Doing the right thing at the wrong time made an official at a local middle school basketball game a national media sensation and brought him national scorn.
During a seventh-grade boys basketball game between Oak Harbor and North Whidbey middle schools at OHMS Tuesday, Jan. 6, an official was talking on his phone while the game was in play.
School and association officials would not release the name of the referee.
What looked like a thoughtless and selfish act was really an attempt to help. He heard that there were no referees at the eighth-grade boys game across town at North Whidbey Middle School and the two teams were waiting to play.
He called the referee association’s assigning secretary, Brian Lindgren, to notify him of the scheduling mixup.
Unfortunately, the other official at the seventh-grade game did not realize his partner was on the phone and whistled the game back into action.
Lindgren said the official who made the phone call takes full responsibility for his actions, acknowledging he made a mistake and that he should have hung up on Lindgren when the game resumed.
A video of the phone call was recorded by Bryan Schulle, former Oak Harbor High School basketball coach, who was at the game to see sons of friends play.
He sent the video to Deadspin; what followed, he didn’t expect.
The official was labeled “World’s Worst Ref” by Deadspin; commenters added their own harsh comments.
The video and the story went viral, being picked up by other outlets, including ESPN, Fox Sports 1, the Today Show and regional news stations.
“I’m sorry it took the direction it did,” Schulle said. “I didn’t intend for it to be critical. I wasn’t trying to bust him.
“I just thought it was a light-hearted, unique thing I had never seen before during a game. It was funny and unusual.
“Reffing is a hard job, and it is hard to find referees. He was going a good job; he was actually a good official,” said Schulle, who coached basketball for 20 years.
“The whole phone call was pretty low key. There was no eruption from the crowd; I don’t think the coaches even noticed.”
The coaches were asked by the school district not to talk to the media about the incident.
“The referee organization has confirmed the call and is investigating the incident,” Kellie Tormey, communications officer for the Oak Harbor School District, said in an email.
“We think you’ll agree, the context makes a difference,” she said. ”Refs are often made the ‘bad’ guy, but in this situation that is not the case.”
“It may have not have been the right decision at the time, but when you look at all the facts, you understand why he did it,” Tormey said in a phone interview
The school district made an effort to contact all the outlets who ran the video, Tormey said. Most have posted clarifications.
