GETTING IT RIGHT

from MHSAA - Referee Magazine - February 2023

GETTING TO YES

Friday Night Honors

By Brad Tittrington

On a Friday night three years ago, Toledo, Ohio, native Dean Grzegorczyk, while on the way to the football field with his crew, noticed a young boy in a wheelchair. Grzegorczyk returned to the locker room and grabbed a penalty flag to give the boy. He told the boy any time Grzegorczyk made a mistake on the field, the boy should throw the flag on him. When the game was over, he returned and noticed the once pristine, yellow flag was now completely covered in dirt.

“He laughed and I laughed and we had a good time with it,” Grzegorczyk said.

While Grzegorczyk would continue to hand out a new flag to a wheelchairbound or special-needs kid before each game for the past couple of seasons, it turned into something much more for the 2022 season. Grzegorczyk’s head linesman, Thom Dartt, had the thought to expand on Grzegorczyk’s generosity. Dartt emailed Fleming’s Referee & Sport and the Wilson Football Factory, both in Ohio, to see if they’d be willing to donate official’s gear (whistles, flags and coins) and a new game ball to give to an honorary captain each game. Within minutes, both companies were on board. And with those donations, the crew was able to have an honorary captain join them on the field to meet with coaches and conduct the coin toss.

“It’s so neat to see their reaction and their eyes light up,” Dartt said. “The kids’ reactions are awesome. It’s so fun for us and I feel selfish about it because sometimes I feel like we get as much joy out of it as the kids do.”

The idea caught the attention of Rossford High School head football coach Todd Drusback, who is also the president of Parker’s Purpose, a foundation dedicated to providing money to the parents of children going through life-threatening illness or disease. Drusback approached Dartt and mentioned he would like to partner up going forward.

The outpouring of support is not lost on the rest of the crew. For Randy Grant, the crew’s umpire, it hits close to home.

“I have somebody in the family who is autistic,” he said. “It means a lot to me to see a kid smile. It lets them know someone is thinking about them.”

Lee Durham, the back judge on the crew, has noticed people understanding officials are human and really do care.

“A lot of people have been appreciative of us doing this,” he said. “Every place we go, they post it (on social media) the next day. It’s not about us, though. Hopefully other officials will do it.”

And for line judge Drake Furey — whose girlfriend’s brother has cerebral palsy and was one of the captains the crew spotlighted — the gesture is something he won’t forget.

“The smiles almost bring a tear to your eye,” he said. “Sometimes on the day to day, we think life is tough. When you see it through that lens, we aren’t going through anything like these people are going through.” Brad Tittrington is an associate editor for Referee. *

A Toledo, Ohio-based football crew has started a tradition of having an honorary captain join them for pregame ceremonies. From left, Dean Grzegorczyk, Thom Dartt, Randy Grant, Lee Durham and Drake Furey pose with honorary captain Sydney Thomas and her family before a game during the 2022 season. NFHS Unveils Legends

In an effort to shine a spotlight on officiating, the NFHS has created the “Legends” program. The focus is to highlight the accomplishments of giants in the officiating industry.

“The premise was really to find a way to celebrate officiating,” Dana Pappas, NFHS director of officiating services, said. “It was something from our office we hadn’t done a whole lot of. We were trying to find ways to encourage people to officiate by listening to some of those big names in officiating and probably officials in those sports or potential officials in those sports people might be somewhat familiar with.”

Pappas interviewed legends from 17 sports — each sport for which the NFHS writes rules. The goal is to launch interviews for each sport in the season in which they are primarily contested. For the fall, interviews included Jerry Markbreit (football), Joan Powell and Marcia Alterman (volleyball), Esse Baharmast (soccer) and Steve Horgan (field hockey).

The interviews, which all can be found on YouTube, are anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour, and the goal is to make it a yearly program.

NBA Respects the Game

In October, the NBA and NBA Players Association (NBPA) announced a plan to encourage more respectful behavior within basketball, even at the youth levels.

Many groups, including the National Basketball Referees Association, are also involved with the “Respect for the Game” initiative.

“Respect and dignity are core values of both the NBA and the NBPA,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and NBPA Executive Director Tamika Tremaglio said in a joint statement. “We are reaffirming our commitment to promoting healthy and courteous relationships among players, coaches, referees, fans and parents throughout the game.”