The director of officials of the North American Soccer League from 1973 to 1978.
Pearson, who was born in England and had been an English FA referee, came to the United States in 1967 to referee games played by the National Professional Soccer League. One year later, after the merger that created the NASL, he was named the NASL’s chief referee, and in 1973 became the league’s director of officials, a position he held through the league’s greatest growth years of the late 1970s until his death in 1978.
Pearson also was involved in various activities related to referee development with the Georgia state association and the U.S. Soccer Federation.
Inducted in 1990.
