Got That Phone Call

[Mark Padgett]

Five years ago, I had an incident in a game in our local kids rec league. One of the two refs working the game was a HS freshman working her first game ever. Her partner was in his 3rd year with us. I was in sitting next to the table to eval them. It was a 3rd grade boys game and was the first game of the season.

The teams come into the gym and one of the coaches has a "Pat Riley" haircut and is wearing a 3 piece designer suit and carrying a clipboard with the gym floor graphic and magnets on it. Remember - this is 3rd grade. I knew this was going to be fun.

Right from the opening tip, he was on the refs really bad. I wanted to see how they would handle it. About halfway through the first quarter, he was up (we have no coaching box in this league) and yelling at her. She had already given him a warning (and did so properly). She looked at me and I nodded. She whacked him. As she was going to the table to report it, he yelled "You can't give me a technical, you little punk." This time, she didn't even look at me before she whacked him again and told him he was gone. He yelled that he wasn't going anywhere which was when I got up and approached him. I said, "Do you know who I am?" He nodded his head yes. I then told him that if he didn't leave immediately without saying another word, he would be banished from the league for life. He stared for a moment, gathered up his clipboard and walked out. His assistant, who was the mom of one of the other kids, took over. He was suspended for the rest of the season and had to appeal to the Board to be reinstated the following year. We let him back in conditionally and didn't have any more problems with him.

I told the HS girl that she did an excellent job. She asked me if all the games were going to be like that. I told her probably not. She stayed with us all through HS and became an excellent official. She's now going to a local university and still officiating with us.