[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Billy Mac said the most important two word for all sports officials: Officials Pre-game!

My partners know the three thinks to look for when I make an out-of-bounds call:

1) I sound my whistle, give the stop-the-clock for a violation signal and then signal which way the ball is going to go (except for that rare occasion, I think it was in the Kansas vs. Missouri game played at KU on March 11, 1907, Missouri won the game 34-31, when you have to signal a jump ball because the ball went off both players equally at exactly the same time). Only if you are 200% sure that I have the call wrong should you come to me and discuss it and if my call needs to be changed I will change it.

2) I sound my whistle, give the stop-the-clock for a violation signal and then signal which way the ball is going to go but I look at you while doing it. It means if you want me to change my call, lets discuss it now.

3) I sound my whistle, give the stop-the-clock for a violation signal and then do nothing except look at you with that "deer caught in the headlights look". That means I do not have a clue has to who touched it last, so it is your call now.

MTD, Sr.


P.S. Dr. Naismith was the very first men's basketball coach at Kansas and is the only men''s coach at KU to have a losing record at KU but he coached a player that went on to become coaching giant: Dr. Forrest C. "Phog" Allen (who was my maternal grandmother's chiropractor, I kid you not; my mother grew up about 15 miles from Lawrence and graduated from KU in 1942). Dr. Naismith was originally hired by KU in 1898 as Chapel Director and as a physical education instructor, but under Dr. Naismith, KU played it bitter rival to the east for the first time in basketball March 1097. They played two games that year, both of them at KU: The first game I officiated and the second game the very next day on Tuesday, March 12, 1907, and the Jayhawks also lost that game (34-21). Phog Allen went on to coach the following players that went on to become Hall of Fame college coaches: Adolph Rupp, Dean Smith, Ralph Miller, Dutch Lonborg, and John McLendon; as well as Hall of Fame players Wilt Chamberlin and Clyde Lovellette.