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Tag: referee

  • Tanya Stine to Marry NBA Referee Violet Palmer

    When she entered the league in 1997, Violet Palmer broke multiple barriers. At the time, Palmer became the first female to ever officiate an NBA game, despite pressure from fans who believed that a woman would not be able to keep up with the physical or mental rigors of a man’s game. What many people did not know, however, was that Palmer was breaking another barrier – one that would not be made public for 17 years following her initial foray into the NBA: Besides being the first ever female referee, Palmer was also the first gay referee.

    On Friday, Violet Palmer will marry her partner of 20 years, Tanya Stine – a popular hairdresser in Los Angeles. The proceedings will be officiated by Tanya Young Williams, star of Basketball Wives LA and former wife to NBA All-Star Jayson Williams.

    Despite the fact that Palmer is just now officially announcing her sexual preference, she has not been keeping the information a secret.

    If someone asked me, I would tell them. But am I going around with the gay flag posted on my forehead? I didn’t feel like it was necessary. But I never hid it. I think you just get to a certain point in your life where you go, you know what, it doesn’t matter anymore. I think that’s where I am at that point in my life.

    Palmer stated that as she became close to officials in the league, they would eventually discover the truth. However, she never wanted to make a big deal of the situation because she did not want it to overshadow her work: ”I always wanted people to just look at my work. Not look at my personal life, not look at my sexual preference. That doesn’t matter. I just wanted people to say, ‘Wow, she is a pretty damn good referee.”’

    And a damn good referee Palmer has proven to be over the years. While many may have doubted her skills and aptitude at the beginning of her career, Palmer quickly proved her worth, earning her first appearance in the NBA Playoffs in 2006, nine years after her first game. Palmer also refereed the NBA All-Star game this year.

    Initially, Palmer decided to give the NBA a shot because she saw it as a direct challenge to her skills and abilities: “I thought, ‘I don’t know what their [the NBA’s] intention is, but I am going to referee in the NBA. I knew right then. It was just everything about it: the level of play; me being as competitive as I was. And I just knew, I just knew I would be able to do this.”

    When people questioned whether she had the gumption to withstand the verbal assaults and antics from professional male athletes, Palmer had one response: “I’m from Compton. I’ve heard worse in the streets.”

    This Friday, all Palmer and her partner Stine will hear are cheers from their 130 closest friends as the two get married in a small, close-knit ceremony in Los Angeles – a sound rare to the ears of any NBA official.

    Image via YouTube

  • Dick Bavetta Officiates 2,633 NBA Games Straight

    During the Brooklyn Nets vs. New York Knicks game Wednesday night, NBA referee Dick Bavetta officiated his 2,633rd consecutive regular season game, which beat MLB Baltimore Orioles shortstop Cal Ripkin Jr.’s long-standing record for the longest back-to-back participation in an American professional sporting event.

    Richard T. “Dick” Bavetta, 74, got his start as an NBA referee in 1975, and he has never missed an assigned game since. He began officiating after his brother Joe, a ref for the American Basketball Association at the time, convinced him that it would be a good career. Bavetta was a stock broker on Wall Street during those days, and began officiating games between fellow brokers in the Wall Street League, played at New York’s Downtown Athletic Club.

    Bavetta went on to referee high school games, before moving on to the Continental Basketball Association. In the mid-1960s, for nine years straight he was rejected during NBA referee tryouts, mainly due to his small, unimposing stature, though was finally hired on in 1975. His debut was on December 2, 1975 at Madison Square Garden in an NBA game between the New York Knicks and the Boston Celtics. He soon became seen as a referee of the lowest tier, and led the league in technical fouls and ejections called.

    Bavetta eventually went on to become the highest paid ref in the NBA, raking in about $200,000 a year. His most well-known game was between the Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics in the 1980’s. Celtics forward Larry Bird and 76ers guard Julius Erving began to strangle each other and were ejected by Bavetta.

    Here’s the clip:

    Commenting on what his record means to him, Bavetta said, “Well it means that I am here and alive and happy. And it doesn’t end here as they say. After tonight there is another game. That is what we do. I am just blessed that the ironman streak has been broken here (at Madison Square Garden), I couldn’t ask for something any better.”

    Regarding any plans for retirement, Bavetta said, “I can’t think of any reason unless it’s an act of God with weather problems and things like that, but I’ve been blessed by the good Lord above with good health. So that has enabled me to stay healthy over the years and I think it’s symbolic of our profession.”

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Teen Pleads Guilty In Death of Referee

    Teen Pleads Guilty In Death of Referee

    A 17-year-old Utah boy pleaded guilty to a charge of homicide by assault Monday in a case that has many questioning the presence of violence in sports. The incident comes soon after another unbelievable sports-related event, during which a Brazilian referee was decapitated.

    46-year-old Ricardo Portillo was punched in the head by the youth during a soccer game in April. Portillo had called a foul against the boy.

    Portillo died after spending a week in a coma. He left behind three daughters. The teen, speaking in a soft voice, told the court, “I was frustrated at the ref and caused his death.”

    The teen’s defense and prosecutors reached a plea deal as the judge was preparing to hear arguments regarding whether or not the youth was to be tried as an adult. According to the deal, the case will remain in juvenile court.

    Prosecutors had sought to have the teen tried as an adult given the seriousness of the incident. They also claimed that the teen and his family are a flight risk when the defense sought to have him released while awaiting trial.

    While the teen and his father fled the scene following the incident, he did later turn himself in to authorities. It is unquestionable that the boy caused Portillo’s death, only what his punishment will be.

  • Sarah Thomas: First Female Referee

    Sarah Thomas: First Female Referee

    Sarah Thomas, the 39-year-old referee, may become the first female permanent game official in the National Football League, come 2014. The former college basketball player began officiating high school ball games at the age of 23 and says that ‘she never dreamed then that she could become a candidate to officiate NFL games’.
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    “I didn’t set out to break a glass ceiling or a gender barrier,” said Thomas. “If you’re doing things because you love them, then things have a tendency to just kind of fall into place.”

    There are 21 officials in the NFL’s higher-level training pool, including Thomas. When a position becomes available, the league will choose to bump someone up from that group and many are hoping that Thomas will be the one.

    “Thomas becoming a permanent official would be a good positive first step that begins to reflect the gender dynamics of the NFL audience,” Aine Duggan, president of the National Council for Research on Women said. “It’s important for women to see themselves reflected on and off the field. Having a woman referee is a good step that begins to do that.”

    Thomas doesn’t believe that her gender has put her at a disadvantage within her career. “I don’t feel that it’s been harder for me because I’m a female,” Thomas told ABC News. “I think that we are just out here working as officials. … I think just on our credentials, just as officials, I think that’s what moves us along, not because of our gender or our race.”

  • Decapitated Referee: Soccer Ref Beheaded in Brazil

    A soccer match in Brazil has ended badly.

    Long story short: A referee flags a player; player gets ticked off and fights the referee; the referee breaks out a knife and stabs the player in self-defense; the player dies; the fans storm the field, decapitate the referee, and stake his head at mid-field.

    Short story long: In the Brazilian state of Maranhao, an unlucky football referee, Otavio da Silva, expelled otherwise well-behaved player Josenir Abreu. The two began to fight, and da Silva pulled out a knife (soccer refs pack knives in Brazil, I guess) and stabbed Abreu. Abreu died on his way to the hospital.

    After the stabbing, fans stormed the field and stoned da Silva to death (again, because Brazilian soccer fields are littered with stones), then those fans removed da Silva’s head and staked it at midfield (once again, because they have stakes available for head-staking in Brazilian footie matches).

    This occurrence is unwelcome publicity for a nation that is gearing up to host the next World Cup and the next summer Olympic Games.

    Brazil is getting ready to host the 2014 World Cup for soccer and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Rio has already faced heavy criticism in light of its longstanding crime problems. While the country has made attempts to cope with the drug issues in its favelas, it has also had logistical problems with the construction of new facilities for the events, as well as maintenance of existing facilities. The country has faced substantial troubles in recent weeks as protesters have taken to the streets to oppose the expenditures related to the upcoming World Cup events.

    Police have arrested a 27-year-old man in conjunction with the beheading and are investigating the incident further.

  • Punched Ref Dies After Time in Coma

    Punched Ref Dies After Time in Coma

    A Utah man died on Saturday after being punched while refereeing a soccer game one week ago. According to an Associated Press report, 46-year-old Ricardo Portillo died at a Salt Lake City hospital after spending a week in a coma.

    Portillo had been the referee at a recreational soccer match last Sunday, when he was punched on the side of the head by a 17-year-old player. Portillo had just given the youth, a goalkeeper, a yellow card for shoving another player. The referee became dizzy and then began vomiting blood, according to witnesses. He suffered brain swelling and fell into a coma after being transported to a nearby hospital.

    According to the AP report, the teen is currently in a juvenile detention center on aggravated assault charges. Authorities have indicated additional charges may be filed in the wake of Portillo’s death.

  • NHL Referee Murder: Ladislav Scurko Convicted of Stabbing Former Tenant

    NHL referee murder: Ladislav Scurko, who was drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in 2004, has been convicted of stabbing a former referee, according to Yahoo News. The incident occurred in 2008 following a dispute between Scurko and Marek Liptaj, who once lived in the professional hockey player’s home. Upon learning that Liptaj did not have cancer, an argument promptly ensued. After attempting to get the referee to leave his home, Scurko admitted to stabbing the man 14 times and dumping his body in a shallow grave. His partially decomposed body was found about a year later in a nearby forest.

    Despite admitting his crimes to authorities, Scurko claimed he was tricked by police into confessing to the murder. However, none of this seemed to matter in the long run, as the former NHL draft pick was convicted of murdering Marek Liptaj, and is currently staring down eight years in prison, which is the maximum sentence for this sort of behavior. Curiously, while he was awaiting trial for the stabbing, Scurko was still allowed to play hockey in Slovakia; since 2011, he has laced up for both HK Slovan Gelnica and HK Trebisov.

    “After the final speech of evidence were presented. They gave the prosecutor, the injured party’s legal representative, advocate the defendant, substitute counsel and the defendant himself,” Slovakian authorities said in a statement. “The conclusions of the psychiatric examinations Ščurko act committed in a state of diminished sanity, the court considered a mitigating factor and therefore imposed a sentence at the lower rate. The court imposed a protective psychiatric outpatient treatment by a prisoner. The sentences him among the facilities for imprisonment with moderate surveillance.”

    Following his stint with the Philadelphia Flyers, Scurko was drafted by the Seattle Thunderbirds. In 2007, Ladislav moved back to Slovakia to play professional hockey.

    Image provided courtesy of CAS.SK