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Referee's alleged profanity creates a stir

Parents stunned by retort during game; officials will investigate


12:00 PM CST on Thursday, January 29, 2004


By DAVID McNABB / The Dallas Morning News



MESQUITE – Teresa Carey was back on the fourth row of the middle section of the Mesquite Poteet gym Wednesday night. She and other parents and fans of Poteet's girls basketball team still were buzzing about the profanity they say a referee directed at them during a game against Mesquite Horn on Tuesday.

"He turned around and said it very distinctly," said Carey, whose daughter, Triauna, plays for Poteet. "And all the little kids went, 'Oooohh.' "

Poteet fans then complained to an on-site school administrator, which in turn led to referee Floyd Woods being escorted from the gym and the game suspended at halftime until Wednesday.

Woods, a veteran referee who has called college games as well, did not return phone messages from The News, and on two separate visits by a News reporter, persons at Woods' home said he was not there.

Steve Mankin, supervisor for the Dallas Basketball Officials Association, said he was investigating the incident but couldn't comment.

Several Poteet parents repeated their story Wednesday that Woods turned toward the stands and used a profanity as a Horn player was set to shoot a free throw before halftime of Tuesday's game. The parents said there had been some yelling at the officials but nothing of a personal nature.

"He wasn't attacked," Carey said. "Nobody called him a name."

Said Velma Wommack, whose daughter, Jessica, plays for Poteet: "Everyone's jaw dropped. We all turned around to look at each other like, 'Did he just say that?' "

Mesquite school district officials issued a statement Wednesday confirming that the administrator – Poteet assistant principal David Medina – had acted on the parents' complaints of "inappropriate exchange between the game official, fans and students." The statement said the decision to dismiss the referee was to ensure the integrity of the game.

Medina said he couldn't comment because of school policy. Elvenn Richardson, Woods' referee partner Tuesday, said he couldn't comment because of DBOA rules.

The game resumed Wednesday with two new referees and was completed without incident. Poteet, which led 22-10 when the game was suspended, won, 46-24.

Mankin, the officials' supervisor, said because of the incident's unusual nature, he didn't know the exact process that would be followed. He said he'll interview and request written reports from all officials involved.

Several people connected with officiating and game management said incidents involving referees are typically handled differently.

Paul Galvan, a longtime official and former supervisor with the Southwest Conference who is now Fort Worth ISD athletic director, said Woods probably should not have been ejected.

Galvan said he believed the usual procedure would be for the school administrator to make a complaint to the Texas Association of Sporting Officials, of which every referee must be a member.

"They could have gone to the referee and said they don't want to hear any profanity," Galvan said, "and then make a report."

TASO assistant director Steven Ellinger said if a school administrator – routinely assigned to monitor games – doesn't hear something personally, "it might not be a good thing for fans to think they can go say this and get rid of the official."

Ellinger said if the security officers had intervened first, then it would have been a legal matter and out of the hands of school officials and referees. He said there have been complaints made against officials for inappropriate language in the past, and that TASO has the power to ban or suspend officials for such language.

Ellinger said it was basic TASO policy that officials shouldn't interact with fans. "It's just not a win situation," Ellinger said.

Longtime coaches and officials said it's the first time they had heard of a referee being ejected.

"I have heard officials and fans get into it," Duncanville boys basketball coach Phil McNeely said. "But I've never seen the official go."

Staff Writer Kate Hairopoulos contributed to this report.