KILL THE UMP!
Being a Referee
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BY ROGER KRATOCHVIL
The phrase, “Kill the Ump” emphasizes how difficult it is to be a referee or ump these days. It actually comes from a 1950 movie by that name starring William Bendix. It’s a story about a guy who can’t hold a job, so he tries being an umpire and experiences the many trials and tribulations associated.
Recently, Tim Mize, sports director of WSMI radio in Litchfield, emphasized the drastic need for referees. Fewer people want to accept that responsibility. It is at a point now where school athletic directors are struggling to meet the need. I have talked to
several of them, like Amanda Osmoe, Mt. Olive A.D., and she has stated how desperate the situation is. It used to be that every town had referees who would often work in neighboring towns. I was one, as I was trained as a football, basketball, and baseball official. I use the term “trained” loosely, as at that time all you had to do was take an open book test, pay your fee, and you became a referee. When I began, starting in 1960, it was a combination of my love of sports and the allure of making extra money - because my salary as a teacher and coach of three sports was only about $4,200 a year. That, along with my summer construction job, helped me support my family. It was not always fun though. Today, you can make between $60 to $100 for two hours as a ref or ump. It is a good source of extra income, or as some would say, beer money.
In 1960, I had just got my football license when the head football coach at Mt. Olive, Chuck Heinz, asked me if I had anything going on Saturday night. I said no since I was his assistant football coach. He said he needed a third official for a game at Robinson, Illinois. We jumped into his 1950 Plymouth (with no working speedometer) to travel to Robinson and work their annual opening game against Danville Schlarman. I think the speedometer problem was intentional so we did not know how fast he drove. It was over a 100-mile trip - and we made $15.00.
My first call at that game was a wrong one. And I found out quickly why officials wear their whistle on their finger. I was the head linesman and on the first play, with the whistle in my mouth, there was movement by the defense and I reacted by throwing the flag and, wrongly blowing the whistle and killing the play. Because the defense moved, there was a 5-yard penalty. But the offense gained 15 yards, and they should have had the choice to take the 15 yard gain and not the 5-yard penalty. Lesson learned. But I was standing in front of the bench that was the victim of my error, and they mentioned it a few times within my earshot. I never did that again.
That was my first experience. So why would young men or women not want to do this job? First of all, you have to be very thick-skinned. People can be mean-spirited, directing, directing very nasty words at an official. When an official referees, they are in charge of that gym or playing field from the moment the game starts. Up until that time, the principal is in charge. The official can order the principal to remove an unruly fan, player, or coach from the gym. If it gets bad enough, he can have the gym or field emptied and the game continued with no fans.
When I was principal at Mt. Olive, there was a time when the basketball referee suddenly blew his whistle and stopped the game. He directed me to remove a person from the gym. I was surprised - and a little upset - when it turned out to be one of my janitors. He was sweeping the hallway and decided to stop at the door to watch a few minutes and saw something that caused him to express his opinion to the referee. I was once ordered to remove a fan in a football game. That fan turned out to be my own high school football coach, a man who I had the highest regard for. It was a bad position to be in, but I did it. We once had a fan who was evicted from a football game, a basketball game, and a Turner Hall volleyball game, all in the same year!
I worked with a number of rookie referees, particularly in basketball, that quit after their first game saying, “I don’t need this.”
Well-known basketball official, Paul Tomazolli, worked his first game with me and it was a chaotic one - in my own gym.
I had to ask the principal at that time to remove a person from the referee dressing room - it was my superintendent at the time. Now that was a terrible position to be in!
There were two outstanding officials from the area who used to drive a propane-powered car to save money on the trips. When the game ended they would promptly go to one of the local taverns, like Puda’s in White City, to spend much of their check.
It was always sad, but also funny when they did that, because they were both characters.
I was not a full-time referee because I was also coaching high school sports at the time, but I had enough experiences to last a lifetime. I once worked with an official who had no sense of humor and a quick trigger in reacting to an overly volatile coach. One time the coach, who was short in stature, was on my partner about calls. Finally, my partner called a time out and calmly walked over to the coach and said, “Sit down and shut up you little blankety-blank.” The coach never said anything after that, and he did not stand up very often either.
Another time I was working a game in Mt. Olive against Springfield Southeast. The game was in progress, I looked around, and my partner was not on the floor, so I was working it by myself. I blew the whistle to stop action and in about the fourth row of the west bleachers was my partner, chewing out a woman fan. All I could think of was, why?
Another time I was working a basketball tournament in Livingston. My partner was always in a hurry to get the game over with. I called time out because there was a scoring error and the scorekeeper called me over.
I went up on the stage where they were, and all of a sudden I hear action going on. My partner had started play without me being there. I was not happy about that!
Most towns have somebody who is traditionally an outspoken fan. One time I was working a game and a fan (who was a judge) was on me about calls he did not like. I let him stay in the gym, as I have never had a fan removed. But a few days later I got a letter in the mail that said, “I am writing this letter of apology to you because my wife has told me that if I did not, she would never speak to me again.” I responded to it, explaining a few things, and we never had a problem again. It does not always work out that way.
Sometimes a referee will be tagged with the name, “homer.” That refers to one who referees a lot of games for one school and who mentally sides with the home team with some of his calls. I knew a few who would be considered homers, so I hired them for Mt. Olive too! Maybe not really a right thing to do, but necessary. Most referees I knew were not one-sided and worked a fair game.
A good referee dresses appropriately as set by the IHSA, knows the rules, and keeps control of himself. Knowing the rules is very important. One time years ago, Mt. Olive was playing Staunton at Mt. Olive in football. It was during a period of time where Mt. Olive success against Staunton was not at its best. It also was a time when the new crackback block rule was introduced to reduce injuries. Mt. Olive running back Mark Eccher ran for the winning touchdown when a referee threw a flag, charging a violation of that rule. It was called back and we did not score. It was a wrong call and we lost the game. It was a rulebook call, not a judgment call. The referee was so upset after the game that he refused to take his check. The missed call actually changed the result of the game, and that is hard to accept, especially against a team that you had not recently beat. It took a long time to recover from that.
One of the most memorable bad calls I remember came in 1989. Mt. Olive was in the football playoffs for the first time playing defending state champion, Arcola at Mt. Olive. At the half Mt. Olive was losing 21- 0, and thanks to a fired-up Wildcat team under Coach Ken Swenson, they came back to tie it up with 13 seconds to go. Mt. Olive had their field goal kicker, Tim Kratochvil, ready to make a long field goal to win the game. The ball was spotted on the left hashmark, perfect for a left-footed kicker. The referee signaled the start of the clock and in backing up to get out of the way he tripped over the ball holder, Steve Grejtak, who was catching the ball from center Bob Osmoe, and fell with the clock running out without getting even an opportunity to kick. The referee should have blown the whistle when he fell to stop the clock and restart it all over, but he did not and Mt. Olive went on to lose in overtime. That one took a long time to recover from as well. Those of us who dream, pictured it going through the uprights for the win in front of a standing room only crowd.
One of my favorite referees was Harland Scheibal of Hillsboro. He would work a grade school game, and after he would signal a foul, he would approach the scorer’s table and say, “The foul is on number 22 but he did not mean it.“ I always enjoyed him when he came to officiate.
When noted NCAA basketball official Ed Hightower started, I hired him at Mt. Olive to work basketball and baseball. He was the umpire behind the plate for the 21 inning marathon baseball game in 1973 between Staunton and Mt. Olive. After 4 hours and 5 minutes, the score was 0-0. It was a state record for a long time and Hightower and the base umpire Paul Kaganich were each paid the grand sum of $7.00 for the long game. To this day, Ed, when he sees me, says ”Coach, you got any more games for me.”
Would you agree to referee a game and “enjoy” all of that pressure? Football is the easiest because many people do not know the rules. Basketball is the hardest because the crowd is closest to you. Wrestling is also a tough sport because a split-second delay in calling something can cause the wrestler to win or lose the match.
In refereeing, I never left mad, but once in a while I left disappointed in human nature, and that included coaches. When I started in 1960 most of the grade school basketball coaches from the towns nearby were volatile and were not immune from doing a lot of hollering. You had to referee with a cool head and that was not always easy. You needed to dress properly with the understanding you needed to look like a referee. The IHSA says you wear your referee shirt and wear black slacks in basketball.
I once worked with a guy at Livingston who showed up in pink pants. There was an official I often worked with who had a lot of chest hair so he never buttoned his shirt and a lot of hair stuck out. I guess he was proud of that hair.
I could not talk about referees without mentioning a long-time friend of mine, and an outstanding official. Ed Biznek, of Staunton, was the most dramatic referee I have ever seen. He would slide on his knees to a player who fouled and call his number. He was hyper, talked fast, and worked sometimes as many as three basketball games in one day. He was so dynamic that once he was even featured on the NBC Nightly News. He did a lot of talking with his hands and if you sat next to him on a bar stool, he might knock you off of it accidentally. All of those years his partner was Fred Brenzel from Staunton.
Seriously, we need referees badly. If you love sports and are willing to do the job and make extra money, see your local athletic director. After you have read my personal experiences, you will understand that I really enjoyed it and I think you will too. For tournaments, you get rated for performance and that is a good measure of your effectiveness. I worked baseball only one year in 1965 when the Mt. Olive Board of Education decided to save money and drop both baseball and track. At that time and for about 15 years, I made $125.00 a year as a coach. And our program was very successful.
I know a lot of people, many I met while refereeing. Do not expect a lot of people telling you how good you are or even complimenting you at all. I used to say when
I coached that parents viewed as good a coach as their son or daughter was an athlete. I can say the basic truth is in refereeing too. Coaching as long as I did, I often had brothers in different eras of time. Once I had three brothers scattered over a period of years. Two were excellent and the third one was not very talented. I was a good coach two out of three, and that ain’t bad. As an official, you are as good a referee as the team who won determines!
Roger Kratochvil is a former teacher, high school principal, coach, and scout for the St. Louis Cardinals. He now writes about his life experiences. You can contact him at kratz@ madisontelco.com.
This story originally ran in the Dec 2021 issue of The Prairie Land Buzz Magazine, which is distributed free each month to 11 IL counties. Find out more at The Prairie Land Buzz Magazine
