Legacy Families Bolstering North's Officiating Ranks
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
March 12, 2021
When Marc Crossman was attending middle and high school at Benzie Central, he didn’t attempt a shot. He never blocked a shot either.
For that matter, the 2019 grad was never charged with a foul or a violation, nor credited with an assist.
Today, he uses the fitness he’s kept up from his track and cross country days at Benzie to call fouls and violations. And, nearly every day, he assists high school boys and girls on basketball courts all over Northern Michigan.
Crossman is one of very few young MHSAA basketball officials in the north. He is also among a handful of father-son basketball and other sports officials calling Northern Michigan home.
“I tell you what man, I was probably the most dedicated fan in high school,” he said. “I went to all the home games. All the away games, boys, girls.
“When I was in high school, I was obsessed with the game of basketball.”
Crossman did play elementary basketball. He tried out for the Huskies middle school team but wasn’t chosen.
“That was the end of my basketball career,” proclaimed Crossman, who also officiates football. “And then it started up again when I was a junior when my dad (Don) roped me into the whole legacy thing with officiating.
The MHSAA’s Legacy Student Officials Program is open to any high school student at least 14 years of age. Freshman and sophomore student officials may officiate at the junior high/middle school level only, and junior and senior student officials may officiate at any subvarsity level.
The Legacy Program pairs a student with a mentor official, which can be set up through direct contact with an official the student knows, or with help from the student’s athletic director in making contact with a local approved officials association. Lucky for Crossman, he did know someone, his father Don, an assignor for the Northern Michigan Sports Officials Association.
Don is a nine-year veteran official registered in baseball, softball, volleyball and football. He’s aware of the severe shortage of officials in general, but keenly aware most officials are closer to retiring than starting on the hard court. He’s enjoyed working with his son and assigning him with others.
He also has the good fortune of having other father-son combinations to assign. Among them are Tom and Ben Post and John and Jayden O’Hagan. Ben Post and Jayden O’Hagan also started in the Legacy Program, with Ben among the first to take part.
Tom Post has been a registered official for 48 years and honored with MHSAA Finals assignments. John O’Hagan has 36 years of basketball experience and registered for baseball and softball spanning two decades.
All of those fathers and sons indicate they enjoy working together and with other partners, but note officiating comes with some challenges.
Most come from fans and coaches rarely seeing a young referee in the crew.
“There have been a few games where the coaches just seem to get in his (Jayden’s) ear more than the experienced official,” said his father. “My fear is that Jayden — and all other referees — might one day say ‘I had enough of getting screamed at all the time and want to quit.’
“We talk to coaches, we explain their youth and that we are teaching and trying to recruit more young officials,” John O’Hagan continued. “Recruiting is difficult enough encouraging people to get registered; however, when the coaches and fans simply forget it is just a game, that we are human and we will make mistakes, their behavior can deter folks from becoming a referee.”
With ongoing support and teaching from his father and regular partner Dave Nemecek, Jayden is excited to hit the court after his days as a college student.
“My dad has taught me everything I know when it comes to the game and rules side of it,” noted the 19-year-old O’Hagan. “He’s always watching me and having me do certain things to make sure that I’m doing the best I can.
“So when there’s nights I’m just not having it or am not doing good, he makes sure to let me know,” he continued. “He always keeps me on top of my game.”
The assignor Crossman enjoys helping his son navigate the referee waters.
“It is awesome, very cool,” he said. “It is fun to see him grow. It is a challenge for me to help him grow.”
Ben Post is among a significant number of Northern Michigan referees not officiating during the current pandemic. He had been on the hard court every year since graduating from college and starting to teach at age 24 in 2004.
“I absorbed his (my father’s) officiating philosophy pretty much through osmosis, and as a result we call a pretty similar game, although I have no hope of matching his competence or consistency,” Ben Post pointed out. “My dad is most in his element while working a game, and I’ve cherished every opportunity to watch and study him in that element, first as a fan and then while working alongside him.”
The pandemic has younger northern referees like Gabriel Wise, Gabe Janowiak, Brandon Nichols, Marc Crossman and Jayden O’Hagan perhaps finding themselves in tougher assignments than they anticipated this early in their careers.
“Now you’re in it,” Don Crossman said of the opportunities taken on by the younger refs. “You’ve proved yourself on a fast track.
“You’re just one of the guys now,” he continued. “It is real exciting.”
Younger referees are becoming a welcome site nowadays for coaches and athletic directors.
“When a crew comes to the gym and there are officials of varying ages, the diversity provides credibility to the crew as a whole,” said Steve Graetz, Benzie’s athletic director.
Graetz is filled with pride when he sees the youthful Crossman on the court, especially knowing he started doing many middle school games at Benzie in the Legacy Program.
“It was a safe environment in which Marc could learn the craft,” Graetz said. “To see him now regularly officiating high school games at varying levels on a regular basis speaks as much to the hard work he has put into learning and improving as it does to the accommodating format and structure of the Legacy Program.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) MHSAA officials Don Crossman, left, and his son Marc. (Middle) Ben Post, top left, with father Tom Post and son James. (Below) Jayden O’Hagan, left, and his father Jon O’Hagan. (Courtesy photos.)
Longtime Taylor AD, Game Official Ristovski Chose Athletics as Way to Give Back
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
February 20, 2024
There is a basketball court 5,000 miles from Sterling Heights with “MHL” painted on the center court.
It’s not the name of a local basketball league in the village where it is located – Siricino, Macedonia. Instead, it stands for Madison, Haleigh and Lola, the three daughters of longtime Michigan basketball coach, referee and athletic director Loren Ristovski.
“My dad loved going back (to Macedonia),” said Madison Ristovski. “He’s probably gone every summer since about 2017. His whole family still lives there. He loved going and visiting and seeing everyone.
“It was always a goal of his to give back to where he came from. He and Mom donated to the village to build a soccer field and basketball court with lights and everything. It was a pretty big deal. It’s something he wanted to do for them back home. We were very proud he did that.”
Loren Ristovski, athletic director for Taylor schools, died earlier this month while on leave to have surgery on his foot. It was a shock to his family, friends, and the Taylor community.
“It was a heavy blow,” said Matt Joseph, girls basketball coach at Utica Ford and a longtime friend of the Ristovski family. “It was like getting kicked in the gut. Basketball was his passion. Next to his family, basketball was definitely No. 1. He loved the game and all the intricacies of it. He loved seeing kids excel.”
Ristovski emigrated from Macedonia to Michigan when he was 9. He went to high school at Hamtramck St. Florian, where he excelled at basketball. He went to Wayne State University to get a degree in criminal justice and had plans to become a lawyer.
Before he could take the Law School Admission Test, however, basketball came calling.
“He started coaching at Henry Ford High School and Fuhrmann Middle School,” Madison said. “Once he realized how much he enjoyed coaching, he decided to go into education. He stayed the entire time. He never went to law school.”
Loren Ristovski became the head coach at Harper Woods but gave that up when his daughters were ready to start playing in high school.
“He gave up coaching varsity at Harper Woods so he could be at every one of my games,” Madison said.
He also coached them as youngsters, often teaming with Joseph to coach an AAU team.
“I met him when Madison was 5,” Joseph said. “He and I decided to put our daughters in the same parks and recreation team, and next thing you know we were coaching AAU.”
With Ristovski’s tutoring, Madison, Haleigh, and Lola all excelled at the game, each playing Division I college basketball after standout careers at Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett. In 2012, Liggett reached the Class C Final with all three starting. They combined for 55 of Liggett’s 57 points in the championship game, with Madison scoring 42 after earlier that week receiving the Miss Basketball Award.
Lola and Haleigh played at the University of Detroit Mercy, and Madison played at the University of Michigan. Today, Haleigh lives on the west side of the state and plays recreational basketball. Lola is a referee in the Catholic High School League as well as for the Division II Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, and also works area Division III college games.
Madison is a teacher and the varsity girls basketball coach at Sterling Heights Stevenson.
“He taught us the game when we were very, very young,” Madison said. “We grew up in the gym with him and watched him coach his team. He coached me my whole life. He was very instrumental – he taught us all those things you need to become an athlete, and more importantly the things you need to do to succeed in life.”
Her dad is the reason she became a coach.
“Watching my dad coach and seeing the impact he had on his high school athletes and even the kids in our church community – it inspired me to want to coach as well and give back like he did,” she said. “I watched him with my teammates and the impact he had on them. I thought it would be so cool if I could do the same for others.”
Loren Ristovski left a legacy at Taylor, too. School officials recounted several stories of how he balanced athletic budgets with the needs of student-athletes. He would lead fundraising efforts, created the Bitty Ball program for youth basketball players and cheerleaders and helped students become certified officials – and then would hire them to officiate games.
“He didn’t say no,” said Taylor boys basketball coach Chris Simons. “We made it work. We didn’t go out and ask people for a bunch of money. We would just do it. We all pulled together and made it work. Loren did everything he could to make things as pretty and presentable as he could with the budget we had.”
Ristovski also put on summer camps at both Taylor and at the Joe Dumars Fieldhouse in Sterling Heights, where he lived. He commuted about an hour to Taylor every day.
“He loved Taylor,” Madison said. “He loved who he worked with and the students. He included us, too. My mom would run the ticket table or do the scoreboard clock. I don’t know how many times I sold tickets for volleyball tournaments with him. He loved his people and loved having us there with him.”
Loren Ristovski, who played professional basketball in Europe during the late 1980s, ran well over 20 marathons in his life, including the Boston Marathon. He was a registered MHSAA official for 16 years, and in the weeks before his passing he refereed a varsity game in Rochester with his daughter, Lola.
“He looked at basketball, I think, differently than other people do,” Madison said. “He saw it as a way to have relationships with other people, to help people achieve their goals and to find meaningful relationships with others. It was more than just a game to him.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Loren Ristovski, far left, and wife Svetlana support their lineup of Division I basketball-playing daughters – from left: Madison, Haleigh and Lola. (Middle) Loren Ristovski heads an all-family officiating crew with Lola and his brother Dean Ristovski. (Below) The daughters’ initials “MHL” glow on the court the family funded in Macedonia. (Photos courtesy of Madison Ristovski.)