When Dave Parry refereed intramural basketball games at Wabash College in the mid 1950’s for $1 a game, he recalls, “It paid for hamburgers, pizza and stuff like that.”
Then, when he began teaching at Michigan City, Indiana, Elston High School in 1958, Parry found officiating to be a more vital supplement to his income as he and his wife, Pat, began raising a family which now includes five children. “I used to get the referee’s check on Friday (after the game),” Parry told REFEREE with a chuckle, “and drive straight home to get the groceries before the store closed.”
Along the way he paid off a 20-year, $18,000 mortgage on his home in just six years with the money he made from officiating college games. “I was going to be gone on Saturday and Monday nights and we kinda made up our minds that we wanted to have something to show for it,” the 42-year-old Hoosier explained.
The Parrys have a classic sign in their home as a reminder. It reads: “This house paid for by boos.”
His work followed an orderly trail from junior high, to high school, to college and from basketball into a dual role with football. Today Parry stands atop the pinnacle of his profession by regularly working National Football League games along with Mid-America Conference and Metro-7 basketball. The challenge now is even more important than the economic gratification, Parry emphasizes.
On the relationship between being an official and also a coach and teacher Parry remarked, “It probably helped get some jobs on the junior high and ‘B’ team level, but that’s about the extent of it. If you don’t have skills you’re not going to go up, anyway.”
Did being a teacher help Parry with his officiating? “It was not any great help on handling situations. Actually officiating helped me handle classroom situations better, making me a better teacher.”
Once, in his younger years, Dave worked 12 games in one day during a county junior high basketball tourney. He started at seven in the morning and finished at 11 at night. The pay was $4 a game and as he put it, “$48 at that time looked like $480 . . . Of course, today it’s a lucrative business for me. It’s blossomed into about $10,000 per year.”
Dreaming of the Big Ten
Like many Hoosiers, Parry originally had dreamed of being a basketball coach. He had won 12 letters at Chesterton, Indiana, High School and nine at Wabash College before beginning to teach and coach. In 1961 he became head baseball coach at Elston, but he never had much chance at the basketball post because it was held by one of the best in the state – Doug Adams.
In 1965 Parry gave up his longtime basketball ambitions and revamped his future goals. “I decided my goal was to become a major college official,” he noted, “and try to get into the Big Ten. And I really worked hard at it.”
From 1960 to 1970, Parry worked a full load of prep basketball games, from 50 to 60 per year. Over the final few seasons he added about 15 football games, an easy pickup once he got his reputation established in the round ball sport. Dave was especially proud that he often was called on to work some of the most heated rivalries and he also received five sectional assignments in state basketball tourney play.
Even a good official needs breaks to move up the ladder and Parry fingers Gene Bartow (then head cage mentor at nearby Valparaiso University) as the one who gave him his first big break by hiring him to officiate his home game against Western Ontario. “The score was about 120 to 75,” Parry estimated, “and there was no way that I could mess that up. From there I started picking up more Indiana Collegiate Conference games and I’ll always be grateful to him for that.”
An even bigger break came during the 1967-68 campaign when Parry got up enough courage to shoot for the real bigtime. He described it rather colorfully: “Like a hayseed out of the country, I went to the Big Ten office in Chicago. I must have walked the lobby for ten or 15 minutes before I got up the courage to see the commissioner.”
He finally was given an interview with Herm Rohrig, supervisor of Big Ten officials, who was to play a monumental role in his officiating career from that day on. Today, Parry says, “Probably next to my father Herm Rohrig is one of the great people in my life. His impact really has been deep. He’s one of the backbones of the Big Ten.”
Rohrig had Parry scouted and in the 1968-69 season he gave him a pair of assignments – through the Big Ten office – at Indiana State University. The first game, against Southern Illinois, “went smooth as silk,” Parry felt, but, alas, no one was there to observe him.
The second game was against longtime rival Valparaiso and as Parry put it, “All heck broke loose. Kids fought, technical fouls were called, the crowd showered the floor with popcorn and boxes and we had to stop the game twice to clean off the floor. After the game there was a knock on our door and it was Rohrig. When I went home that night I told my wife I blew it. I really thought it (his chances) was over.”
That summer, however, Rohrig called and asked him to come to Lafayette for an interview. Much to his surprise, Parry heard the veteran supervisor say, “I liked the way you worked. You kept your cool and had a lot of courage.”
Thus was launched a six-year career as a Big Ten basketball official. His first year Parry was originally given five games but ended up working 12 plus an NCAA tourney. He worked an NCAA meet every year and his final campaign he had 30 assignments – most for a Big Ten referee that season.
Tales from the Hardwood
Along the way, Parry had many interesting, often humorous, experiences. Once he came upon two nude women in the referee’s locker room at the University of Iowa. They were women’s libbers who were bound and determined to make sure their protest of inadequate women’s locker room facilities did not go unnoticed. Their actions spoke rather loudly, needless to say!
“The one that really stands out,” Parry related, “was when we goofed up a game between IU and Illinois at Illinois. They were tied for the Big Ten lead and the game was knotted with about 30 seconds to go. Another official called a jump ball and then there was a timeout. I was about to throw up the ball when Illinois captain Rick Howat said he was not the real jumper. The official said he wouldn’t stand for any other jumper and he wound up calling a double technical foul on Harv Schmidt (Illinois coach).”
By the time the smoke had cleared George McGinnis made two free throws for IU and when they took the ball out of bounds McGinnis was intentionally fouled quickly and he made two more. IU finally won by one point and, as Parry vividly remembers the situation, “The Illinois people were furious. After the game we had to take a sneak escape route out of Assembly Hall (aided by Civil Defense men), because they feared for our lives. Unfortunately, some of the Illinois people knew it, too, and they were waiting for us. My buddy got his tie and shirt ripped off by a woman.”
The Marquette-DePaul game is termed “civil war” by Parry and even though he felt he and his partner had a “beautiful game” one night they got “heck” from a female fan in the parking lot.
Parry was accompanied by a personal friend, Dennis Gruse, who stepped into the middle as a peacemaker. Unfortunately, he had a cigar in his mouth and accidently burned the woman slightly under one eye. Her husband and son chased the duo into their car, which they quickly locked.
“I tried to make peace with her, but it was darn near impossible,” the Hoosier official sighed. Finally the police got word and 30 of them rescued the bedraggled pair. Gruse apologized and they fled for home.
Parry tempered his comments with, “There have been some great rewards, too.” One year he worked an NCAA tourney at Dayton, Ohio, in which he and his co-worker were given an unprecedented standing ovation by a reserved section of referees and their wives. Soon afterwards one of the participating coaches stopped by to add his compliments.
In the later vein, probably Parry’s most-remembered game was Indiana at Michigan several years back. “I thought it was the best game I’d ever seen coached, without a doubt Bob Knight’s best game of coaching,” Parry marvelled. He explained that Knight lost three key players with injuries in the first half. IU trailed at the half and had been whistled for 12 fouls to only four for the home Wolverines.
“I had two rookie officials with me and they were scared to death,” Parry confided. So what happens? After the halftime break, up comes Knight to talk to the officials. All sorts of thoughts suddenly went through their minds as to what Knight had on HIS mind.
The entire crew practically fainted when the fiery IU coach said, “Dave, I don’t care how much you mess up this game in the second half, but that is the best first-half officiating I’ve ever had since I have coached basketball.” Knight’s Hoosiers came from behind to win that game and he always will be a winner with Parry.
The Road to the NFL
It could be stated that Parry got into the NFL by accident. Now athletic director at Michigan City Rogers High School, Parry was working a football game at Northern Illinois University in 1974 where he was observed by NFL scout George Rennix.
“It was just a stroke of very good luck,” the humble Hoosier told REFEREE. Late that night he got a call from Rennix, who informed him that he had watched him work and liked what he saw. Parry had been working some Mid-America Conference games. Its commissioner, Fred Jacoby, had been at the game and he also endorsed the Hoosier.
“I visited with him on the phone for an hour,” Parry recalled, “and I think I said something which really helped me. I told him I was interested in the NFL, but had a very strong loyalty to the Big Ten and especially their supervisor, Herm Rohrig. Before I would even consider the NFL, I would have to visit Herm, get his opinion and blessing. This was the right thing to say, because I found out later that Rennix and Herm were good friends.”
In March of 1975 Parry received a letter from NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle which included a legal affidavit. Rozelle, in effect, was getting Parry’s blessing to be investigated by the NFL. Talk about thoroughness! The FBI was called in and an agent completely blanketed Parry’s past – from the Big Ten to his local banker.
At the end of March, Art McNally, NFL supervisor of officials, told Dave that he was one of four candidates for a single opening and that he should come to Chicago in early April for an interview. He went through a stiff two and one-half hour interview and was told that he would be notified – one way or another – a week from that Friday.
“I never left the office that Friday – I didn’t even go to lunch,” Parry said with a chuckle. “That afternoon he called, gave his congratulations and welcomed me aboard. I was thrilled and wondered if it was a dream. I pinched myself to see if this was really happening.
“First thing I called Pat, my wife, and the second thing I called Herm Rohrig. Of course, I couldn’t thank him enough, because all this had come about through the Big Ten training and experience.”
Unfortunately the Big Ten does not use professional referees, so Dave had to sever his ties. Such coaches as Knight, Michigan’s Johnny Orr, Purdue’s Fred Schaus and Minnesota’s Jim Dutcher were among those who wrote Parry to say how sorry they were to see him leave.
This high regard for his ability probably precipitated what must rank as the sweetest moment in his life.
Art White, a black official from Chicago and one of Dave’s good friends, invited him to a banquet at the North Shore Athletic Club in Chicago. When he got there about 50 Big Ten and Chicago-area referees and Herman Rohrig were present to honor him with a watch and a plaque. “I was just shocked,” Parry said of the surprise party.
“It was their way of saying ‘Good luck in the NFL and thanks for the last six years,'” Parry observed. “You meet some great, great people in athletics. My thinking is probably biased, but I think the greatest people in the world are in athletics. The higher up you go in sports you find nicer people. I’m not a rich guy, but I always say officiating has made me a rich man.”
Life in the League
Dave never will forget his first NFL game, an exhibition between the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers, at the world champion Steelers’ new Three Rivers Stadium. “I was uptight and had stewed on this thing for a whole week,” Parry confessed.
An observer gave the rookie official some advice broken down into categories of “good, bad or worst.” Good work is being unnoticed by fans and players the observer said. Bad work is being booed. But the worst thing is to be cheered. “Never allow yourself to get into that position,” Parry was warned.
So what happens? The Eagles are on the Steeler six and headed for a TD. A broken play was whistled dead, but quarterback Roman Gabriel did not hear the whistle. Neither did the onrushing linebackers.
“He threw the ball right to me in the endzone,” Parry recounted. “I don’t know why but I caught the thing and 60,000 people stood up and cheered.” It was a rather inauspicious debut!
Another vivid memory from his rookie year was the Buffalo-Cincinnati clash on Monday night national television. “I didn’t unwind from that game, probably until Thursday,” he winced. “In that game I called back a 104-yard TD run by a home Bengal. There was a clip, but I didn’t get the number of the man who clipped. I forgot.
“ABC didn’t like it, Howard (Cosell) was very upset, because he couldn’t show it to 70 million people. The Bengals were upset, too. Later on in the week, Paul Brown (then Bengal coach) called the New York office and apologized for his disenchantment over the call. He realized after seeing the film it was obvious. I knew I had a good call.”
Parry’s first game in Buffalo will be long remembered, too, because famed O. J. Simpson stopped by to introduce himself and wish the rookie referee good luck in the league. “This kind of treatment from a man of his status is very rewarding,” Dave affirmed. “It’s kinda indicative of the type of people in the NFL.”
The veteran official believes that, “Generally football people are a little easier to get along with than basketball people.” He bases at least part of this observation on the fact that football coaches are more free to roam the sidelines, farther away from the crowd and in general can let off steam more freely.
“I think I heard less profanity my first year in the NFL than I hear in the halls at the high school,” Parry exclaimed. “The coaches are for the most part extreme gentlemen and so are many of the players.”
Dave greatly appreciates the work done by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and while speaking to various organizations he never fails to tell young athletes that they must pay a price to reach the top.
One of the Hoosier’s favorite anecdotes goes along with the FCA concept. During the 1976 season he was handling the Green Bay game at Cincinnati when Green Bay’s Dave Roller tackled Archie Griffin so hard that he (Roller) was knocked unconscious. With some fearing for Roller’s life, Parry heard a voice, looked around and saw teammate Fred Carr, an all-pro linebacker, on his knees praying out loud for Roller’s safety. (He was shaken up, but all right.)
Produce or Perish
NFL officiating is far from a bed of roses. It is constantly filled with pressure and is extremely competitive. In past years, Parry has been a back judge, but he’s moved to the newest of the seven positions for the ’78 campaign – side judge. “I know if I consistently make the same mistakes I’m going to be fired,” Parry candidly acknowledges. “Indiana has 7,000 officials and there are roughly a quarter of a million in the U.S. Most of them want to be in the NFL. So, once you get there, you must produce, improve and stay out of trouble or you’re going to be out.”
Adding to the pressure-cooker situation is the fact that every NFL official is filmed at every game and his performance reviewed in New York each week. “You’re on ‘ “Generally,proper position,” Parry stressed. “I think they’ll forgive you (for a bad call) if you’re in proper position. It’s a produce or perish situation.”
There also are strict regulations. NFL officials must attend a special clinic each year to keep on top of rules changes, etc. In his rookie year, Dave attended a clinic in Pittsburgh which ran from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. for four days. A little-known fact is that officials must adhere to strict weight control. There are three spot-checks during the season, all without notification. A referee may not drink hard liquor from the time he leaves home until he gets on the plane to return home. “We pay a price, just like any athlete,” Parry points out.
An officiating crew becomes just like a family, probably working harder on the day before the game than on game day. “You live and die as a crew,” Parry stresses. “If we have one weak official the other six have to help him.”
They must, of course, be prepared to do a lot of traveling. Parry estimated that he travels around 28,000 (all first-class-airplanes) each season. That’s more than once around the world to do 20 games.
But Parry leaves no doubt about how he views his fourth year position. He told REFEREE, “It’s the place to be in terms of officiating. It’s the epitome of officiating. The NFL is first class, has great people, is financially rewarding and I don’t think its thrill and excitement is equalled in any other athletics.”
The NFL has no set retirement date for its officials and they are allowed to continue past 60 if they are physically capable. “Maybe I’m goofy, but the tougher the ball game the greater I enjoy it,” Parry confides. “The tougher game – that’s the one I want to work. It keeps you young – I’d work it for nothing.”
The beauty of his NFL work, Dave believes, is the challenge of the future. The biggest “brass ring” will be striving toward a Super Bowl job, just as the players strive to play in the extravaganza.
“At 42 (his age) a lot of people have reached their peak and are going to decline,” Parry reasons. “I’ve got a carrot in front of a donkey. There’s always something ahead to strive for. I would hate to live a life where the only thing I had to look forward to was the Friday paycheck, two days in front of the TV and back to work.”
It’s an enviable life and equally obvious that Dave Parry has many fruitful years ahead of him.
Authors Note: Dave Krider is the sports editor of the La Porte Herald-Argus in La Porte, Indiana. He authored “Strike Out,” the story of George Grygiel, in our May/Jun ’77 issue.
