Officials Honored for Service Milestones
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
June 25, 2020
The MHSAA annually honors high school game officials with 20, 30, 40, 45 and 50 years of service at its Officials’ Awards & Alumni Banquet.
However, this spring’s banquet was canceled due to COVID-19. Instead, we present this virtual recognition for 322 officials who celebrated a milestone school year.
Twenty-three officials with 50 years of service are honored below, along with 55 officials with 45 years. A 40-year award has been presented to 55 officials. In addition, 108 officials with 30 years and 181 officials with 20 years of experience are honored.
Be the Referee: Football Rules Changes
August 23, 2018
In this week's edition, assistant director Brent Rice discusses a pair of rules changes coming to high school football this fall.
Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.
Below is this week's segment – Football Rules Changes - Listen
The biggest rules changes in high school football across the country this year involve player safety.
When any required player equipment is missing or worn improperly, an official's time-out shall be declared, and the player must come out of the game for one down. This includes players not wearing knee or thigh pads or rolling their pant legs up over their knees and equipment such as shoulder pads or back pads being exposed.
The other change continues to hone the definition of a defenseless player, this time affecting the quarterback once he has thrown the ball and becomes a passer. Until that time, he is defined as a runner. As a passer, he continues to be defenseless until the pass ends or he moves to participate in the play.
The penalty for hitting a defenseless player is 15 yards.