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IHSAA should require diverse crews officiating in basketball
 By Jonathan Ray
For The News-Sentinel
Article published Mar 24, 2009
Every Indiana high school varsity basketball player dreams about winning a state title. This is Indiana, and everyone loves the round ball.
Americans love competition. It permeates everything we do. We love to participate in sports or be a spectator observing the competition.
Competition is the act or state of trying hard to win or gain something wanted by others. The implication is that not everyone who wants victory can have it, and there are rules to define how fair competition must proceed for the prize to be won.
The rules are enforced by officials who maintain order and structure on the floor. Indiana officials lack diversity, and sometimes that lack of diversity leads to an unfair competitive edge for one team.
In light of fair competitions, the officials should be as diverse as the students who are playing on the floor. Year after year, children's dreams are deferred by questionable calls that appear to be biased. In the spirit of Hoosier Hysteria and fair competition, Blake Ress (commissioner of the Indiana High School Athletic Association), it's time to require diverse officiating crews.
Officials shouldn't have a rooting interest. There are many examples of why diversity matters. Here is an example of one instance of a dream deferred.
The officiating crew of Tim Dailey, Dennis Jackson and Greg Bowman had a big impact on the 2009 Wayne Sectional final between Peru and Wayne high schools. Just maybe a lack of diversity caused them to make a no-call with 50 seconds left when a Wayne athlete was fouled and pushed out of bounds.
With three men, you would think the right call could be made. One play earlier, an official overruled an out-of-bounds play where the near official gave Wayne the ball. That play was reversed and the ball given to Peru.
Then two major plays occurred that determined the 2009 sectional champ. A 6-7, 240-pound Wayne athlete had a breakaway dunk with 10 seconds left on the clock. A Peru player ran and pushed him in the back. An intentional foul, two shots and the ball would have been the right call. The official called a common foul, a one-and-one situation. The official said he didn't want to impact the game.
But with 0.5 seconds left and Wayne leading 43-42, an official called a questionable foul on Wayne, claiming it was an easy call. That call changed the game and crowned Peru the champion. Congratulations to Peru, and good luck.
A dream was deferred for some. Diversifying officiating crews might make every call an easy call, no matter whom it affects.
Jonathan C. Ray is president and CEO of the Fort Wayne Urban League.
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This was a response written to Jonathan Ray:
Those Darn Racist Basketball Referees | Fort Wayne Politics
Fort Wayne's Team Website
Video Highlights of the game - Funny thing, the only foul called in the video looks like there should have been a Player Control foul on Blue #35 for hooking the player and then another for displacing #20 White. Instead the foul is called against white for a potential 3 point play. Looks like those mean old white officials sure had it in for the Wayne Generals.
Fort Wayne's record 13-9
Peru's record 19-4
This of course doesn't mean anything except that Fort Wanye (according to Jonathan) must have had 9 games with officiating crews that are not "diverse".
The newspaper allowed the officials names to be printed in an article where the author is accusing them of racism and cheating with absolutely NO EVIDENCE. If anyone knows these officials in Indiana they should be made aware of what they are being accused of in the article.
Here is a quote from the newspaper's website posted right above the comments section:
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The News-Sentinel reserves the right to remove any content appearing on its Web site. Our policy will be to remove postings that constitute profanity, obscenity, libel, spam, invasion of privacy, impersonation of another, or attacks on racial, ethnic or other groups.
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I think they need to worry more about what THEY are posting on THEIR website!
