectly thought "heads" had landed and had to have a brief conference with head linesman
Dale Hamer before correcting his call to "tails". At
Super Bowl XXVI, the
Buffalo Bills'
Brad Daluiso launched the opening kickoff before Markbreit blew his whistle and signaled the kick could be made. The kickoff was replayed without incident. Markbreit remained involved in the league, as he served as an
instant replay official for two years following his retirement as an active official, and later worked as an associate supervisor and head trainer for NFL referees. His work outside of football has included advertising sales for
Where Magazine, and many years as a trade and barter manager for
3M. ==Books by Markbreit==