Do you remember the first game you officiated?

[Oz Referee]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

P.S. But I do remember Mark, Jr.'s first games because I officiated the games with him: Thursday, December 13, 2007. It was a girls' 7th grade/8th grade doubleheader in the Midland Athletic League at North Baltimore (Ohio) Jr. H.S. (the home team) vs. Bascom (Ohio) Hopewell-Loudon Jr. H.S. He had to carry me in these two games and he has been carrying his old man ever since, .

Mark (snr and jnr) I hope you both realize how lucky you are. Basketball was a huge part of my father's life and being able to referee together really brought us a lot closer. Enjoy every game together, I hope there are many, many more!

[co2ice]

to remember that far back I would need some of Marks meds.

[Mark Padgett]

I forgot to mention that I received $1.25 for working the game. That was good money for a kid back then, since my part time job working at a local hamburger joint paid $1.00 an hour. I had a friend who worked as an usher at a local theater and he got 85 cents an hour.

I think that after they took taxes out, I was left with something like $1.15. In those days, that bought 23 candy bars.

[rockyroad]

November, 1989. Men's rec league. The HS assignor was a contractor who sponsored one of the teams that was playing. I was working with a long-time vet who told me "Don't take any sh!t from any of these guys". OK...called my first T 4 minutes into the game on a player who punted the ball to the other end of the court. Called my second T about two seconds later when the same player told me that the first T was "bullsh!t". My partner called the third T during the first free throw as the same player was standing at the door screaming at us...game over. My first game went about 4 and-a-half minutes!

The HS assignor came down out of the stands and walked up to me and told me to be sure to answer my phone when he called later that night! When he called, he gave me 4 JV boys games for the following week!

[Forksref]

1973-74 season I don't remember exactly the first game but I remember a series of games at the school where I had previously coached, Elmwood JHS, Cygnet, OH.

Of course I was bad, but I felt that I had the temperament for officiating. I made some mistakes in scheduling early on. In order to get games, a guy and I took an entire freshman schedule at my old HS, Perrysburg, OH. BIG mistake. We saw them so much that we knew who was going to do what violation, etc. They, I am sure got sick of us and we of them.

I got good training. We had to attend 5 rules interp. mtgs. in Toledo each season and there were a lot of good officials there. And they helped a lot when we went out and did JV games and the varsity officials mentored us.

Two years later I got my first varsity game in Lima, OH and after the game I realized that I wasn't ready. Good thing to know.

This past weekend I did 19 games in an adult tournament here and they were all 20 min. halves. I thank the Lord that I still am physically capable of doing this. (Mentally is a different story.) 3-man crew definitely extends a career.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by Forksref

1973-74 season I don't remember exactly the first game but I remember a series of games at the school where I had previously coached, Elmwood JHS, Cygnet, OH.

...

I got good training. We had to attend 5 rules interp. mtgs. in Toledo each season and there were a lot of good officials there. And they helped a lot when we went out and did JV games and the varsity officials mentored us.

Were the meetings held in MTD's attic?

[CaRef5]

hmm i guess il contribute... my first time was when i was a freshman in hs, i was refn a 7 and 8th grade rec. league game for my former middle school coach [because at that moment i was a hs kid =)]

i dont remember much after that, but 5 years later im doing Varsity boys and girls 2-whistle games for the local hs association. [hopefully i crack the 3-whistle list this summer]

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by CaRef5

i dont remember much after that

Wow! Have you seen a doctor?

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by CaRef5

hmm i guess il contribute... my first time was when i was a freshman in hs, i was refn a 7 and 8th grade rec. league game for my former middle school coach [because at that moment i was a hs kid =)]

i dont remember much after that, but 5 years later im doing Varsity boys and girls 2-whistle games for the local hs association. [hopefully i crack the 3-whistle list this summer]

Move south a couple hundred miles and you'll be doing D1 ball sooner than you think.

[GoodwillRef]

Originally Posted by Mark Padgett

I forgot to mention that I received $1.25 for working the game. That was good money for a kid back then, since my part time job working at a local hamburger joint paid $1.00 an hour. I had a friend who worked as an usher at a local theater and he got 85 cents an hour.

I think that after they took taxes out, I was left with something like $1.15. In those days, that bought 23 candy bars.

Mark, how was Dr. Naismith as a coach? Was he hard you guys back then?

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by GoodwillRef

Mark, how was Dr. Naismith as a coach? Was he hard you guys back then?

I didn't play for him. I was his assistant coach. I came up with the idea of naming all set plays after successful basketball programs. Unfortunately, all our plays had the same name, "Springfield Y".

[Juulie Downs]

Originally Posted by Mark Padgett

I didn't play for him. I was his assistant coach. I came up with the idea of naming all set plays after successful basketball programs. Unfortunately, all our plays had the same name, "Springfield Y".

Holy cow, a new joke? So the world ends tomorrow....?

[JBleach85]

I started officating in a local rec league, for 3 and 4 graders when I was 14 years old. Don't exactly remember the first game, but knew I was really nervous for the fact that I was asked to step in because the one official didn't show up. Went off find, I did it a few more times that year and had fun doing it. You know you find something when your a senior in high school and your job consist of working rec games and have a boss that has confidence in you to allow you to do a league where you are officiating your own peers from high school and other high schools in a rec league. It was a fun time and I learned a lot, and it has lead me to actually running their summer league and being in charge of getting officials and handling situations that come up within the league.