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I work in the hometown of Boo Williams so by default I've been able to officiate quite a few national level AAU games so I'm sure I've ref'd quite a few individuals who are now regularly on tv, but I couldn't name them. I ref'd at the Bob Gibbons when Greg Oden and Mike Conley were playing on the court next to mine and ref'd a game that Buck Williams was coaching.
Probably the highest profile players I've officiated are now college football players--Tyrod Taylor, freshman QB at Virginia Tech & Percy Harvin, UF Gator. Arkansas, Tennessee, and Virginia each have players who get plenty of floor time who I ref'd locally. I've officiated Johnny Newman's son quite a few times and he still has one more year left. I've ref'd NFL DB David Macklin in local rec league. Once had Sherman Douglas in a Pro-Am game up in the DC area a couple years ago. Hampton HS girls, the team that got beat by Long Beach Poly on Versus channel, has at least 1 girl who will go on to stardom in the NCAA, but she still has 1 year left. |
Wow, living in Vegas and then going to DC really opened this topic up to me. I didn't really realize how many players come from DC (the whole area) until I lived there. I will not remember all the names but here goes.
Richard Jefferson - New Jersey Nets Nolan Smith - Duke Henderson - Duke Ty Lawson - UNC Marcus Ginyard - UNC Scottie Reynolds - Villanova Cunningham - Villanova Roy Hibbart - Georgetown Austin Freeman - Georgetown Dejuan Summers - Georgetown Chris Wright - Georgetown Donte Greene - Syracuse Sosa - Louisville Jerai Grant (Harvey Grant's son) - Clemson Mamade Diane - Virginia Italy Lucas - UNC (women) Sam Young - Pittsburgh Michael Beasley - Kansas State Kevin Durant - Supersonics (I did his last high school game and another time I told him he should do some pushups...he didn't listen) Greivas Vasquez - Maryland Jeff Green - Supersonics Hank Thorns (Little Hen Hen) - Virginia Tech Jeff Allen - Virginia Tech Mitch Platt - Oregon Marcus Banks - Phoenix Suns Josh McRoberts - Portland Trailblazers Both Jordan kids - not very good IMO I'm tired of thinking about this. I've been around the block a time or two! Dominic James - Marquette - I have a story to tell about this one. A few years ago I was fortunate enough to call some games at the ACC invitational camp in Indianapolis. I'm from Richmond IN, which is about an hour away so I went to visit before camp. My cousin tells me about our second cousin who plays for the high school team. He told me he (the player) would be at the camp in Indianapolis. Well, I looked for him, didn't find him and just figured my cousin was full of it. While I was at the camp, I talked to this one player during the game because his team was getting out of control and he seemed like their leader - he was about 5'8" but had some tremendous hops and could flat-out play. I get home and decide to look on the Internet to see what Dominic James looks like. Come to find out, he was the player I talked to. I had no idea who he was at the time and I'm sure he didn't know who I was. I |
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Tarvers, all three, when they were in middle school.
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I am watching the Illinois vs. Wisconsin game right now. And I forgot how many of these players I have officiated during the regular season.
Proviso East High School (Maywood) Brian Carlwell—Illinois Richwood High School (Peoria) Bill Cole—Illinois Jamar Smith—Illinois St. Joseph High School (Westchester) Demetri McCamey—Illinois Tony Freeman—Iowa Evan Turner—Ohio I had Carlwell during summer games since he was a freshman in HS and then I finally officiated a real game with him when he was a junior. Cole and Smith from Richwood came up to a suburban area and played. The funny thing about this game Cole was a rather skinny kid and got hurt every time he hit the floor. The head coach told me at one time, "You have to protect my two All-Americans." I tried everything I could not to laugh. He also claimed he was getting homered. Little did he know I was from a town about an hour out of Peoria. When I told him this fact, he stopped that claim really quick. At the time Richwood was ranked and they lost. Smith was in foul trouble early in the game and they never could overcome the home team. Interesting side note, the home coach had went up against Eddie Curry during his last game (few years before our game) in the State Championship Final and beat that team. I am not sure why the Bulls thought he was a good first round pick. Oh well. The last three I had several times during their Junior and Senior years. The head coach is the same guy that coaches Isiah Thomas and was in the movie "Hoop Dreams" coaching one of the players to Marquette University. Freeman was a little cocky, but the other kids were for the most part very reserved and not very vocal. Funny thing there was a game I had with St. Josephs where they were lit up for about 36 by a player from Evanston that originally went to Boston College but transferred after being their for a year. I cannot think of his name to save my life. This kid beat a ranked St. Joseph team all by himself with multiple players either going D1 or about to go D1. This was Freeman's senior year and the others had a year or two left. Peace |
Ha, Ha , Ha...Wheres Diebler ?
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The Fanboy thread is now closed!
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John Brockman and Ryan Applebee at the University of Washington. Spencer Hawes of the Sacramento Kings. Rodney Stuckey of the Pistons. Brandon Roy when he was in high school at Garfield. Luke Ridnour of the Sonics when he was at Blaine HS.
About half the University of Washington women's team. Regina Rogers and Christina Nzekwe of UCLA. Kirsten Thompson at Arizona State. Angie Bjorklund at Tennessee. Good times. |
Did a couple of scrimmages during NBA lockout...
was able to ref John Stockton, Karl Malone, Jeff Hornacek Did another scrimmage during Rocky Mountain Review and had a rookie named Tim Duncan... Our summer pro-am has had a ton of local D-1 players.... |
From the flip side. I was refereed by Ed Hightower when I played JUCO at Lincoln Trail Community College in the 77/78 and 78/79 seasons.
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Matt Carroll and Kobe Bryant back in HS.
Carroll was a good player then but Kobe was a man among boys! |
When I reffed in Virginia I officiated games...
...that had:
Kara Lawson--former Tennessee starting pt guard/current Sacramento Monarch. Best player I ever saw as a twelve year old. Played on AAU team with 16 year olds. She was a really cute kid when whe was young. Made all her team-mates better. Sue Bird--played for Liberty Belles out of NYC Albert Gore III--Son of VP AL Gore. Played in CYO league. Was the best player on his teams. Interesting to ref in front of Secret Service. one of the Grant kids--somebody mentioned him already. son of Harvey or Horace Grant. |
Also officiated games with...
...current U of Maryland Guard Kristi Toliver playing and her father George (former NBA official and one of my mentors) coaching AAU.
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