Passing of a Mentor

[Almost Always Right]

Almost all of you will not know of whom I am speaking, however you will all be able to relate to the situation and I just wanted to share this with all of you.
This man was one of my mentors(as well as many other people's mentor) and some of the passion that I have in my life is due to Jack Ritenhouse. He was an anchor in Nevada High School Basketball and today many lives suffer because he is gone.
Thank you for your time.


Article from the Reno Gazette Journal -

Jack Ritenhouse was the man in charge for 38 years on Northern Nevada high school basketball courts.

He officiated basketball from 1966 to 2004. Even a governor had to be wary of challenging his authority on the court.

Jerry Gribble, Ritenhouse’s long-time friend and officiating partner, remembered when then-Nevada Gov. Bob Miller was watching his son, Ross, playing in a summer league basketball game that Ritenhouse was officiating. The governor was being vocal before Ritenhouse stopped the game to speak to him.

“‘Listen, Governor, you take care of the state. I’ll take care of the basketball game,’’’ Gribble said, quoting Ritenhouse.

John Neil Ritenhouse, 70, lost his battle with lung cancer and died at his Reno home Monday.

“Jack is the last of a dying breed, guys that put in that many years and went through different eras,” said Jerry Hughes, the executive director Nevada Interscholastic Activites Association. “Jack was one of those good guys. But he was ornery, cantankerous. Nobody would give him much crap.

“We won’t get guys to officiate 38 years anymore. We have trouble getting guys to officiate five years now.”

Ritenhouse officiated in his native Illinois before he moved to Reno in 1966 to work at the University of Nevada. He was the head reference librarian when he retired from the Getchell Library in 1990, but continued officiating even after undergoing five-way heart bypass surgery in 1994. Ritenhouse was married to Serena Robb, the principal of Damonte Ranch High School.

A month after the surgery he umpired a high school softball game and didn’t miss a basketball season because of the surgery. It was a comeback that impressed family members and friends.

“Give him credit. He said, ‘I want to go through this and lead a normal life,’” said Ritenhouse’s son, Duke. “Part of it was stubbornness, part of it was faith he could do it. He wanted to call games.

“We were a little worried. But he got back to normal. He never gave us a reason to worry. To use the old cliché, he got back on the horse and everything was fine.”

Hughes said he was amazed how quickly Ritenhouse returned to officiating and how well he ran the court.

Gribble worked with Ritenhouse for the first time in 1980. They officiated and golfed together.

“In my mind, he was a terrific high school basketball official,” Gribble said. “I thought was a very special type of person. He brought a lot of personality to the game. He was dedicated. He was a terrific mentor for younger officials.

“He was a wonderful role model for all of us. He could spice up a game. He could be colorful. Generally speaking, that enhanced the game. He could be confrontational. Some of the confrontations could be interesting.”

After the heart surgery, Duke Ritenhouse said his father chose to officiate more small school games because the pace in the 4A games was faster. His father also had an affinity for the small towns.

“His true love in basketball was going to the hinterlands. He loved that. They loved him,” said Jay Beesemyer, the NIAA’s director and a former commissioner of officials. “He loved going to Virginia City, Pershing County, Coleville, Smith Valley and Yerington.”

Few officials work as long as Ritenhouse.

“People would cringe when they saw him, but they felt comfort because they knew the game was in good hands,” Beesemyer said. “Experience counts a lot. Nobody had more than Jack.”

Ritenhouse was born April 10, 1935 at LaGrange, Ill., and was reared in Galesburg, Ill. He attended Saint Ambrose College of Davenport, Iowa, and graduated from Southern Illinois. He received his master’s degree in parks and recreation from New Mexico and his master’s in library science from Kentucky.

Ritenhouse is survived by his wife, Serena Robb, son, Duke, daughters, Heather Amanda Robb of New York and Jonna Douglas AuCoin of Palo Alto, Calif. He is also survived by four grandchildren.

A memorial service is scheduled at the Nevada Museum of Art at 6 p.m. Saturday. In lieu of flowers, his family asks that donations be made to a scholarship that will be administered by the Northern Nevada Officials Association Basketball Chapter.

“He loved officiating,” Duke Ritenhouse said. “It tied him into the community.”



[Edited by Almost Always Right on May 10th, 2005 at 12:40 PM]

[Almost Always Right]

.

[tjones1]

Thanks for sharing.