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Good News in Officials Recruitment, Hockey
May 22, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The MHSAA continues to explore ways to interest and invite potential officials to join the ranks of those who play massive roles in administrating our games all over the state.
A few recent efforts have produced excellent results and ideas for the future.
On Saturday, longtime officials Brian Morley and Bruce Moore, along with the Bay Metro Officials Association, hosted at Grand Blanc High School a free clinic for those interested in becoming basketball referees.
The MHSAA also set up a table at the event and provided free registration for attendees – and 31 signed up with the MHSAA on the spot. The Association’s in-person presence at the clinic also gave attendees an opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the next steps after taking part in the training.
All 31 will be first-time basketball officials, and most registered to officiate for the first time in any sport.
More great steps came April 29 as the Jackson Area Officials Association introduced the avocation to more than 30 aspiring officials at a meeting that also was designed for anyone interested in becoming an MHSAA basketball official.
Bill Walker, an organizer of the event and official for more than a decade in his area, said eligible Legacy Officials at the meeting were assigned mentors, and all attendees committed to attend a June clinic at Jackson College. Those leaving the area for college this fall were provided with officiating contacts in the communities where they will be attending school.
The upcoming clinic, free of charge and organized by Walker and Jackson College women’s basketball coach Heather Brown, will provide “real game” work for attendees as they receive training and mentoring.
Michigan Center coach and teacher Lisa Haynes and officials Jason Smith and Chuck Sprang also play instrumental roles in the JAOA recruiting effort.
O-K honors with new hockey divisions
This is older news in the Grand Rapids area, but definitely worth a statewide mention. The Ottawa-Kent Conference traditionally has named its hockey divisions Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3, but has selected names to honor past contributors beginning with the 2018-19 season.
One division will be named after Ron Baum, a longtime coach at East Kentwood and the second winningest in MHSAA history. Another division will be named in honor of late Grandville standout Ryan Fischer, also a member of the MHSAA Student Advisory Council, who died in his sleep the night before his team’s Division 1 Semifinal in 2014. The third will be named for late official Dave Rue, who died in 2017 after a fight with cancer and was beloved in the hockey community.
Retiring official recognized
Also in hockey, Jenison took a few minutes to pay a touching tribute to official Ray Sheahan on the ice before his final MHSAA game – he retired at the end of this winter from high school hockey after 22 years as an MHSAA registered official.
Sheehan also has been involved in mentoring officials at various youth levels in the Grand Rapids area with an impact reaching far past high school rinks. Check out the tribute below:
PHOTO: Aspiring basketball officials listen in during a meeting with the Jackson Area Officials Association on April 29. (Photo courtesy of the JAOA.)
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Flint's Phillips Named NHL 'Community Hero'
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
June 20, 2019
Rico Phillips had convinced himself before Wednesday night’s NHL Awards that he wasn’t going to win the Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award.
It was the easiest way to kill nerves that went along with having to speak in front of a room filled with NHL superstars and legends, as well as a national television audience.
But as the award was about to be announced, and a video montage started playing on the screen, the realization he could win started to come back to Phillips. Then O’Ree said his name.
“When I watched Willie O’Ree say my name, it was like this snapshot of time froze, and I was like, ‘No way,’” said Phillips, an MHSAA hockey official and the founder of the Flint Inner City Youth Hockey Program. “I embraced my wife. She has been the person that has been the best advisor to me, and to have her here with me was an incredible moment.”
Phillips was honored for founding and directing his organization, which has given a cost-free opportunity to play the game to about 150 kids ages 8-11 in Flint since 2010. He was one of three finalists, along with Tammi Lyncy of Washington, D.C., and Anthony Benavides of Detroit.
Fans submitted candidates for the award, and the field was whittled to the final three who were then voted on by the public.
The award is named after Hockey Hall of Famer O’Ree, who broke the NHL color barrier in 1958, and who has worked as the league’s diversity ambassador for more than 20 years. It is given to “an individual who – throughout the game of hockey – has positively impacted his or her community, culture or society,” according to a release from the NHL. This was the second year it has been awarded.
“It was surreal, would be the first word,” Phillips said. “I felt an incredible honor – having just met Willie a couple months ago in person, he brings with him this magic. To look over and hear him say my name, it was like, ‘I can’t believe this is happening. Willie O’Ree – Willie O’Ree! – is giving me this award.”
Those who know Phillips could certainly believe it was happening, and that it was a well-deserved honor.
“I wasn’t surprised; I thought if anybody deserved that award, it was Rico,” said Steve Berriman, who serves as assigner and referee-in-chief for the Flint Ice Hockey Referees Association. “I was so darn proud; it was so well deserved. He’s immersed himself in the hockey culture. Whatever he’s accomplished has been all on Rico. He’s done it all himself. From where he’s started to where he’s come, and then the starting of this program, it’s 100 percent on him.”
Phillips, who is a firefighter in Flint, was introduced to the game during the 1980s and fell in love with it. He served as a student trainer for the hockey team at Flint Southwestern, and thanks to plenty of time spent with the officials while in that position, was convinced to get onto the ice wearing the stripes. He became an MHSAA registered official for ice hockey beginning with the 1990-91 season.
“I took up that challenge, and it was terrible at first, because I could barely skate,” Phillips said with a laugh. “One of the other challenges, besides learning how to skate, is that I was met with racial slurs and taunts. I was young, and it was tough. I thought, ‘What did I get myself into?’ I had some people who helped talk me through it.”
Phillips said those mentors explained to him that quitting would give those who taunted him what they wanted, and more than 30 years later, he’s still on the ice. He said he officiates about 40 high school games per year and has worked three MHSAA Semifinals and a handful of Quarterfinals.
It was during the late 1990s that the idea for the Flint Inner City Youth Hockey Program came to Phillips.
“As a hockey referee, in particular, it wasn’t just playing, I know the lack of cultural diversity (in hockey),” Phillips said. “It didn’t bother me, so to speak. But I thought, you know what, there’s something that can be done about this.”
About a decade later, he put the wheels in motion and went to the Flint-based Perani Hockey World to ask for financial assistance. Perani took things a step further, offering to outfit all of the players from head to toe, giving Phillips and his organization 54 sets of gear in total in the first year.
After that first year, a funder fell through. But four years later, the United Way stepped in and provided funding to pay for ice time. The Flint Firebirds of the Ontario Hockey League have since stepped in to assist with ice time.
“One of the things I appreciate about our program is that it’s a community collaborative effort,” Phillips said. “These folks give to us without a non-profit status.”
Since its inception, Phillips said that the program has served about 150 players. Each player not only receives gear and instruction at no cost, but also transportation to and from the arena.
“We have 12 that went on to continue playing hockey, which is huge,” Phillips said. “I’m very proud of that – I didn’t expect that. We help and seek out additional funding for our participants that come through to help with the cost as they move on. The kids that come to our program, they don’t understand or know about hockey or even ice skating. We’re taking these families and teaching them to love this sport.”
Phillips has been saddened by the decline of the sport in the Flint area, saying that when he began officiating there were more than 20 high school teams in the area, and now there are fewer than 10. He said he also struggles to fill his program each year.
He hopes that will change with the exposure that has come with this award.
“What I’m hoping is this opens up the doors a little more, that this brings some gravity,” Phillips said. “On the flip side, when talking about funding, (since he was announced as a finalist for the award) I’ve had owners of pro teams and others coming up to me saying, ‘We’re going to send you equipment and send you some funding.’ This definitely puts our program on the map – on the bigger map. It means a lot of more intense work that I have to do.”
The award also shined a positive light on Flint, which is something Phillips did not take for granted.
“It was an overwhelming response that I received from the community,” Phillips said. “There were watch parties – I just saw a video a little while ago of when the announcement was made, and they just went crazy. It means the world. I say this a lot of times, but there seems to be a dark cloud that likes to hang over Flint and has for decades. There are so many of us that are little lights that shine, and this was a big shining light. Every opportunity we get in Flint to pick our heads up and be proud is important.”
Click for more on the Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award.
PHOTOS: (Top) From right, Rico Phillips, wife Sandy and NHL Hall of Famer Willie O'Ree. (Middle) Phillips drops the puck for a face-off during the Division 3 Semifinal between Houghton and Riverview Gabriel Richard this winter. (Below) Phillips, left, with his award and the Nashville Predators' P.K. Subban. (Top and below photos courtesy of Rico Phillips.)