Sadly, it even happens in Oregon

[Tim C]

Melee over officiating leads to arrest of 6th-grade girls coach
Posted by The Oregonian February 17, 2008 13:27PM
Categories: Breaking News, Clackamas County

Jeffery Scott LarsenA sixth-grade girls basketball coach was arrested this morning and accused of taunting a high-school-age referee and inciting a disturbance that flooded a basketball court with angry fans.
Clackamas County sheriff's Detective Jim Strovink said Jeffery Scott Larsen, 34, of Molalla was charged with criminal trespassing of a sporting event, a misdemeanor.

Deputies were called to the Estacada High School gym at noon Saturday after reports of a disturbance over officiating of a sixth-grade girls basketball game between teams from Estacada and Molalla. According to police reports, the incident began with spectators who were unhappy with the game's officiating.

Strovink said Deputy Brian Pearson reported that the disturbance began when Larsen, the Molalla team's coach, received two technical fouls and was ejected from the game. Pearson said Larsen remained in the building and verbally harassed the game's 17-year-old referee, an Estacada High student. After the game ended the deputy's report said Larsen threatened the referee physically and directed a profane attack at the boy.

Strovink offered this description of events in an e-mail:

Detailed information received at the scene reveals Coach Jeffery Scott Larsen received his first technical foul during the first-half of the game, while he became excessively argumentative when objecting to a foul called on one of his players.
The second technical foul was instituted at the beginning of the 2nd half -- with a resulting ejection from the game -- when Coach Larsen became increasingly angry at the officiating and hastily slammed his clipboard down on a 6th grade girls hand, who was positioned at a courtside table acting as the designated scorekeeper. This young girl sustained a cut to her hand, not requiring sutures or medical attention.

Additional information received indicates Coach Larsen failed to leave the arena when ejected -- as prescribed by law -- opting to stand in a corner of the hall, continuing to yell at the officiating, and continuing to coach his players from a corner of the gym. It was during this point in time, when the Molalla fans became more immersed in the taunting of the referee, and the electrified fan hostility continued to escalate with time. This antagonism was carried onto the floor at the end of the game when both the Estacada and Molalla fans swarmed the floor verbally facing-off against each other. No physical injuries were reported.

At the conclusion of the game, witnesses report Coach Larsen advanced rapidly onto the basketball court while grabbing the arm of referee Houston Webb, and menacingly cocked his arm back with a clenched fist.



Strovink said Larsen was arrested this morning after being questioned at his Molalla home. He was cited and released from the Clackamas County Jail.

Strovink said Estacada Junior High School principal Kevin Olds was coaching the Estacada girls team at the game. Strovink said Olds told him that about 75 parents and children witnessed the melee.

"Many of the girls were frightened, crying and fleeing the building with their parents," Strovink quoted Olds as saying.

[Jurassic Referee]

Sad.

Just sad.

Sixth grade girls and a 17 year old referee.......

Sad.

[26 Year Gap]

Let's hope Houston Webb & his parents press assault charges on this dolt. Hopefully, this guy has been banned from coaching. And hopefully, he will have to dole out a bunch of cash as restitution. And tar & feathers and the stocks would be a good idea, too. And,...

[Kelvin green]

Lesson...

Coach does not want to leave. The game is over and I will...

[tjones1]

Sad.

Hopefully justice will prevail.

[robertclasalle]

Jurassic Referee uses the word "sad" repeatedly, and he is more than correct. "Disgusting" is even a better word, but JR is more forgiving than me. No offense to the 17 year old official, who was no doubt intimidated by an "adult," (I have a 17 year old daughter) and I assume this young official is still innocent and trusting in the behavior of those of us who should know better, but if I'm working that game, I put 60 seconds on the clock for the coach to leave, then the game is over, and I send a report to my IAABO Board. I'm married to a school principal, she read this post and said her coach would be history and her school sports program would be history until the involved parents wrote letters of apology to the official. Let the parents go home and explain their deplorable behavior to their kids, who, let's not forget, are the beneficiaries and the victims of all this. Enough is enough with this BS, IMHO.

[JugglingReferee]

Some links via Google:

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index...g_leads_t.html

http://www.katu.com/news/local/15717777.html

At the same time, a Molalla assistant coach, 32-year-old James Robert Ulin, reportedly shoved the Estacada coach, 47-year-old Kevin Olds, who came out to defend the referee. Olds is also the principal of Estacada Junior High.

http://www.clackamasreview.com/news/...28504677492500


This is the guy... what a huge piece of work:

[Forksref]

So where was the game management?? AD or Principal?? A 17 yr old official working alone?? The school has at least some blame for this incident in the way the game was managed.

I hope the official doesn't quit.

[TimTaylor]

Glad to see that CCSO followed through & arrested this jerk.

If the account given in the news reports is correct, hopefully the investigation will result in him being charged under Oregon's statutes governing assault against a sports official.

[BktBallRef]

Originally Posted by robertclasalle

Jurassic Referee uses the word "sad" repeatedly, and he is more than correct. "Disgusting" is even a better word, but JR is more forgiving than me. No offense to the 17 year old official, who was no doubt intimidated by an "adult," (I have a 17 year old daughter) and I assume this young official is still innocent and trusting in the behavior of those of us who should know better, but if I'm working that game, I put 60 seconds on the clock for the coach to leave, then the game is over, and I send a report to my IAABO Board. I'm married to a school principal, she read this post and said her coach would be history and her school sports program would be history until the involved parents wrote letters of apology to the official. Let the parents go home and explain their deplorable behavior to their kids, who, let's not forget, are the beneficiaries and the victims of all this. Enough is enough with this BS, IMHO.

#1, I doubt seriously that Jurassic Referee is more forgiving than you.

#2, 17 y/o referees are not as equipped as you and don't know/understand how to handle such situaitons.

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by Forksref

The school has at least some blame for this incident in the way the game was managed.

No, the school has absolutely no connection with this at all. Middle schools around here do not have teams. The teams are run by non-profit community organizations who just rent the gyms from the schools. These organizations carry their own insurance and their contracts with the school districts absolves the districts from any responsibility, unless the venue is at fault in case of an accident, the same way any building you rent for any use must at least be in decent condition for the purpose for which it is intended.

Since this had nothing to do with the condition of the building, the school is not involved at all.

I don't know what the referee situation is in Molalla, but in my town, there's no way a 17 year old will be working a game alone - not even a 3rd grade game. We have HS kids as refs, but they are always paired with a more experienced official. Even if there's an emergency, such as the experienced ref not showing or getting sick, we have back-up plans.

BTW - under Oregon law, this kid should be able to recover between $500 and $1000 from this jerk for grabbing his arm and making a threatening gesture.

[Mark Padgett]

In this morning's Oregonian newspaper, the story said there were, in fact, two referees at this game, although both were HS students.

[rockyroad]

The tv reports this morning said that when the coach came back on the court and grabbed the official, he had to PUT DOWN his three year old child in order to draw back his fist and threaten to hit the official!! This a$$-hole had his little kid in his arms when he did all this!! Currently the jerk is being charged with Criminal Trespass for not leaving the gym as he was supposed to do - and the investigation is continuing and the report is supposed to be given to the Prosecutor's office by Wednesday.

[Mark Padgett]

This guy needs to be taken out back and, well, you know.

[Tio]

Loser.