Photo courtesy Kendall Smith

By Kendall Smith

Imagine.

Just imagine for a moment.

It is a cool, crisp mid-October Friday night. The aroma of burning leaves wafts in the air.

But…” The Jungle” at Madison Central High is dark. So is “The Brickyard” at Jackson Academy.

Likewise, “Patriot Field” at Jackson Prep, along with Brandon Bulldog Stadium.

Why?

No referees to call the games.

You say it can’t happen.

Think again.

Just in case you haven’t been keeping up, you should know that there is a nationwide shortage of officials in ALL sports…beginning in recreational league sports but now impacting high schools.

I recently met with four football officials…three of whom had recently retired from calling on the field.

Rodney Bounds, Tom Rice, Richard Kelly, and Phil Smith have been long-time friends and fellow officials for many years. We shared a long lunch of memories from past games, but an interesting discussion for reasons in the drastic decline of officials for all sports and what can be done to stop the skid.

Phil Smith had the best summation of a reason young people have no interest. Smith shared the story of his son…a great athlete in high school, umpiring summer league baseball at age 17.

Disputing an alleged bad call, an irate grandfather followed his teenage son to his car…. cursing him every step of the way.

Understand…this was a 10-U rec team.

Phil’s son called him later in tears and vowed never to call another sport in any venue.

Bounds, who is Minister to Senior Adults at First Baptist Brandon, observed that recreation ball in all sports has morphed into travel teams, select teams…whatever you want to call them.

Add to that “fall ball,” spring and fall softball and soccer, and ballet and cheerleading thrown in for good measure, and it is obvious that the attention and financial investment by parents is directed even more to youth sports and activities.

It doesn’t take a church consultant to understand that these issues have affected traditional activities in church youth groups and programs, along with a dearth of available officials for youth sports.

Like me, Kelly, and Rice both retired after many years on the field because of age and mobility. The reality of bad knees, sore backs, and an understandable aversion to the blistering heat of August and September made the decision easy…but not welcomed.

We all loved the camaraderie of our crews, the excitement of kickoffs, the smell of freshly cut grass, and the aroma of grilled burgers enveloping the field of play.

But, to a person, each of us understood the reality of hanging around too long and ultimately being told we “Had to quit.”

And I can tell you…. Nobody does it for the money!  While $125 sounds like a lot, consider that being assigned a game outside the Metro area requires leaving early afternoon. If you are lucky, you might get home by midnight.

That $125 suddenly turns into less than minimum wage after calculating an 11- or 12-hour day.

One of the biggest factors for lack of interest in officiating may very well be the aggravation and abuse from the fans and coaches.

I can assure you of this. The majority of fans and most coaches don’t know the rules. Interestingly, there are around two hundred differences in the rules applying to high school football as there are for college and NFL ball. What people see on television on Saturdays and Sundays is a good bit different from Friday nights.

I recall a hotly contested game at Jackson Prep. Legendary coach Ricky Black followed me down the sideline as we prepared for kickoff after a scoring play.

“Hey” …. Black shouted to me as he approached.

“Is holding still in the rule book?”

“Yes sir…it’s still in there.”

“Y’all gonna call it?”

“Yes…if we see it.”

Black slinked away back to the coaching box.

Then, I shouted back to him…” Hey, Coach…what color is the cover of the rule book this year?”

He smirked back at me with a half-smile. Black didn’t scratch me the next season, so he took my question in good stride!

We ended our lunch discussing “what’s the answer?”

It’s a tough question. A good case in point is our good friend, former football official, and All-SEC player at Ole Miss, Doug Buckles.

We were delighted to have Doug as an official with our association. I loved hearing him tell the linemen before the game…” boys, don’t try anything crazy…I’ve seen it all, (and done it all), and I know what to look for.”

Doug has taken a break from officiating for all the right reasons. He coaches his two young sons, and he and his wife delight in taking them to see Madison Central, his alma mater, play on Friday nights.

Our lunch group agreed, however, that former high school athletes benefited from the participation and involvement of legendary officials of past years…like Jim Ray, Butch Lambert, Jim Coleman, Kim Smith and an endless list of others.

If you love athletics, we agreed that coming with that is an obligation to invest in the lives of the aspiring athletes of today….and the officials of the future.

(If you have an interest in officiating any high school sport, contact the Mississippi High School Athletic Association or the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools.)