A very sad post

[Mark Padgett]

I wanted to let all officials in the Portland area know of the passing of one of our fellow officials. I received an email from one of the leagues I work that my friend, Jeff Strother, has passed away due to a heart attack. Jeff played basketball at many levels all his life and took up officiating about 4 years ago. He was known around here as "King of the Rec Leagues" as he officiated over 500 games a year. Last year, he got his official HS certification and began HS games as a member of the Portland Basketball Officials Assn. (PBOA).

My favorite Jeff story is the one about his playing in the Nike World Masters Games a few years ago. He played center, and in two of the games, the opposing center kept elbowing Jeff in the ribs. After the tournament, Jeff went to get an Xray and was told he had a fractured rib. He then went back and checked the team rosters and found out the guy he had been battling was former NBA "hitman" Greg Kite. Jeff's comment - "That explains a lot."