We’re officially at the midpoint of “50 Voices for 50 Years,” the video series we launched to mark Referee Magazine’s 50th anniversary, presented courtesy of Ump-Attire. The idea behind it was simple but ambitious: instead of just telling the magazine’s story ourselves, we’d ask the people who lived it to tell it for us. Each week this year, we’ve featured a different voice from across the officiating world, from NFL referees to NBA trailblazers to the people who build the gear and run the governing bodies that keep our profession moving forward, all sharing a personal memory or anecdote about what this magazine has meant to them.
Taken one at a time, each video is a quick, fun watch. Taken together, they’re starting to add up to something bigger: a real, first-person history of how one publication has touched nearly every sport and every level of officiating over fifty years, told not by us, but by the people on the receiving end.
This week we’re pausing to do something different: a recap. Chances are you haven’t seen every video so far, and a few of them deserve a second look. We’ll do this again the last week of the year with the back half of the series.
All 25 videos released so far live on our YouTube playlist, and we’d encourage you to spend some time there with each of the short, but excellent videos. But if you only have a few minutes, here are some that stand out from the first half of the year.
Mark Baltz: The Night Rudy Mano Walked Into the Gym
Retired NFL official Mark Baltz takes us back to 1976, when Referee founder Barry Mano’s father, Rudy, traveled to Indiana to tell a room full of young officials about a brand new magazine being written for sports officials. Baltz was in that room. Watching him connect that single night, before the magazine had even printed its first issue, to the entire arc of his Hall of Fame officiating career is a reminder of how far a good idea can travel when somebody is willing to drive it from town to town themselves.
Ron Foxcroft: A Chance Meeting in Montreal
Few people have shaped the sound of officiating quite like Ron Foxcroft, the founder and CEO of Fox40. His story starts at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, where a chance encounter set off a relationship between Foxcroft, his now-famous pealess whistle, and Referee Magazine that has lasted decades and benefited everyone involved. It’s a great example of how this anniversary isn’t just about a publication. It’s about an entire industry that grew up together.
Joan Powell: Seeing Her Sport for the First Time
Legendary volleyball official and college supervisor Joan Powell described what it felt like the first time she saw volleyball covered in the pages of Referee. For officials in sports that don’t always get the same spotlight as football or basketball, that kind of recognition can be the moment a career starts to feel like it belongs to something bigger. Powell’s story is a quiet one, but it’s one of the more honest reflections in the series so far.
Violet Palmer: The “Belle of the Ball”
As one of the NBA’s first full-time female officials, Violet Palmer drew plenty of mainstream media attention when she stepped onto an NBA court. But in her video, she makes the case that none of that coverage meant quite as much as appearing on the cover of Referee, amazingly, in a photo alongside Michael Jordan, in a magazine made specifically for officials. To this day, she says, young officials still bring that issue to her camps to get it signed. It’s one of the most emotionally resonant videos we’ve produced.
Lisa Jones: The Power of Representation
That impact shows up directly in another video, this one with active NCAA Division I women’s basketball official Lisa Jones. She opens her video by describing the moment that confirmed, in her heart, that officiating at the highest level was something worth striving for: seeing Violet Palmer on the cover of Referee in January 2000. For Jones, it wasn’t just that an NBA official made the cover. It was that the person on it looked like her, a Black woman who had broken through in a profession that didn’t offer many examples of what was possible. That image stayed with her, and it’s a powerful, full-circle reminder of why representation in these pages has always mattered just as much as the stories themselves. Watching Jones’s video back to back with Palmer’s is a microcosm of the impact of this anniversary series: one cover, two careers, years apart.
Debbie Williamson: Stories That Matter
Former NCAA women’s basketball official, rules editor and national officiating coordinator Debbie Williamson talks about reading something in Referee that genuinely outraged her, a story that wasn’t being covered anywhere else, and never would have been. Her larger point lands hard: Referee has always been willing to go after the stories that matter to officials, even when nobody else will touch them.
Sandra Serafini: When Officials’ Voices Spur Action
Former FIFA referee Sandra Serafini brings an international perspective to the series, reflecting on how rare it is for officials’ voices to actually be heard, and how even rarer it is for those voices to lead to real change. She credits Referee with being one of the few places where that has consistently happened, a theme that echoes throughout the series but lands with particular weight coming from someone who officiated at the highest level of the world’s biggest sport.
Tony Thompson: A Phone Call Out of the Blue
Longtime NCAA Division I baseball coordinator Tony Thompson tells the story of a call that changed the direction of his career: Barry Mano himself, reaching out of nowhere, which ultimately helped catapult Thompson’s neutral crew concept to multiple conferences. It’s one of the more fun, conversational videos in the series, and a good example of how a single connection through this magazine rippled out into how an entire sport is officiated today.
Ron Torbert: A Magazine That Speaks Our Language
NFL referee Ron Torbert has been an official for 36 years, and he says Referee still energizes him today the same way it always has. His video is a great reminder that this series isn’t only about looking backward. For working officials at every level, the magazine remains a living, current part of how they do their jobs.
John Lozano: A Career-Long Benefit
John Lozano, former president of the California Basketball Officials Association, speaks to something a lot of association leaders will recognize: the way Referee has benefited him not just as a working official, but as someone responsible for an entire association of officials. His perspective adds an important layer to the series, representing the leaders who use the magazine to support and train others.
Dave Uyl: A Full-Circle Story
In a recently released video, TSSAA Director of Officiating Dave Uyl, offers a story that ties the whole series together. He went from being a Referee reader, to a Referee staffer, to leading officiating for an entire state athletic association. It’s the kind of full-circle journey that captures exactly what this anniversary project set out to do: show how one magazine has woven itself into so many different lives and careers, in so many different ways.
Catch Up Anytime
All of these videos, along with the rest of the series, are available any time on our YouTube playlist. We’ll be back next week with a new voice, and we’ll run another recap like this one the last week of the year once all 50 videos are complete.
The Full List So Far
- Lisa Jones — NCAA DI Women’s Basketball Official
- Clark Evans — ArbiterSports VP of Business Development
- Jim Kirk — President and CEO, Ump Attire
- Joan Powell — Legendary volleyball official; college supervisor
- Ron Torbert — NFL Referee
- Ron Foxcroft — Founder and CEO, Fox40
- Dana Pappas — NFHS Director of Officiating Services
- Scott Goodheart — KSHSAA Director of Officials
- Steven Ellinger — Former TASO Executive Director; subscriber since 1976
- Davis Whitfield — NFHS Chief Operating Officer
- Mark Uyl — MHSAA Executive Director; former Minor League Umpire
- Mark Baltz — Retired NFL Official
- Debbie Williamson — Former NCAA Women’s Basketball Official; Rules Editor; National Officiating Coordinator
- Jeff Triplette — Former NFL Referee; retired CEO of ArbiterSports
- Sandra Serafini — Former FIFA Referee
- John Lozano — Former President, California Basketball Officials Association
- Ronnie Foxcroft — Vice President, Fox40 International
- Ernie Yarbrough — Former GHSA Executive Director
- Marc Ratner — Senior Vice President of Government and Regulatory Affairs, UFC
- Alan Goldberger — Longtime multi-sport official; officiating legal expert
- Violet Palmer — Among the first full-time female NBA officials
- Andrew Walker — Director of Education and Training, USTA Officiating; Chief Umpire, US Open
- Tony Thompson — NCAA Division I Baseball Coordinator
- Ed Rush — Former Head of NBA Officiating
- Dave Uyl — TSSAA Director of Officiating
Watch all of them on our YouTube playlist, and stay tuned for the next 25 voices still to come.
If YOU have a story about how Referee Magazine intersected your life or career, send a summary of your thoughts to Dan Olson > dolson@referee.com for consideration.
