The passing of Ben Legere - SF CYO loses an original

Several weeks ago, I attended a SF CYO 7th grade boys basketball championship game in which my old grammar school was playing. When I showed up to the gym, I was happy to see that I knew the two officials working the game. One of them was longtime (50+ years) CYO referee and Hall of Famer Ben Legere.

I usually officiate with Ben a few times a season during the boys basketball season. However, due to work, my high school season and other things, I hadn't worked many CYO boys games and thus didn't work with Ben at all this season.

During halftime, I went downstairs to the court to say hi to Ben and the other official. Ben was happy to see me and we chatted a bit. Ben had always been a little quirky and had seem bitter and withdrawn the last few years I had seen him. On this day though, Ben seemed much more relaxed and happy than I remembered him from a couple of years ago.

It was during that day that I found out a local TV station had interviewed Ben and produced a short story on Ben which aired later that evening. The story can be seen here:

KPIX Story on Ben Legere

Unfortunately, these two particular memories will be my last ones for Ben Legere. After umpiring a baseball game in San Bruno on Wednesday, Ben collapsed while taking the bus home and passed away. He was 77 years old.

My first experience with Ben was back in 1987 when I played my first ever CYO basketball in 8th grade (my school did not have sports teams until that year). He officiated our first ever game in which we lost 35-28. I don't recall if he officiated any of our other games during my 8th grade year.

After I moved on to high school, I returned to coach at my school and saw Ben around but didn't interact with him a lot. It wasn't until 1993 when I began officiating in CYO that I started to interact with him more.

Like I said before, Ben could be quirky as an official but he had good knowledge and was always willing to share his views. You only had to listen to him. I know many officials found Ben frustrating at time to deal with and I could see why.

On the other hand, Ben had dedicated his life to CYO and youth athletics. He was unmarried and lived a solitary life. Even though he could be difficult to deal with at times, I overlooked that because I felt like he sometimes just wanted people to talk to. As my friends will tell you, I am a very patient listener and gave my time when I could.

As I look back, I am thankful that Ben was always giving me advice on my officiating and he was instrumental in helping me mature. Tomorrow night will be my first week of officiating CYO girls basketball as I missed the previous week. I think it will be an emotional night because it will be the first time in my 17 years of officiating that Ben Legere is not with us.

CYO has lost one of it's originals but heaven has gained one heck of a person. Rest in Peace Ben. You've been a part of many people's lives for years and your influence will be felt for many years to come.

All Officials hope for is.............

A COMPETITIVE GAME!

Well, maybe we hope for a little more than too. However, a competitive game is probably among the top 3 items that officials want. After all, a competitive game keeps the teams, fans and officials engaged. To be perfectly honest, nothing beats being an official in a competitive game with a lot of screaming fans (unless you're a player in the same game!)

That being said, I had a great night tonight. I worked two 6th grade boys youth basketball league championship games. Both games came down to the the final possession with the first game ending in a 30-29 score and the second game ending at 31-28.

What made the experience even more intense was that the games were held at a very small facility with a court that is lightly smaller than the standard high school court. Also, the seating was very limited so fans were lined up all along the walls.

I love these kind of games because I just tune out everyone (even if the fans are screaming next to me) and focus on the game. I worked with two good parters and had a good time. I wish we could have this kind of experience every game but that's a pipe dream.

My youth league boys season ends after tonight and now I wait for a couple of weeks for the girls season. Not a bad way to end it tonight!

Season Finale (possibly)

Out here where I officiate, there's a Catholic high school league that is considered the most competitive in the area for both the boys and girls. Teams from several cities in the area play in the league. Unfortunately, there are only three boys schools and two girls schools which play in the city I officiate. That means the games are scarce and assignors are pretty picky about who gets to officiate a game in the league.

Fortunately for me, I was assigned my first ever game (girls) in the league back in September of 2009. The game was tonight and it was a great experience.

I can't say I was super nervous in the days leading up to the game. In fact, I was busy officiating youth, high school and adult league games throughout the week. I also studied my officiating manual to remind myself of the three-person mechanics. While I am not a great official and don't work three person games often, I am familiar enough with the mechanics. I just don't practice them that often.

As my work day ended today and game time approached, I made my way to the gym. I arrived about 45 minutes before game time with the JV girls game going on. The other two officials had already arrived and were observing the officials working the JV game.

As the JV game entered the fourth quarter, all three of us went to the change area to prep for our varsity game. I had worked with both of the other officials before and felt comfortable. We pre-gamed a little bit and went out to the court. My personal goal for the varsity game was to stay focused and keep to my primary areas of coverage.

After the pregame festivities (Senior Night, National Anthem, introductions), the game started and I was now in the line of fire. In the first couple of minutes, I held my whistle a lot. I passed on what might have been a foul and also a potential traveling call. In fact, I don't think I called a foul during the entire first quarter.

I finally did get involved in the game in the second quarter. The action seemed to go a lot toward my partners so I didn't have a lot of fouls or other things to call.

The third quarter started and I briefly lost focus. The visiting team had the ball and the home team defender was riding the offensive player. I passed on the initial foul as the offensive player made the way to the basket. The defensive player kept riding the offensive player before I finally whistled the defender for the foul. I should have called the foul earlier but waited a few seconds too late. My partners later said that it was good I did get the foul, but should have gotten it earlier.

I think this situation throw me off a bit. I got a little nervous a couple of plays later. The home team's center rebounded the ball and a player from visiting team smacked into the center. However, the center was unfazed and actually retained control of the ball. However, I was a little too quick on the whistle and called the foul. After the game, my partners understood why I called the foul because they saw the situation develop. However, they reminded me to hold my whistle longer.

Despite a tough way to start the third quarter, I managed to regain my focus. I held my whistle a bit and tried to let the game come to me. For the rest of the game, I felt like I was in control and did my part to keep the game in control.

The final score of the game was 45-44.

Overall, I felt like I did ok. I wasn't perfect and have things to work on. However, it is good to know what I can work some games at this level. I don't know what's going to happen in the future, but I definitely enjoyed tonight's experience.

Traditional Two Person Mechanics vs. Split Key Mechanics

Tonight, I worked a very competitive JV girls basketball game that came down to the final minute. However, a coaching blunder by the visiting coach cost her team a chance to tie the game. The score 42-39 with the home team leading and having possession of the ball. There were 40 seconds left in the game and 25 seconds remained on the shot clock. A timeout had been called and I talked to my partner telling her that the visiting team would likely try to play defense straight up and try to get possession for the last shot.

After the timeout, the visiting team played defense. For about 10 seconds that is. For some unexplainable reason, the visiting team coach directed her team to foul. Unfortunately, for the visiting team, they only had three team fouls at that point and that compounded the coaching mistake. By the time the home team got to the bonus, only 11 seconds remained. The home team made 1 free throw and the visiting team could not score and the final was 43-39.

Besides the game itself, the officiating was solid. I liked working with my partner and we communicated well. The only thing that I needed to work on was getting back to the "traditional" two person mechanic of covering the whole key as a lead official. My partner preferred that to the split-key mechanic, which a lot of officials who do three person prefer.

There was some adjustments to be made though I did still get some fouls as a trail with the action going into the key. All in all, the game was fun and officiating was decent. If only all games were like this!

Game of the Year Recap / Hoops for Haiti

Quick post tonight as it's been a long week at work and I haven't slept much. Last week, I proclaimed that a girls varsity game I was officiating would be a game of the year. Early on, it didn't quite look that way as the home team was down by double digits early. Slowly but surely the home team came back. With the game tied at 32-32, the visiting team had the ball with 31 seconds left. They wound the clock down and shot a jumper that missed badly. The home team got the rebound and threw a strong outlet pass to their streaking point guard. The guard laid the ball in at the buzzer to win 34-32.

Officiating wise, things went well. There were a few situations with the clock we had to handle early on. We eventually had to have an adult take over as the kid proved they were having trouble with running the clock. For the most part, I think my partner and I were on the same page, though he did make a couple of calls (foul / jump ball) at the show clock buzzer that got the coaches up in arms a bit. However, we had to be please that the game was decided by the players at the end.

I am officiating a couple of games this weekend. I will be officiating a JV boys game tomorrow and a JV girls game Saturday.

The JV Girls game will be interesting as it is part of a "Hoops for Haiti" jamboree organized by a girls varsity team here in the area. Besides the JV game I am working, there will be four other varsity games playing. All the gate receipts from the game will be donated to the earthquake relief effort in Haiti. I am volunteering my time in this worthwhile cause as will be other officials.

Game of the Year?

Between work, officiating and generally being busy, blogging about my officiating hasn't been a priority. However, it is worth noting that I may have my game of the year on Friday. As I wrote in earlier blog postings, I didn't receive a ton of high school assignments this year. I've gotten a few quality games during the preseason though the regular season games have been a mixed bag.

On Friday, I got a game between two games with great overall records (12-3 for both teams). However, each team is 1-2 in league play which dampens matters a bit. Despite the slow start for both teams, I think the game will be very competitive and there should be a large crowd as the game is in the evening.

I'm looking forward to game and will post on anything that happens.

Freshman Coaches

I just got home from a great freshman tournament championship game. As with most freshmen level games, it wasn't smooth and plenty of miscues on both sides. However, the game went into overtime (on a buzzer beating 3 pointer) and the final score was 40-38.

Despite the good game, there were things that I thought could have gone better (in my opinion):

1. Early on, there was a lot of hand checking which I let a few obvious ones slide. I should have gotten those earlier and things might have been a little cleaner during the game.
2. Coaches box: One of the coaches was on the court and out of the box very often during the game. I warned the coach to stay in the box but never followed through as the game really demanded our attention. Yet, I was aware of it and in retrospect I should have enforced it.
3. The same coach that was out of box was vocal throughout the game. The issue which the freshman coaches is they tend to harp on a lot of things and you have to pick and choose what you want to hear.
   

All in all, it was a good game but administrative stuff could have been taken care of better.