Running Backwards

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by LRZ

As I've gotten older ...

I always have problems looking over my right shoulder as opposed to my left shoulder.

This probably goes back to the old "Cadillac" position days, when (other then when we were working "opposite", which was seldom), we were almost always, as the new lead, running up the right side of the court looking over our left shoulders.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

I always have problems looking over my right shoulder as opposed to my left shoulder.

This probably goes back to the old "Cadillac" position days, when (other then when we were working "opposite", which was seldom), we were almost always, as the new lead, running up the right side of the court looking over our left shoulders.

As someone who has far more experience working Cadilac than anyone in this Forum, "running backwards" and working "Cadiliac" are mutually exclusive.

MTD, Sr.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

As someone who has far more experience working Cadilac than anyone in this Forum ...

Back when I was growing up, our neighbor had a red Cadillac convertible. Being a professional bookmaker must have been a very lucrative position.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Back when I was growing up, our neighbor had a red Cadillac convertible. Being a professional bookmaker must have been a very lucrative position.

It was also a deadly profession for "Cadillac Charlie" Cavallaro, a well known purveyor of games of chance and wholesale grape salesman in my home town of Youngstown, Ohio, who evidently had dissatisfied grape customer, because when he turned the ignition of his Cadillac on the morning of Friday, November 23, 1962, a bomb detonated which sent Charlie to an early grave.

MTD, Sr.

[ilyazhito]

"Denotated". That's funny. IMHO, backpedaling is not a valid basketball officiating technique, because the Lead has responsibilities he could miss by backpedaling, whether in a 2 or 3-person crew (sideline, last defender, assisting with pressure, etc.). Looking over the shoulder and/or running sideways open up the Lead to the court better than backpedaling, and are not as hazardous to life and limb.

[justacoach]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

It was also a deadly profession for "Cadillac Charlie" Cavallaro, a well known purveyor of games of chance and grape salesman in my home town of Youngstown, Ohio, who evidently had dissatisfied grape customer, because when he turned the ignition of his Cadillac on the morning of Friday, November 23, 1962, a bomb denotated which sent Charlie to an early grave.

MTD, Sr.

Mark, you aced the history essay but bombed on your spelling test...

[Kansas Ref]

What is meant by the 'cadillac' position? Evidently, I'm late to the party, no one I ref with ever uses this terminology.

[sdoebler]

Originally Posted by Kansas Ref

What is meant by the 'cadillac' position? Evidently, I'm late to the party, no one I ref with ever uses this terminology.

It's just having a perfect view and being in perfect position to see the play. I hadn't heard it either until this summer at a camp and Bob Staffen used the term frequently.

[BillyMac]

.... In My Pink Cadillac (Aretha Franklin, 1985).

Originally Posted by Kansas Ref

What is meant by the 'Cadillac' position? Evidently, I'm late to the party, no one I ref with ever uses this terminology.

Most that used that terminology are now dead.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away NFHS two person mechanics always had the lead on the right side of the court, and always had the trail on the left side of the court (as the ball was advancing into the frontcourt). Even during free throws, the lead was always on the right side of the free throw shooter, and the trail was always on the left side of the free throw shooter (and trail administered first free throw). That was called the Cadillac position. Tableside and not-tableside didn't really apply to normal up and down the court mechanics (at one time we even could put the ball in play on either side of the division line after a technical foul).

Occasionally, due to an odd throwin situation, in order to get good coverage the officials had to work "opposite", with the lead on the left side of the court, and the trail on the right side of the court (as the ball was advancing into the frontcourt).

As the ball crossed the division line, or as soon as possible, the two officials would scurry back to "normal", i.e. the Cadillac position, usually controlled, or forced, by the position, or movement, of the trail.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

I want to address two things.

1.0) The "hit": The "hit" on "Cadillac Charlie" was a costly one in lives lost and ruined. It happened on the day after Thanksgiving. The "hit" went down just after breakfast. Charlie was going to take his two younger sons to CYO football practice and then meet a buyer for a railroad car load of grapes. Cavallaro and his family lived on the north side of Youngstown only about 3 miles from where I live in Liberty Township.

Cavallaro and his youngest son, just 11 years old, were already in the car sitting behind his father, and his middle son, just 12 years old, was opening the backdoor on the passenger side when Cavallaro turned the ignition. The explosion was so powerful that Cavallaro's body was torn into pieces and his younger son's body was practically vaporized. His middle son escaped death but underwent five hours of surgery and had to have one of his hips replaced, and walked with a cane the rest of his life.

While the Youngstown Diocese allowed Cavallaro to be buried in the Catholic cemetery, only a funeral mass was said for his son. His son's casket was allowed in the church but not Cavallaro's.


2.00) The origin of "Officiating Cadillac":

2.10) The term originated from the women's college side of officiating and only used in a Two-Person Crew.

2.20) Back in the "Ancient Days" the R faced the Table and the U was Table Side for all Jump Balls at the Center Circle.

2.21) If the the Team, that gained Control of the Ball, Basket's was to the U's right, the U would move to his/her right and become the L, Table Side, and the R would become T, Opposite the Table. When the other Team gained Control of the Ball, the Old L would become the New T and would remain Table Side while the Old T would become the New L and remain Opposite the Table. This was called Working Left Handed (because the T's left hand was always closest to a Side Line) or Cadillac.

2.22) Whenever a Throw-in required the L and the T to change sides of the Court this was called Working Right Handed (because the T's right hand was always closest to a Side Line).

2.23) Whenever a Throw-in resulted in the Officials working Right Handed, there was a protocol (not found in either the NFHS or CCA Men's and Women's Two-Person Manuals) for the Crew to move from Right Handed to Left Handed (Cadillac) once all ten Players and the Ball was in the Offensive Team's Front Court.

2.24) Cadillac was still used after the adoption of the Three Point FG and the L going Ball Side. The L going Ball Side while in Cadillac did not cause the Crew to stop officiating Cadillac.

So ends today's history lesson.

MTD, Sr.


P.S. I should add that Liberty Township was also home of the infamous Jungle Inn, only about a 1.25 miles as the crow flies from my home. After "The War" Dean Martin was a singing waiter in the Jungle Inn's night's club and a croupier in the Jungle Inn's mob run casino whose security you uniformed Trumbull County Sheriff Deputies with Thompson Sub-machine guns.