Rick was not a complicated guy by any means. He loved a few things, his family, always making time for a Saturday night dinner even in the busiest time of the basketball season, the Cubs, heading to Arizona annually to see his beloved Cubs in spring training. No one was happier for a World Series win than Rick was. And Rick loved to referee basketball, especially girls high school basketball. He was a GREAT referee. In fact he made it to the top of the ladder, officiating the girls championships in Illinois three times.
I had the pleasure of going to the state finals all three years Rick was assigned. Over the years we worked over 300 games together, more than a third of them in state tourney assignments. We were "partners" as we climbed the ladder together. And truly the term partners is appropriate. Referees spend endless hours going to clinics, studying the rule books at local association meetings, and driving late at night in horrible weather to make sure the "game goes on." Rick was no exception here. He was a dedicated student of the game, sharing his insights with the people he worked with.
As the two of us were climbing the ladder at the exact same time I must confess I had a jealous streak in me. I think we all believe we are better than our partners, except of course when we are working with the really great officials in the area. But in order to deal with the challenges of the fans/coaches/players etc, I believe officials adopt an attitude of being in charge and with that comes a bit of ego whereby I was the best official on the court.
This wasn't true when I was working with Rick. Despite my wish for it to be different, he was indeed the most talented, fair and patient. He just had the right temperament for girls basketball. He understood the nuances of the game and helped his partners to work the "perfect game." I think there were situations in a game I might have been better at handling, however overall, he handled the entire game better.
As a result Rick was always rated higher than me. Coaches and officials rate us. These ratings determine who will "move up the ladder" and who will get knocked off. Again, jealousy prevailed as I just couldn't understand how he could be rated higher. It seems funny now how this bothered me. And of course I wasn't willing to invest the time/effort losing weight and studying the game to get ahead of him. Which is why now I say Rick was a GREAT referee and I was just pretty good.
We had a lot of fun working together. Many a big game with some great players. We refereed Candice Parker a few times, the best player I have ever been on the court with. And we refereed a lot of not so good players. I remember working with Rick in Decatur in the first round of the regionals when a #16 seed played a #17. Those were the two worst teams in our area and it showed. But our last game in the post season that year was at Redbird Arena in Normal so it was worth it.
We worked our post season games mostly with Roger Nichols from Bloomington Normal. Another Great referee, Roger recently joined the softball umpire hall of fame. But many of our games/non-post season were with the one and only Terry Holleman. Terry also worked the state finals and is a Great official. But, he has a mean streak...... And so I need to tell a few Rick stories.
A couple of highlights. One year Terry and I decided to let Rick referee (throw the ball up to start the game and run the captains meeting) for every game in the State Farm tourney (8). Normally you would rotate, but Terry and I were mean. Rick liked to talk in the captains meetings. He might talk 3 or 4 minutes talking about games situations that could come up. Personally other than meeting the captains I think captains meetings are a waste of time as the players just want to get the game started. So I put Rick on the clock, I told him he had one minute to run the meeting and I kept the count down. He was rattled, Mr. In Control was not that. And it was cruel and funny.
Later in his career Rick had hip problems and it was hard for him to put his socks on. Terry, always the devil, would wait until Rick was standing trying to get balanced and then he would push him just when he was in the right position to step into his socks. Here was Rick falling all over the locker room. Eventually Rick started wearing his "game socks" to the game if he knew he was working with Terry or I. During the games Terry would roll the ball to him instead of throwing him a chest pass and Rick struggled to bend over and pick it up. Again, cruel and funny.
When you are in the mix to move up to the state finals you know that the big guns at the IHSA office are probably going to come see you in person prior to assigning you to the state final round. Rick and I were assigned to Sectionals at Normal HS and we were sure Marty Hickman and then Beth Sauser would come see us. So in the pregame I would joke "I saw Marty in the stands.." Rick would always tense up if he thought they were there. One game some of our friends made Marty masks and brought them to the game. Cruel and funny!
I said earlier Rick studied the rules. And he would look for oddities in the rules and would bring them to our games or the local IBOA association meetings. One year he was obsessed with the fact the rule book only permitted two free throws for a foul and therefore if you were fouled on a three point try you could only award two free throws. My answer was, I'm giving them three free throws, you can issue two and listen to the coaches and fans. Also I would often tell him on the odd rules if you can't administer the play, don't call it!
On a serious note though you ask people what they remember about Rick and universally they will say "he was a quiet guy." I guess he was, but not around Terry or I or some of his other regular partners. Coaches loved his temperament and his ability to understand and manage the game. I admired him for his commitment to the game, to his family and to those of us who had he honor to work with him. Rick you will be missed my friend.
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