Norris Winner Hoover Elite on All Levels
April 15, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Linda Hoover always had aspired to become a coach, and her class schedule at Olivet College during the late 1970s reflected that goal.
But at the suggestion of one of her advisors, Hoover added an officiating class one term. That same advisor soon needed a partner to officiate a volleyball match a few blocks down the road at Olivet High School – and Hoover found herself registering with the MHSAA the day before the first serve.
“I was scared as heck,” Hoover recalled this week. “I was going up the ladder for the varsity match, and I said, ‘It’s my first one!’ But she was kind enough … and I knew what I was doing. I was comfortable, and I truly enjoyed it.”
Nearly four decades later, Hoover has officiated eight MHSAA Volleyball Finals and seven Softball Finals – in addition to serving as an umpire at four NCAA Division I College World Series, nine Amateur Softball Association Nationals and four softball World Cups. She also has officiated at the Olympic Trials and China’s Republican National Games, and is scheduled to work the USA Junior Olympic Cup this summer in Georgia.
Admired as a pioneer in officiating, especially by women who have followed in taking up the avocation, she also continues to serve Michigan at the high school level as an umpire, clinician and mentor, and has been selected to receive the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s Vern L. Norris Award for 2016.
The Norris Award is presented annually to a veteran official who has been active in a local officials association, has mentored other officials, and has been involved in officials’ education. It is named for Vern L. Norris, who served as executive director of the MHSAA from 1978-86 and was well-respected by officials on the state and national levels.
Hoover will be honored at the Officials’ Awards & Alumni Banquet on April 30 at the Crowne Plaza Lansing West in Lansing. She is in her 36th year as an MHSAA-registered official, working softball and volleyball in addition to softball at the collegiate, national and international levels.
A teacher at Marshall from fall 1982 until her retirement at the end of the 2013-14 school year, Hoover also has served as a clinician for numerous softball and volleyball officiating clinics and as a clinician and officials evaluator during the MHSAA Softball Finals. She has contributed on various MHSAA committees and assisted at the MHSAA Volleyball Finals, and also served as a facilitator and speaker at the MHSAA’s Women in Sports Leadership Conference.
“I’ll never forget when I was still a rookie official, I’d been in it four or five years, and I was going to a high school softball game. A couple of girls were like, ‘Oh my gosh, we have a female official,’” Hoover said. “They’d never seen a female umpire.
“I want to present a positive role model, a positive experience for those who might want to get into (officiating).
Hoover graduated from Constantine High School in 1977 and Olivet College in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and minors in communications and psychology. She lettered in field hockey, basketball, softball and volleyball during her college athletic career, and is a sports Hall of Fame member for both her high school and college.
Hoover went on to earn her master’s degree in athletic administration and an endorsement in health education, both from Western Michigan University. At Marshall, she taught primarily freshman health education and also classes in physical education and child psychology.
She also did get that opportunity to coach, first middle school volleyball at the former Wattles Park (now Battle Creek Harper Creek), then junior varsity softball and middle school basketball at Marshall. But she found she enjoyed officiating more than coaching – and also found the avocation to be her “niche” and a place where she could make an impression on female athletes in particular.
“Linda Hoover is considered by her peers as one of the elite softball umpires in this country, and she continues to share her gifts with athletes and coaches at our level while serving as an inspiration for many aspiring officials,” MHSAA Executive Director John E. Jack Roberts said. “She has provided decades of leadership and commitment to her craft. And as during her many years of classroom teaching, Linda is a tireless, understanding and energetic instructor as she works with officials seeking to reach toward her high level of expertise.”
Hoover also has been inducted into the Michigan Amateur Softball Association Hall of Fame and has received recognition as an “Elite Umpire” by ASA/USA, and attained the gold level of the ASA Umpire Medals Program. She was awarded membership in the ASA’s National Indicator Fraternity and certification by the International Softball Federation.
About half of the games she currently officiates are at the high school level; she also continues to officiate in the Mid-American Conference and has worked in the Big Ten, Big East and Missouri Valley conferences among others as well.
Hoover also contributes to her community as a volunteer for Marshall Area Community Services – she is a past board member for the program – and volunteers as well for the Marshall Fountain Clinic.
Past recipients of the Norris Award
1992 – Ted Wilson, East Detroit
1993 – Fred Briggs, Burton
1994 – Joe Brodie, Flat Rock
1995 – Jim Massar, Flint
1996 – Jim Lamoreaux, St. Ignace
1997 – Ken Myllyla, Escanaba
1998 – Blake Hagman, Kalamazoo
1999 – Richard Kalahar, Jackson
2000 – Barb Beckett, Traverse City; Karl Newingham, Bay City
2001 – Herb Lipschultz, Kalamazoo
2002 – Robert Scholie, Hancock
2003 – Ron Nagy, Hazel Park
2004 – Carl Van Heck, Grand Rapids
2005 – Bruce Moss, Alma
2006 – Jeanne Skinner, Grand Rapids
2007 – Terry Wakeley, Grayling
2008 – Will Lynch, Honor
2009 – James Danhoff, Richland
2010 – John Juday, Sr., Petoskey
2011 – Robert Williams, Redford
2012 – Lyle Berry, Rockford
2013 – Tom Minter, Okemos
2014 – Hugh R. Jewell, West Bloomfield
2015 – Sam Davis, Lansing
High school game officials with 20, 30, 40, 45 and 50 years of service also will be honored at the Officials’ Awards & Alumni Banquet on April 30.
Six officials with 50 or more years of service will be honored, along with 34 officials with 45 years. A 40-year award will be presented to 68 officials. In addition, 108 officials with 30 years and 193 officials with 20 years of experience will be honored. With the induction of this year’s group of 409, the honor roll of officials who have aided young student-athletes grows to 10,197 since the inception of the banquet in 1980.
Tickets for the banquet are available to the public and priced at $20. They will not be sold at the door. Tickets can be ordered by calling the MHSAA office at (517) 332-5046 or by sending the order form. Click for a full list of officials who will be honored.
PHOTOS: (Top) Linda Hoover watches a play unfold during an MHSAA Softball Final. (Middle) Hoover works one of her eight MHSAA Volleyball Finals.
VIDEO: Linda Hoover was one of many officials who answered the question "Why Do You Officiate?" for this MHSAA series.
Little Provides Major Stride as 1st Woman to Officiate Boys Hoops Final since 1995
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
April 13, 2023
Delonda Little was already a trailblazer to many before this year’s MHSAA Boys Basketball Finals.
But what happened last month at Breslin Center made her even more of one on a statewide level.
A referee and assigner for 20 years in the Detroit area, Little is a female boys and girls basketball official who mentors both male and female referees – no matter the gender or level, as she officiates high school and college games.
Officials often go to Little for guidance, direction and assignments, which has made her respected for years throughout Metro Detroit in the prep basketball community. Then, her status as a trailblazer grew even more.
Little was assigned as an official for the Division 3 Boys Basketball Final between Flint Beecher and Traverse City St. Francis, and she became the first female referee to officiate an MHSAA Boys Basketball Final since Traverse City’s Barb Beckett 1995.
“It was a very good feeling to know I was the one selected,” said Little, who officiated the Final with Matt Olson and Zach Porritt.
In fact, while attending a Semifinal game the Friday before the Final, Little received a phone call from an area code she didn’t recognize.
She answered, and it was Beckett.
“At first I didn’t know the name,” Little said. “I said, ‘No, I don’t know you, but that’s fine.’”
Beckett then explained she was the first female referee to be assigned a Boys Basketball Final, and just wanted to offer support to Little.
At that point, Little became excited and thankful she answered the call.
“It was very nice to hear from her because she wanted to reach out and if not pass the torch, to congratulate me,” Little said.
Little, 51, said she found out she was going to be refereeing the Division 3 boys championship game just before the start of the postseason when she received an email from the MHSAA.
“I’m looking at the email and I’m like, boys?” Little said. “I was shocked.”
But she was shocked in a good way, and obviously excited for the honor.
Little didn’t find out until a couple of days before the St. Francis/Beecher contest that she would be officiating that specific championship game, but the Monday of boys championship week was when she really started to receive congratulations from friends and colleagues.
That’s when an article came out in the Detroit News detailing her selection, which led to countless calls, texts and congratulatory messages on social media.
“I couldn’t even (keep up with the comments),” she said. “That’s how overwhelming the actual tags were. It came from all across the state with officials, men and women, because I do women’s college (games). Some of the college ladies were reaching out. I was getting all the hoopla before the game.”
Little said she normally doesn’t get nervous for games, but not having some nerves became a bit harder once so many people knew of her achievement.
However, she settled into a normal routine quickly once the game started.
“I wanted to get it done, get it over with and do well,” she said.
Little did do well, which is no surprise to everyone who knew her before she officiated on the boys championship stage.
It was just another feather in the cap for Little, who in 2016 became the first woman to officiate a boys Detroit Public School League championship game.
“Delonda is one of the top officials in the Detroit area, and our staff doesn’t look at Delonda as a female working a boys game – we see one of the top officials in Detroit working a basketball game,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said. “There are females officiating in the NBA and female officials in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. The aspect that made Delonda’s selection for this MHSAA championship game nearly unique will soon be the norm at all levels of athletics.”
Little graduated from Detroit Osborn in 1989 and starred on the basketball court at Wayne State, earning induction into WSU’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005.
Her day job is as an officer for the Michigan Department of Corrections, but her passion is officiating. She’s been an MHSAA-registered official for basketball for two decades and also was registered for volleyball for four years. This past fall she registered for football for the first time.
“I get something from it because it keeps me in shape, I love the people I work with and I like the kids,” Little said. “You are always teaching, and I like training the newer officials. I just enjoy it. I don’t know what I’d be doing if I wasn’t refereeing.”
Going forward, Little hopes her championship game assignment will now be an inspiration for other female referees.
“There aren’t very many women who would like to work boys basketball or feel comfortable,” Little said. “If that’s something they desire, I’m hoping more women are selected to work the games if they feel comfortable.”
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties
PHOTOS (Top) Delonda Little takes her position on the court during the Division 3 Boys Basketball Final on March 25 at Breslin Center. (Middle) Little monitors the action between Flint Beecher and Traverse City St. Francis.