We have to maintain peace, honesty, integrity, and respect for all.
My experience as a referee has been both good and bad. It’s the hardest job in sports, especially here in prison. As the head referee, you have to stay neutral, show no favors, and have an open mind knowing that you will always be verbally abused. We get called out, cursed out, accused of cheating, and almost never seen as perfect. But there are guys who will thank you for your service. Every year I’ve been refereeing, I’ve seen the rules change depending on who the commissioner is. What most people don’t realize is the official rules of basketball don’t change, just here at Valley State Prison. I call it prison ball because most of the guys here are rude, disrespectful, and have no respect for the game. That makes my job, and the job of the few referees, much harder. We have to maintain peace, honesty, integrity, and respect for all. Personally, I’ve been threatened twice. One time, a player told me if I called another foul on him, he’d see me on the yard later. He was suspended from the league and later tried to say he was joking and that I took it the wrong way, but he was still denied a return. This prison basketball league has been tough. But let it be known, if no one is willing to call the games, there will be no basketball league. As for me, I’m retired. And yes, the basketball league must and will continue. But like I’ve said for the last seven years, somebody’s got to do it.
