Players you have officiated.
 

I was watching a highlight of the North Carolina-Asheville vs. North Carolina and saw a kid that I officiating while he was in HS and during his AAU career when he was a freshman. The kid's name is Kenny George and he was the 7-6 player that got dunked on a couple of times by UNC.

I just wanted to know what players have you officiated that are playing at the college level now or at the pro level. Also do you have any stories about the players that showed they were "Big time" or where the kids exceptionally nice and cordial?

Just last year I officiated Jarred Bayliss that is playing at Arizona as a true freshman. I had him in a tournament that brought a lot of Division 1 players to play each other all across the country. I also had a kid or two that were going to other Division 1 programs; I just do not know all of their names and would have to research a little to know exactly where these kids ended up. Bayliss constantly thought he was fouled every time he made a jump shot. I even told him one time, "This is the Midwest, we do not call that around here."

I officiated Bobby Frasor during his junior year and he is now at North Carolina in a game when everything he put up went in. The same went for his teammates.

The most famous pair I had last season was Jeffrey and Marcus Jordan (Yes that Jordan). Jeffrey is now at Illinois as a walk-on. I had Jeffrey on three different occasions. The first time I officiated him it was in the United Center about 2 years ago. The next two times were last year. Funny thing I had their school twice in the same week (last season) and their parents were in attendance for the first game. The second game they had filed for divorce on Friday and the game was on that Saturday. Obviously the place was packed both times, but not to see the games so much, to get a look at MJ (I do have a funny story I will tell about that game that did not involve me directly). Both Jordan's parents and family were vocal, but nothing out of the ordinary or purely unsportsmanlike. But as much as their parents might have said to us, the kids were a joy to work for. They never said a word about being fouled or even or the officiating. There was even a time when Jeffrey went to the basket and was cleanly blocked several times with some contact; he never said a word about a foul or the amount of contact. He just got up and kept coming. There are kids that are not even talented half as much as these two are and these kids did not say a word or even act like they were not getting treated fairly.
Do you guys have any similar stories to tell about players, parents or anything about how coaches might have expected you to "protect their All-Americans" like was said to me a few years ago. But that is another story for another day.

Peace

Jillian Harmon and JJ Hones at Stanford now. I adore JJ Hones. She's a really nice girl, and very, very bright and capable player.

Michael Dunleavy in a couple of rec league games once (Dad in the stands watching)

Kevin Love in summer ball when he was in like 6th grade.

Probably someone else that doesn't come to mind at the moment.

I called a few rec games Derrick Low (Washington State guard) played in before he even started HS in Hawaii. Even as a 13-14 year old he was obviously very gifted. The best thing about him though is that he never tried to take over rec games (and these were HS summer games to be fair) that he could have easily dominated if he wanted to. He passed to his teammates to give them good shots and played good defense. Very nice, humble, courteous young man and from what I've heard he's remained that way. If they could all be that way (and that talented) the game would be sooooo much better off.

I have a couple, but they are both sad stories. One kid, very talented got a scholarship to a solid mid-major D1 program, but transferred out D3 school after his freshman year -- after his father tried to intimidate the coach to give him more playing time.

The other was a girl who gave a verbal commitment to a Big East school after her junior year. Then over the summer she put on about 30 pounds -- not muscle -- had a mediocre season, at best, then flunked out of HS. I heard that the college was willing to hold her scholarship until she could get a GED and a season of community college experience, but she never enrolled at the juco. :(

Abby Waner currently at Duke - best female player I have ever seen in a game I've worked.

Both Jordans, Candice Parker, Peter Patton(Loyola Academy, DePaul, Europe) Jon Scheyer, Duke (kids game)
Tyler Smith (Penn State, Europe). Many D1 guys I can't remember.

My best memory was giving Kevin Garnett, his Mom and sister a ride home from O'Hare after we flew home together after the Mcdonald's all american game in 95. I was with a marketing company that 'baby sat' somewhat the team that year. I had a small Lexus at the time and Kevin's knees almost hit the roof. He told me, "man, you got a Lexus! I'm gonna get me one someday"

I read a year or two later he had 3 not to mention a few other models.:D

Great guy, and a real gentleman, a tribute to his Mom, Shirley, who raised him right. You'll never hear a bad word about KG.

Never really sit down and thought about this until now. Around my way in Indiana we have been very fortunate to see some really good players.

We have a tournament around the Christmas break called the " The Circle City Classic," that brings some really good teams from around the country to play some really good teams here in Indiana.

Here are a few of the many that I've had a chance to officiate...I'm sure I will misspell some names..

Dominic James, Marquette
AJ Ratliff, Indiana
Deonta Vaughn, Cincinnati
Mike Conley, Ohio State, NBA
Greg Oden, Ohio State, NBA
Matt Howard, Butler
Hansborough, UNC
Eric Gordon, Indiana
Amber Harris, Xavier
Tashea Phillips, Xavier

I'm sure there are more. These are the most recent. Mike Conley and Greg Oden played on the same High School team. I actually officiated 2 of their 3 losses in 2 years. One was a televised game between them and @ the time, Nationally ranked Arlington (Indianapolis).

In basketball, I did some of the High School and summer league games that Mike Bibby (Sacramento Kings) and Richard Jefferson (NJ Nets) played in.

Jefferson never said a word...just played.

Bibby didn't say much, but you could tell he expected to be treated like a star. His HS coach wouldn't let his players talk to officials, but he (the coach) made up for it.....

In softball, I have umpired games with several players that went on to play for The University of Arizona, UCLA, and other top D1 teams as well as the Olympic team...Alicia Hollowell, Caitlin Lowe come to mind right away, I would have to do some research to find others.

Haven't kept track, but I've certainly officiated lots of kids of NBA players, including those of Maurice Lucas, Rick Adelman, Kevin Kunnert and Kenny Carr, plus many more.

Oh yeah - I worked a Trailblazer Alumni Team game once. Does that count?

at wake forest now
 

James Johnson, is starting as a freshman at Wake, I did several of his games here in Cheyenne. He was head and shoulders better than most kids he played. Never said a word.

I've done a few of those - lots of fun!

You mean to tell me nobody here has been graced by the on-court presence of Diebler as he was ascending to omnipotence?

Oh yeah...a nice list of local talent there Gimlet...What is amazing is that Ratliff, Vaughn, Oden, Conley and Gordon (add McRoberts from Duke)....All those guys came from Indy and played each others schools 1-3 times a year....A lot of talent has come out of Central Indy the past few years...

In my first year I did an AAU/Superhoops tourney and it was the first time I had kids really taller than me as I had gotten my start in a rec league doing 3-8 graders. My partner was late and I had to start the game by myself...I was like :eek: I was so SCARED!

Two Cs come to the center circle for the toss, one is about 6'-9" the other about 6'6". The 6'9" kid was Greg Oden in the 8th grade!

He and Conley were playing that day but at that time I didn't realize who Oden was....I knew his school and I knew they had a BIG FELLA, as you heard some stories about him but I'd not seen him play yet. I don't remember much from that game as I was just trying not to puke!

You reminded me of a little story....doing a boys travel game a few years back and walk into the gym with both teams on the floor and table ready and parents edgy. We were given the wrong time for the game so I was 'late' by 15 minutes, my partner wasn't there yet. A parent starts getting on me as I take off my jacket about being 'late' I turn around and it's Toni Kucoc so I smile and whack him. He looks in disbelief for a second and we both start laughing.

I've reffed Jordan's kids along with Bill Cartwright, John Paxson, Horace Grant and Bill Wennington's kids.

Our Parish at one time had Paxson as 7th or 8th grade coach and Wennington as the other age group coach.

How would you like to have your first game with both those two?

I reffed a lot of games with guys who thought they were Kobe, Michael, etc.

You are a member of St. Mary's? I too had all of Paxson, Wennington & Cartwright kids over the years there...some at LF too...Wennington's kid has sort of disappeared at Loyola, he dominated in jr. high...

I've reffed with alot of guys who thought they were Mendy, Jake etc

Kind of.......... I use the baseball analogy regarding Church.

I don't have season tickets, but I catch a few games.

How do prison leagues pay? Is it confusing having you in vertical stripes and the players in horizontal stripes? :p

When I officiated Jordan's son, Matt Suey's kid was on the team too. Does that count? :D I heard he was more of a football player.

(Matt Suey was the fullback for Walter-Payton)

Peace

And I thought he was a pitcher for the Yankees.

I did officiate Paxon's son when he was a senior. He thought he was really good, but he was not that good.

Peace

JRUT it sounds like you do some Loyola games, is Robbie Wennington just buried on the bench or what? Don't hear much about him...He should be a Jr. this year if my math is right...

Hey! I resemble that remark. And...you forgot my idol - Earl Strom.

BTW - I reffed George Mikan when he was a kid. :rolleyes:

Actually, they're a lot of fun. Not only that, if you eject a player and they don't leave the court immediately, a guard up in the tower shoots them! :eek:

My favorite Sushi Bar on Clark Street near Wrigley is called Matsui, so lots of confusion there.

I obviously have done games with them if I had Jordan's sons last year. :D

I will have them this year, but I have not had them yet. I have no idea what their team looks like first hand. I do know last year Loyola played a lot of players and they could go rather deep onto their bench and not miss much of a beat. I will have a better answer for you after this weekend.

Peace

The ones that specifically come to mind are Michelle Marciniak at Allentown (PA) Central Catholic, Chris Duhon at Salmen (Slidell, LA) High School, and some D-I men's players from Randolph (WI) and Madison Memorial.

The game I worked with Duhon playing was officiated 2-person ten years ago and ended 93-87 in regulation. Haven't run harder before or since.

Probably a lot more that I simply don't know about.

--Rich

Daequan Cook now playing for the Miami Heat.

Coached Dani Mills who won D2 gold.

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

I wish I was still in DC to do that tournament. I don't even remember all the players I officiated at that camp. Vernon Macklin, John Lucas' son...can't remember.

Tarvers, all three, when they were in middle school.

Almost ANY rec league game has a few of those.

Oh yeah, I forgot about Vernon Macklin, plenty of AAU with him also...think I T'd him up for taunting after a dunk a few years ago.

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 ?

The Fanboy thread is now closed!

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.

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.

This is my first post:

There's only one big name player I can remember officiating; mainly because he was 7' 4'' and weighs 250. At least that was his NBA playing weight:
Rik Smits- formerly of the Indiana Pacers

I was officiated by the esteemed member of this forum, tomegun, playing military ball back in the late 90's.

That was probably Harvey's kid. I've saw him at a camp in DC a few years ago.

One of Rick Pitino's sons in a State Jr. Pro state tournment game. He was a good ft shooter! Was not recurted by his dad?

http://www.cockedandlocked.net/images/McCainJock.jpg
Sniff it, y'all.:D

doggone it, JR, I saw that you'd posted to this thread, and I thought, AHA!! he's finally going to admit to where he's lived. But no, just more $$%^&...

Anybody ever officiate a player in JR. High or High School and later work with them as a referee?

Early Years ....
 

Chamique Holdsclaw (Tennessee, WNBA) in a scrimmage in Bristol, CT.
Tebucky Jones (Syracuse FB, Patriots, Saints) in Catholic middle school league in New Britain, CT.

Well, sort of. A player listed in one of my previous posts was in several rec leagues and elite leagues that I reffed, and then on a state-championship hs team, and is now at Stanford. Her senior year in hs, I was supposed to ref a youth tournament at her hs (it was a fund raiser for them) and there weren't enough refs. She took the floor and worked with me. It was really fun because she was (probably still is) a very, very nice girl, and she tried hard to be a good ref. Asked me a lot of questions, and really tried to do what i told her. We did a couple of games together. Later in the season she saw me and told me she'd had a lot of fun and that she really would ref later when she couldn't play anymore. We'll see if she does.

Harlem Magicians
 

I once volunteered to officiate a Harlem Magicians game, which raised money for our local high school's football program. Luckily, for some reason, the Magicians, for the most part, picked on my partner, who also happened to be our local fire chief. FYI: The Magicians are like a "minor league" version of the Harlem Globetrotters.

I managed to miss a call at home and then at work for a Harlem Diplomat game at our local HS this past fall. It was not on purpose, but it could have been.

Actually, I've worked with a lot of the guys that officiated me in high school. I graduated high school in 2004 and started working varsity basketball in 2006, so I remembered most of their faces. I was one of those players you hated to officiate in high school. Always complained about calls and never said please or thank you. I was a real a$$. So every time I work with someone who officiated me I apologize to them. They don't remember me, but it makes me feel better to apologize.

I honestly have not paid that much attention to specific players I've worked and how their careers progressed. I do recall, however, working the games of Stevin Smith, who came out of Dallas Spruce High School to play at Arizona State. You might remember Smith as the individual who served time in prison for his involvement in a point shaving scandal at ASU. Quite an interesting character.

There's a local guy here who was a 1st round NBA pick back in '91 or '92. I've officiated many of his adult rec leagues games over the last few years and he has also coached AAU and HS games I've officiated. He joined our board this year and is in his first season of officiating. And he is a natural. If he sticks with this he will be a GREAT basketball official.