We can be pretty hard on the zebra squad so let's run a thread of humorous things related to officiating. No bashing anyone.

I'll start with 2. I used to work the Audubon, IA Invitational and there were always 3 officials. Don "Chris" Christensen was the AD and former head wrestling coach. At the break between sessions Chris would always stick his head into the official's dressing room and say, "Two of you are doing a good job." Then he'd shut the door and leave.

Many of you know the late Charlie Bryant and stories about him could make a thread miles long. When I first met Charlie he was coaching at Council Bluffs TJ and I was working the Corning, IA Invitational. Before the finals the meet director told us that Charlie had been warned and on his next offense he was kicked out of the building. I had a TJ kid in the finals who scored a takedown off the mat. Charlie did what 99.99% of coaches would do. He yelled, "TWO". Charlie was sitting across the mat from where they had gone out of bounds. As I moved back to the center of the mat I looked across at Charlie and noticed something unusual. So I didn't stop in the center of the mat, but kept walking toward toward him. I got right up next to him and said, "Charlie, zip up your fly." He laughed the rest of that match and we laughed about it a lot of times since. "After the meet he told me, "Man, I was packing my bags when you came toward me".

This is about Vincentini, but before he became an official, he wrestled at UNO under Don Benning. At the Crete Invitation, coaches and referees were sitting around chatting, and Vincentini told about having a hard time making weight, so Don Benning took him home with him and locked him in a room until the next day so he would make weight. Thank God the ACLU wasn't around to protect his right not make weight! LOL

Many times while officiating at tournaments, a dad of one of the coaches would find me during the day and he always said "I don't care what they are all saying up in the crowd, I think you're doing a good job".

My brother-in-law had a friend who was a HS varsity basketball coach, and one night things weren't going well and he was doing everything he could to get ejected from the game.

He was trying to get under the skin of one official, but this guy was just not going to give him the satisfaction. Finally, in the fourth quarter during a stoppage in play, he walked to the official standing at the scorer's table and asked him, "Were we dogs in another life and did I steal your bone from you?"

The ref didn't answer him and the coach began to walk away. Suddenly he stopped, wheeled around and held out his hands as if to present a gift and yelled, "HERE'S YOUR (EXPLETIVE) BONE BACK, PAL!!!"

Ref stops the game...blows his whistle...T sign goes up...and he finally gets his ejection.

Last I heard, that coach is now selling insurance...

Are you sure that wasn't from Hoosiers?

Remember-CLONESRULE!!!

Years ago when the Hunt brothers (Rusty et all) were wrestling, Nick Chiburis and I would do the Platteview Invitational - 8 full teams on 2 mats with 2 officials. This would get to be a very long day but we always had something to look forward to - Rusty's Dad leaving early. He always thought that Nick and I were the 2 worst officials ever and never hesitated to let us know early in the day. Chris Salberg was the AD at the time and always had "escort Mr. Hunt to the parking lot" on his list of things to do on tournament day. As the years wore on and Rusty became an official, Nick and I would always make our way to the spot in Devaney were Mr Hunt was sitting and pay our respects. He always left us with these parting words - "you're still the worst officials I've ever seen".

hskrrick -- I spent a few years covering Platteview and was there during the last years of Chris Salberg's run as A.D. He was one of those guys who was absolutely, 100% no-nonsense and put getting the job done way ahead of worrying about whether somebody might get their itty-bitty feelings hurt in the process...which some school administrators seem to lack the, ahem, intestinal fortitude to be able to handle in these politically-correct times.

I burst out laughing when I read the "list of things to do on tournament day" line -- I don't think I was covering Platteview during those days you mention, yet somehow I can see that exact item being on his to-do list...and can see it being carried out with him personally taking care of the situation.

hskrrick32, I thought that Nick Chiburis was a very good ref, but better than that he was a great guy, and a good friend! I haven't seen him much since I quit coaching, but if you see him, tell him that the "old" Falls City coach says "hi"! Thanks

How about Roger Berney from Fremont after the break to award medals one year at the state tournament coming out to do the next match without his armbands? Some one slipped an extra pair to his assistant (off camera) and the assistant tried to get them to Roger. All the while us other refs are dying laughing as the assistant tries to catch Roger, who is reffing and unaware of what is going on. Must have looked strange on camera.

ref-
Your story about the arm bands reminded me of a similar situation. There was a couch in the coaches office where we went between sessions of a tournament. One of the referees lay down on the couch and was snoring in about 1 minute. 2 of the ornery referees (notice I said ornery so you know that I wasn't involved) lifted up his head and slid his whistle off. In about 5 minutes it was time to go back to the mats. We were all delaying the start of our matches and watching out of the corners of our eyes. He called the two wrestlers to the center of the mat, had them shake hands, and then reached for his whistle. He ran back to the dressing room and soon came back with a different whistle. To this day he has never said anything to any of us about it.

I didn't see this one, but a coach from a few years ago told me about it. His dad was the Coach and AD at a small school in SD, and when he paid the refs, he would always cash their checks and pay them out on the mat with cash (counted out slowly so all could see)usually done at a crucial time--like just before the last match. I guess it used to really upset the visiting crowd.

When I started this thread I said no bashing of referees but I thought of something that I heard of years ago when I started coaching in LeMars, IA. So I won't mention him by name. Every time we went to a tournament other coaches would be talking about the worse referee to ever walk onto the mat. The funniest story was how he always flipped his disk almost to the ceiling when working a tournament. As he flipped his disk skyward one of the wrestlers asked a question. He leaned forward to ask the wrestler what he said. His disk came down on the back of his neck and slid down inside his shirt. He went to the dressing room to retrieve his disk.

In a seeding meeting many years ago, after 30-40 minutes of arguing by two coaches for the #1 seed, I out of frustration said; "I am going to flip a coin and if it is heads, Coach #1 you go on top; if it comes up tails, Coach #2 you will go in the bottom. No one said anything so I flipped, placed the wrestlers and moved on...I don't think they ever figured it out.

The names of these coaches were mentioned in an earlier thread regarding seeding meetings......