"Odds and Ins of A Half Century of Athletic Officiating" -Time #60

Being an athletic official for 50 years has brought me all types of emotional ups and downs.

To have embraced an avocation for half century, many, many things have had to fit together for me; that old square peg in a square hole thing.

My family, my real job, my health, my burning love of sports; all have to fit if you want to start and continue officiating, or the end result will be your officiating career will be over.

Another possible obstacle not commonly known, is the political aspect of officiating, an aspect that is also common to almost every aspect of human life. That is to say, many times when an upper level football, basketball or baseball game is happening, that particular athletic contest could be officiated by any number of qualified officials.

Why by those specific officials working that contest?

Politics, folks, simple politics.

Simply said, it is impressing the right people at the right time without major detractors. No surprise here to anyone I would say.

That fact being well established, most all officials at the upper levels are well-qualified, but what is also true is there are many well-qualified who could work those contests, but they are never do.

So, what else about this odd officiating "hobby" would be of interest to members of Our Town?

One that is really important to me is the family/friends bonding that has been enjoyed by many associated with my avocation forever and ever.

Early on in our budding relationship, I told my lady, Ms. Debbie, "I am an official". I followed that up by taking her to several of my Friday Night Lights games in the Greater San Diego Area. Not sure what she thought about all that in 1979, but she liked it/me enough to marry me a couple years later. Remember, I said family has to be supportive.

As our 3 children grew up in Stillwater, many of their Friday nights in the fall involved high school football games, and both Tuesday and Friday nights in the winter, attending high school basketball games. I usually allowed them to bring friends along to experience small town Oklahoma, and watch the many athletic events.

Our kids absolutely loved it when dad (i.e., me) would regularly ask them if they wanted to take a friend along to one of my games. They probably liked the basketball nights the best because usually the gyms had a hospitality room on-site, full of treats and junk food which, of course, they readily enjoyed with their buddies. During the football evenings, however, they did enjoy running around the end zones, bleachers and meeting the other young children from these many various out-of-town locations.

It was very interesting to follow my children's maturity over time, following their dad from officiating venue to venue. They came to understand the sports rules better, and they closely observed the human animal spectators and the public's various reactions to the officiating calls during the games. I think it was a real eye-opener for them to see all types of people openly criticize their father, sometimes hollering

harsh statements at him. I think in the early years they would tell local people around them at the games that I was their dad. However, as the years rolled on, they told fewer and fewer folks they were related to the guy on the field or floor. That was probably a better idea; the anonymous child, not to be known as the official's kid.

The post-game rides home were interesting, too, with various topics brought up and questions posed to me, while I drove the "activity" vehicle. Hopefully, we all learned from this give and take in the family automobile. There always was so much laughter and story telling by me, great stories that my children had heard many times before, but were usually always very entertaining to my children's guests,

Fast forward to modern times, hardly a Friday goes by that I don't have one or more tag-along adult friends who see the football game from an entirely different perspective. Almost everyone has told me post-game, they never realized so much was involved in officiating the game, all the way from my extensive pre-game talks with my 5-man crew, to the interaction of our crew with the coaching staffs of each team along the sidelines.

It truly is a different world down on the field where all the action is up close and gritty.

If it strikes a cord on your "to-do" list, ride along to a sporting event with an official, and catch part of the game's gusto from their level. I promise you'll be glad you went, and experienced the game from an entirely different angle.