[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

I became a basketball offical because of my H.S. basketball coach.

For those of you who do not know, I graduated from H.S. in 1969. The H.S. I attended was a dominant boys' basketball power in the area from the early 1950's until the early 1970's. The reason was the school's boys basketball head coach (he was also the boys' and girls' golf coach) for the entire time. He and his family were our next door neighbors and his two sons and two daughters and my sister and I grew up together and were and still are best of friends. The three of us boys played basketball and golf and the three girls played golf.

One of the things that few people knew was that during that entire time he was an OhioHSAA registered basketball official from the late 1940's until retired from coaching. In fact he was a charter member (1948) of the Trumbull County Basketball Officials Association in Warren, Ohio, and I have been a member of that association since 1971. He stopped officiating when he started coaching but always attended every TCBOA meeting even though he was coaching.

Did he get any TF's? Yes, he did from time to time. But, one could say that goes with the territory. But all of the TF's I can remember him getting were from kicking the bleacher bench with the heel of his shoe, when he thought an official did not get a call right. I can't remember him getting a TF for yelling at an official. He required players were expected to act as gentlemen on the court at all times. A player would get yanked from the game if he looked at an official the wrong way. If a player received a TF, he could expect to sit for at least a full quarter. And when I played the OhioHSAA did not have the current penalties for ejections that it now has, but if a player was ejected he didn't play the next game. He ran a tight ship.

He told us that the best officials were assigned to our games by the league and he would not tolerate disrespectful unsportsmanlike conduct toward officials and opponents. He also told us that an official never lost or one a game for a team because he never saw an official miss a layup or a free throw or a jump shot for that matter, nor commit a foul or a violation, nor throw the ball away.

When asked why he was a basketball official, his answer was: "If you do not know the rules of the game, then how can you teach the game or play the game."

That statement has always rung true because at least twice a season, a full hour of practice would be devoted to guarding and screening (what everybody refers to block/charge). This practice was a combined practice for the FR, JV, and VAR teams. If one were observing the practice from the stands, one would have thought that he was watching a basketball officials camp teach how to officiate block/charge. Every part of the guarding and screening rules were taught. So I can honestly say that the guarding and screening rules have not changed in over 45 years.

When I graduated from H.S. many thought that I would be the most likely of all his players to become a coach, but I chose a career in engineering and became a basketball official instead.

MTD, Sr.