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An Inside Look at the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four
As a winter bomb cyclone slammed Denver on March 13, Matt Palumb was home in Syracuse, N.Y., with two things on his mind: the...
The Largest Officiating Survey Ever
17,487. That is the number of officials whose investment in this avocation motivated them to respond to the recent National Association of Sports Officials...
Officials Who Coach
We start with my story.
I was officiating with a rookie partner (who had great potential) on a middle school championship basketball game. Perfect pairing...
The Shot
As an exhausted Tom Clark settled back into the aisle seat of his Delta Airlines flight the morning of March 29, 1992, a slight...
Inside Look: 2025 CFP Championship Game Officiating Crew
When Ohio State linebacker Jack Sawyer completed his scoop-and-score after sacking Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers with a little more than two minutes remaining in...
SQUAWK BOX
By Dan Ronan
A late May MLB game between the New York Mets and the St. Louis Cardinals pointed out the challenges ESPN, Fox and...
The Four-Hour Audition
By Brad Tittrington
T
he odds of making it to MLB as a player are infinitesimally small — roughly 0.5% of high school players make it....
Take a Number
What's in a number? You'd be surprised how some NFL officials wound up with their uniform numbers, and the history behind those identifying digits.
On...
Sirmons on the Mount
By Michael Clark
Published in Referee Magazine, April 2025
A
sk any aspiring NCAA basketball official what the greatest assignment could be and 100% of them will...
His Plate is Full
By Dan Ronan
Dan Bellino’s phone, email and text messages never seem to stop. His schedule and life are packed full, 24/7/365. He’s been a...
FONZY
By Dan Ronan
major League Baseball umpire Alfonso Márquez was driving April 21, 2005, to an early season game in Tampa, Fla., when he got...
Care-Frontation
By Dan Ronan
bob Delaney, a retired NBA referee and the Southeastern Conference special advisor for officiating development and performance, is one of the officiating...
The Referee Assault That Became National News
Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the February 1996 issue of Referee under the title “Incident in Black and White.” It recounts a...
Assaulted: Now What?
It was a good game, a close game, and both teams competed hard. The home team wins by one and as you’re leaving the...
Referee U
The University of Central Florida Officiating Class is making a positive impact on the industry.
Jose Acevedo has everything an assigner (or even a coach)...
Doors Opening Wider
Clockwise from top left: Amanda Bender, Maia Chaka, Kelly Dine, Sara Woods, Kaili Kimura
By Tim Yonke
In what could be a blueprint for women seeking...
Carefrontation
By Dan Ronan
Bob Delaney, a retired NBA referee and the Southeastern Conference special advisor for officiating development and performance, is one of the officiating...
Gold Whistle Award: Ted Barrett
By Marcel Kerr
Every big-league umpire has to take his figurative lumps working in the minors before getting his first game in the majors. Ted...
Three-Dimensional
By Rick Woelfel
To say Mara Wager is a busy woman is an understatement. If it’s a fall weekend, she’s likely working a women’s college...
Bob Delaney: From Undercover Cop to NBA Referee
You’re used to seeing 14-year NBA veteran Bob Delaney on the court with Shaq or the Mailman. But long before his officiating career ever...
Harassment Halt
A
ll sports officials are potential targets for criticism. When we don a striped shirt and pick up a whistle, we understand criticism comes with...
Aweigh Games
Michael Kennedy suddenly found himself in a predicament that was not of his own making.
A 15-year veteran of the U.S. Navy, Kennedy, who holds...
Help Rains Supreme
By Brad Tittrington
It has been said that difficult times often bring out the best in people. What transpired in late July and early August...
Highest Ranked Crew
Cohesion and unity are essential if a military unit is to function at peak efficacy. Those qualities carry over onto the football field.
Scott Jacobson...