[BillyMac]

For thirty-seven of the past thirty-eight years I've worked with, and observed, an outstanding official. He could call the hell out of a game, manage the heck out of a game, and charm the pants off of any coach, player, fan, or partner. In his heyday, he was a state tournament official, and a college official. When he walked into a gym, everybody greeted him like he was the mayor. Even in his later years he could run rings around younger partners.

He ended his season every year by volunteering to officiate Special Olympics Unified Games, most of us volunteer at one site, he would volunteer for several sites.

His mechanics were far from perfect. Sometimes he made up signals (some quite funny looking) on the spot, and sometimes his rotations and switches weren't quite kosher (once spotted him doing a 540 degree switch, he just kept moving until he felt comfortable).

Everybody wanted to work with this guy, coaches wanted this guy in their games.

I learned a lot from him, not about mechanics, but about everything else regarding officiating basketball games.

After fifty years on the court, he retired last season. I miss him. He was a great partner. He was fun to work with. He was fun to watch.

I know that a lot of us, including me, take officiating very seriously, but it is, after all, a game, and we should be allowed to have a little fun, not a lot, but a little.

But his great official/poor mechanics was an anomaly, an outlier. Here on my local board, he was the exception, not the rule.