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Profiles and stories about officials and people close to officiating.

Silent Stands Teach Us A Valuable Lesson

The 2020 New Mexico Activities Association (NMAA) State Basketball Championships were able to conclude last March, crowning 10 boys’ and girls’ state champions. The...

Going to War with Joe Crawford

NBA fans’ character sketch of Joe Crawford has been drawn in indelible ink. They long ago dismissed him as that referee with a centimeter...

Chance Encounters of the Life-Changing Kind

Today, Jim Reynolds is one of MLB’s most accomplished umpires. His resume includes 16 postseason assignments, including two World Series, plus two All-Star games. But...

Meet Barry Mano: ‘One Breath Of Scandal Freezes Much Honorable Sweat’

NASO President Barry Mano was featured on the cover of Compliance and Ethics Professional (CEP) Magazine and was interviewed for the issue by NASO...

Iowa Wrestling Community Helps Official Get to Championships

In Iowa, wrestling is practically a family affair, almost a religion. It’s a place where every kid with a little ability and a steely attitude...

Tom O’Neill’s Long Haul

I t’s difficult for an official working a national championship game to avoid the spotlight. But during the opening minutes of the 1997 NCAA men’s...

Back From The Blindside

Veteran football official Robert Watts was recently elected president of the Austin (Texas) Football Officials Association (AFOA). It is all part of moving on with...

Hometown: Hartford City, Ind. Experience: NCAA national coordinator of men’s basketball officiating; former coordinator of officials for the Mid-American Conference and Summit League; former consultant...

Focus on the Future: Joan Powell

Joan Powell sees the scene, and in it, she sees something more. Volleyball courts, yes … they’re there, as far as the eye can see....

Marc Of Distinction

He used to sit anonymously in the Silverado High School bleachers in Las Vegas during the mid-2000s, a bookish, kind man who could easily...

Hall of Famer June Courteau has Left an Amazing Mark on Women’s Basketball Officiating

A well-read woman with an insatiable desire to cram yet more knowledge into her mind was sitting poolside at an Aruba timeshare dwelling in the summer of 2015. Simply reading doesn’t...

Frank DeFord, Longtime Supporter of Sports Officials, Dies At 78

We at Referee magazine and the National Association of Sports Officials are much saddened by the passing of Frank DeFord. Frank received accolades, honors...

Yellow Flags to Checkered

In 2005, Dick Kitchens, from the Gold Leaf Football Officials Association in Tifton, Ga., gave then-17-year-old Jeremiah Thalheimer of Tifton a shot at working...

There Will Never be Another Red Cashion

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