Umpiring Politics

[Rich]

Originally Posted by UMP25

It's not just the D1 level. Case in point: I heard strong grumbling coming from several respected umpires about a certain individual who this year worked a D3 Regional and this year's D3 World Series in Appleton. This umpire is not overly good (I've worked with him several times over the years), but that's not the main issue; rather, he has a criminal record, having been arrested (IIRC for assault or battery) not too long ago for an on-field altercation with his partner at the end of a D3 college game. This was even a story in Referee Magazine when it happened.

That's OK -- a few years ago someone worked in Appleton who had previously lost his HS license for inappropriate behavior with young girls/women -- he also lost a teaching job over it and continued to work HS sports until the NEXT incident. Then he worked the D3 WS.

He was subsequently arrested for felony stalking of a minor female and spent time in jail, was paroled, and re-incarcerated for (I guess) violating his parole.

Frankly, I didn't think he was much of an umpire, either.