Officials

The Michigan High School Athletic Association is accepting registrations by mail and online for game officials for the 2013-14 school year and hopes to build on a program started last year and aimed at recruiting new officials from high schools’ current graduating...

To be honest, Tom Truscott has never paid much attention to finishes during 42 years as an MHSAA track and field and cross country official who has launched a few generations of athletes in the classroom, on various playing fields and as one of the best-recognized race ...

What is at work here now are two newer forces that frustrate efforts to maintain a pool of officials that is adequate to handle all the contests . . .

Tom Minter admits his wife Linda knows the spiel well. She's been hearing it spun for years.  The recently-retired MHSAA assistant director might be chatting up a recent grad at his or her high school open house, or talking with a former athlete whose playing days...

Barbara Beckett had an idea this was going to be big.  But until she arrived in East Lansing for the 1995 MHSAA Boys Basketball Finals, she had no idea how major a deal her next assignment would be.

It was between seasons for WNBA player Stacey Thomas.  She sat in her Northwestern University basketball office, where she worked as the Wildcats' director of basketball operations, and listened to a message that she’d heard somewhere before.

A 25-year registered MHSAA official who at one time juggled rules books for eight different hockey leagues and has worked four World Championships in addition to the Olympics, Jim Garofalo now works only high school hockey.

Lamont Simpson’s “home” is a place he visits twice a week during his peak season, when NCAA Division I officiating duties have him navigating the Midwest like a person in a race for frequent flyer miles. So, naturally, there’s Simpson officiatin...

Every now and then, an MHSAA Final delivers the cliche’ finish of everyone's dreams: close game, final seconds, trophy on the line, someone’s gotta win, someone’s gotta lose. For the three teams out there, it’s as exciting as it gets. Yes, ...

Beryl Hager read something about officiating recently that struck him. People will never forget a bad call, and they’ll never remember a good one. “That’s the way it is,” the longtime official from Marlette said. “Realistically, everyone ma...

The MHSAA has taken a new approach to recruiting high school students to "Stay in the Game" as officials. This third installment in the series "Making – and Answering – the Call" explains that strategy, which relies on school administrators to assist in ide...

Implemented 20 years ago by the MHSAA, the Legacy Student Officials Program continues to spawn enthusiastic young officials who are more likely to stay in the family beyond their formative years. This second installment in the series "Making – and Answering &ndas...

Who are these people in the striped shirts, whose best work goes unnoticed, of whom perfection is the expectation and who automatically alienate 50 percent of interested parties each time they make a decision? This first installment from "Making – and Answering ...

Kalamazoo's Ron Winter has been part of just about every major event possible on a football field with more than four decades officiating high school, college and now National Football League games. He can appreciate each level for what makes it special. And he's passe...

Kalamazoo's Ron Winter has officiated in the National Football League for nearly two decades, and became a referee in 1999. But long before he joined the highest level of the game, he got his start on Michigan's high school fields.

Frequently in pairs, they lined up beside linebackers, ran the sidelines and monitored the goallines earlier this week, next to many of Michigan's best recently-graduated high school football players. The athletes were practicing for Saturday's Michigan High School Foo...

As a high school junior eight years ago, John Libka began his officiating career as part of the MHSAA Legacy Program. Now 24, Libka -- who grew up in Mayville and attended school at Juniata Christian in Vassar -- is a baseball umpire in the Class A Midwest League.

The Michigan High School Athletic Association is accepting registrations by mail and online for game officials for the 2012-13 school year, and has launched an effort aimed at recruiting new officials from this year’s high school senior class.

Lyle Berry began this track season with about 10-12 events on his officiating schedule. But when administrators he’s known for decades called for help, that slate quickly doubled in size for this year’s MHSAA Vern L. Norris Award winner. The Rockford r...