'Officiate Michigan Day' Welcomes 1,200
July 27, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
GRAND RAPIDS – April Martin aspires to move up the college basketball officiating ladder. Receiving an NCAA Tournament assignment someday is a dream.
So she spent the first half of Saturday's "Officiate Michigan Day" at DeVos Place in Grand Rapids receiving tips and learning what it takes to get to the top from two of the most respected referees in her field -- NBA Finals veterans Joe Crawford and Bill Kennedy.
Crawford and Kennedy were two of more than 40 officials representing the professional, college and high school levels who passed on their expertise to Martin and a total of 1,248 officials who attended Saturday's event, believed to be one of the largest gatherings of sports officials in U.S. history.
Officiate Michigan Day was a cooperative effort by the National Association of Sports Officials and Michigan High School Athletic Association in advance of the NASO annual summit, which kicks off Sunday in Grand Rapids.
"It's just a great day to be a Michigan official," said Martin, a 1997 Detroit Renaissance grad who currently officiates at the high school, junior college, NAIA and NCAA Division III levels. "Seeing your family, which is referees, … it was great seeing everyone here just knowing that everyone is trying to get something out of this day."
Officials from all corners of both peninsulas received the opportunity to learn and interact on a variety of topics and with a variety of officials regarded at the top of their respective fields in Michigan and in some cases nationally.
Sport-specific sessions provided training for officials working in baseball, basketball, competitive cheer, football, gymnastics, lacrosse, ice hockey, soccer, softball, track & field, volleyball and wrestling. Joining Crawford and Kennedy among the best-known instructors and speakers were NCAA National Coordinator of Volleyball Officials Joan Powell, National Hockey League Senior Vice President and Director of Officiating Terry Gregson and official Dan O’Halloran, and National Football League officials Perry Paganelli, Carl Paganelli, Jr., and Dino Paganelli.
All three Paganellis have officiated Super Bowls, and O’Halloran is coming off working his fourth straight Stanley Cup Final. Crawford and Kennedy both officiated during the recent NBA Finals, and Powell also served as team leader of the U.S. women’s national volleyball team that won the silver medal at the 2008 Olympics.
MHSAA Executive Director John E. “Jack” Roberts and Barry Mano, founder and president of NASO, gave the opening address to a packed DeVos Center ballroom. Four-time Super Bowl official Jerry Markbreit addressed the entire group to close the afternoon.
"I hope you appreciate what you got here today," said Bill Topp, a presenter Saturday and vice president of publishing and management services for NASO and Referee magazine. "It's not just about the volume of people. It's the types of people you have here and the interaction that's going on and the fact that you've got sports talking to each other where they normally don't talk."
Martin learned but also taught. She sat on the "Officiating 101" panel that discussed issues for new officials, one of 13 lunchtime workshops on topics ranging from life in the NBA to female officials recruitment to outside views on high school officiating.
Marquette's Mark Petrie was one of a small group of officials who made the trip from the Upper Peninsula, and he spent his lunch hour listening to a round table discussion on "Making Good Associations Great." An MHSAA official since 1993, he's the trainer for volleyball for the Upper Peninsula Officials Association.
"It's an opportunity to get together with fellow officials, but more importantly an opportunity to learn and grow as an official," Petrie said. "The day any of us thinks we know everything is the day we should retire."
Commonality was a theme throughout the inaugural Michigan day, with presenters sharing mechanics and strategies that apply at every level of athletics. Equally emphasized was the responsibility of officials to take what they learned back to their local colleagues while working to recruit new officials to the ranks.
"This is pretty unique in that we have this many officials, both men and women, coming together in one place. We have a common theme to improve officiating and to make it consistent at the high school level," said DeWitt's Mike Brya, a high school official since 1995.
"I want to first off be a better official, but also to help our association. To help our officials, help our younger officials, and try to give back as much as I can.
NASO reported on its website that only Georgia's officiating day in 2011, with 1,600 participants, has outdrawn Michigan for a similar event.
PHOTOS: (Top) Clockwise from top left, Joan Powell, Joe Crawford and Bill Kennedy were among speakers at Saturday’s “Officiate Michigan Day.” (Middle) Cheer officials Candy Cox (left) and Stacy Smith present during a breakout session. Click to see more photos from Saturday's event.
Former Cardinal Mooney Coach Earns Breslin Return as Official
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
March 31, 2022
Jim McAndrews felt anxious and excited both times he was on the floor during basketball Finals weekend at the Breslin Center.
But those feelings were a bit different as an assistant coach at Marine City Cardinal Mooney in 2010 than they were as a referee this year.
“It was different because I was worried about myself (as a referee) versus having to worry about high school kids and not making a mistake to screw it up for them (as a coach),” McAndrews said. “This was a little less pressure than that. With refereeing, you kind of just worry about yourself.”
McAndrews served as the head official in the Division 2 Girls Semifinal between Grand Rapids West Catholic and Detroit Country Day on March 18. That Breslin appearance came 12 years after he was an assistant for his brother, Mike McAndrews, during Mooney’s runner-up run in Class D boys in 2010.
He also coached with his sister, Susan Everhart, who led the Mooney girls to the Semifinals in 2008 and a runner-up finish in 2009. Those tournaments ended at Eastern Michigan University, but all of them gave him a rare look at the experience from two very different angles.
“I wasn’t walking in blindly,” McAndrew said. “I think what helps me in my officiating duties is having been there and knowing what the coaches are expecting and what they need. I think that helps me to communicate things to them. Being (at Breslin as a coach) and seeing that helped.”
McAndrews has been reffing since leaving his brother’s staff in 2011. That ended a long run in coaching which started in 1989 when he was an assistant coach at Mooney under Dave Jackson. After one season in that role, he took over the program and coached the Cardinals for a decade. That included coaching his brother, who he would later coach with for another eight years.
It didn’t even take a full season for him to get back on the court, albeit in a different role, after leaving the coaching ranks.
“I missed the game,” Jim McAndrews said. “Refereeing gives you an opportunity to get your competitive juices going a little bit. You get a little exercise, and the relationships you get to make are amazing. There’s nothing like being in the gym and talking hoops with other like-minded people: junkies. Basketball junkies. It’s a community, and it’s a really good community. We all want good stuff for the kids, and we want to help out. Plus, I enjoy seeing the local talent.”
McAndrews, whose full-time job is in automotive supply sales, refs mostly in the Metro Detroit area and the Thumb, working games in the Catholic League, Macomb Area Conference and Blue Water Area Conference.
Being a referee has not only allowed him to stay in the game and the high school basketball community, but it’s also introduced him to new people who have the same love for the game.
“This community really is special,” he said. “We’re not in it to get rich. We’re in it because we’re passionate about the game.”
This year’s Semifinal was his first, and he was joined on the court by Jerry Armstrong and Douglas Richardson. It was the trio’s first time together.
“That can be part of the challenge,” McAndrews said. “You have to be able to adapt to other people’s way of doing things that you’ve never met before. That’s part of it. It’s about officiating the game as well as challenging yourself.”
Another challenge of refereeing during Finals weekend is the increase of eyes on the game, and the extra pressure that can bring.
“In this particular case, it was my first time (reffing) on TV,” McAndrews said. “There’s commentators with replays, and there are different responsibilities in regard to timeouts. There was a little anxiety. I said to my partners that I’m just going to try to smile, be in the moment and enjoy it, because it’s been a crazy couple years. But your peers are watching, other referees are watching, and they’ll let you know if you miss something.”
The game went off without any issues, and the experience ended up being even better than McAndrews expected, as his kids were able to be on the court with him.
“It was fantastic,” he said. “I can’t think of a better word for it. My family was able to get involved, and we had first-class accommodations. My kids were able to be the ball boy and the water guy for me, so this wasn’t just for me. We were very appreciative of it all, and it was really, really fun.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Jim McAndrews works this season’s Division 2 Semifinals between Grand Rapids West Catholic and Detroit Country Day. (Middle) McAndrews, kneeling lower left, serves as an assistant coach during Cardinal Mooney’s run to Breslin in 2010. (Top photo by Hockey Weekly Action Photos; middle courtesy the McAndrews family.)