Not Just Another Season for Watson
May 3, 2018
By Cody Porter
NFHS High School Today
A 32-second response by emergency medical technicians was the difference in life or death for 68-year-old Willie Watson, who was spared from becoming another victim of sudden cardiac arrest.
Watson, a 38-year official for the Michigan High School Athletic Association, collapsed in the tunnel near the officials’ locker room after the Division 6 Football Final at Ford Field last Nov. 25 in Detroit. Fortunately for the Kalamazoo native, stadium staff members were steps away as he fell unconscious. Within seconds, their call for help reached on-site EMTs who swiftly made their way to him from the field.
“It was strange because I wasn’t sick or anything. I drove to the game by myself. Everything was fine, got dressed, and then went out on the field for the game,” Watson said. “After the game, I came to the locker room, had a boxed lunch, and the last thing I remember is leaving towards the tunnel. That’s the last thing that I remember. I woke up in the hospital the next day, on Saturday.”
Moments before Watson’s dire situation occurred, he stood in the officials’ locker room speaking with Mark Uyl, the MHSAA assistant director who coordinates officials. Uyl said when he received the call regarding Watson, he arrived to find paramedics administering full CPR, in addition to using an automated external defibrillator (AED).
“It was a scene right out of a movie,” Uyl said.
After about 10 minutes of work on Watson, Uyl said paramedics found a pulse and promptly transported him to Detroit Medical Center.
“Things were very critical that Friday night – very touch and go,” Uyl said. “Overnight we got reports that he was slowly improving.”
An implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) was placed in Watson’s chest. The pager-sized device is battery powered and placed below the skin to monitor heart rate, according to the American Heart Association. If an abnormal heart rhythm is discovered, the ICD delivers an electric shock to restore a normal heartbeat.
“I got to witness an absolute miracle,” Uyl said. “If the cardiac situation doesn’t happen literally at the feet of the medical staff that we have on-site at an event like that, he would’ve gotten up to the concourse or, heaven forbid, outside the building into the parking lot or his car and I believe it would’ve been a much more tragic ending.”
Watson was working the third game of the day as a line judge, and when he collapsed, was beginning to leave the facility and head to a local hotel reserved for MHSAA officials. Uyl told Watson how much of a blessing it was that he was assigned that game. At home or at the hotel, Watson would have been alone without access to proper medical attention.
“Certainly, where we got lucky is where he collapsed,” Uyl said. “We have emergency procedures, but when we’re at one of our college or pro venues, we often use the building’s plan. It could not have been more seamless between our staff and the Ford Field building personnel.”
At MHSAA events, such as those at Ford Field, an ambulance and two EMTs are stationed on the field next to the tunnel that connects it to the other areas of the stadium. Watson said he and fellow officials routinely confirm the location of emergency responders before starting a game.
“Schools almost always have somebody from a university around who does training. Most schools have ambulance service there at the site,” Watson said. “There have been incidences where we have had injuries that require them to come out onto the field to assist a student-athlete. It could be a concussion, a leg injury or who knows. We always have somebody at a venue.”
Equipped with his ICD, Watson left for home a week later from Detroit Medical Center. Expecting to make a full recovery, Watson said the only recommendations from his doctors were to tweak his diet and increase exercise. Although he said his recovery is on track, one of the most notable effects from his incident was memory loss.
“The strange thing is that I cannot remember a single thing about the game. I can’t remember anything,” Watson said. “If you ask me what Ford Field looked like now, I couldn’t tell you. I lost my short-term memory. I remember everything except the game. It’s those 48 minutes that I can’t remember.”
An official in basketball, softball and volleyball as well, staying active won’t be too much of an issue for Watson, who said he took last basketball season off to get himself better prepared for the softball season.
“It’s just amazing how quickly they responded in my situation. Regardless of who it is, the response time I received was tremendous,” Watson said. “I was out. They had to revive me. It only took them 32 seconds to get to me. Even if it’s an injured player on the field, response times are getting so quick.”
PHOTO: Official Willie Watson signals a touchdown during the 2016 MHSAA Division 6 Final at Ford Field.
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.