[just another ref]

I live in the south, which means I am backward and ignorant about things in general. Oops, another generalization, perhaps not without some truth in my case. I started calling jr. high games in 1987 in a t-shirt and sweatpants.
When I decided that this was something that I wanted to do, I bought a striped shirt and some black ?wind pants, warmup
pants, whatever you call them, (the kind that go swish, swish when you run, but they're comfortable) and this, along with my beard which I have had since 1980, was my uniform until 3 years ago when I first registered. I even wore white shoes for a while. I called many games with registered officials who encouraged me to join them.
As I contemplated this, I noticed an ad for sansabelt officials pants in a rulebook and wondered, "Would I have to wear these?" (hope not) So I began to notice for the first time what the "real refs" were wearing, and belts were quite common. I would say it is close to an even split. To make a long story short (oops, too late) last week my first varsity game of the year was between two area powerhouses, one 3A, one 5A, and was referred to by some of the guys as our association's biggest game of the year. My conclusion is that the only thing holding me back here is lack of ability and I continue to work on improving this each day. If you have a dress code in your association, by all means follow it, but for me to dress a certain way because D1 or NBA officials do so would be like wearing a tie out to grease the cotton picker because the Commissioner of Agriculture wears one.