Title | Division I Men's Basketball Championship First & Second Rounds |
Creator (LCNAF) |
|
Publisher | National Collegiate Athletic Association |
Date | March 15, 1990 - March 17, 1990 |
Subject.Topical (LCSH) |
|
Subject.Name (LCNAF) |
|
Subject.Geographic (TGN) |
|
Genre (AAT) |
|
Language | English |
Type (DCMI) |
|
Original Item Location | ID 2009-006, Box 7, Folder 7 |
Original Collection | Athletics Department Records |
Digital Collection | University of Houston Sports Championship Publications |
Digital Collection URL | http://digital.lib.uh.edu/collection/champ |
Repository | Special Collections, University of Houston Libraries |
Repository URL | http://info.lib.uh.edu/about/campus-libraries-collections/special-collections |
Use and Reproduction | Educational use only, no other permissions given. Copyright to this resource is held by the content creator, author, artist or other entity, and is provided here for educational purposes only. It may not be reproduced or distributed in any format without written permission of the copyright owner. For more information please see UH Digital Library Fair Use policy on the UH Digital Library About page. |
File Name | index.cpd |
Title | Page 51 |
Format (IMT) |
|
File Name | champ_201306_035_050.jpg |
Transcript | Working To Become the Best Ballesteros Raising Refereeing To A Higher Plane Richie Ballesteros is not only one of the most-respected officials in the Pacific-10 Conference, but in the nation as well. By RAY RATTO San Francisco Chronicle It is a rare January night at the Ballesteros home in San Francisco. The entire family is home. Often, one or more of the three kids is out, but because they are all young adults, that is hardly a surprise. What is, though, is that the old man is home for a change. In fact, when you call the house, you are as likely as not to be greeted by a female voice saying, "Hello, Richie's not home." It has been this way for more than 25 years now, ever since Richie Ballesteros first thought that basketball officiating was a pleasant diversion from the burdens of the day. Now that his schedule is pretty much limited to 45 Pacific-10 Conference basketball games and the NCAA championship, he manages to make it home a lot more often than he used to. For much of his officiating career, though, a night at home with his wife Carmen or his family would represent a game somewhere that he was not at, and there were not many of those. Sometimes it was a high school tripleheader, or a seven-games- a-day youth tournament, or three in the evening working the Greek League, or a junior college game that took three times as long to drive to as it did to work. Now, he can laugh about it. "There wasn't much I turned down," he said with a smile. "I'd work anything." Now, the only levels he has not worked are the NBA and the Final Four, and like any official with even an atom's worth of ambition, he desperately wants the latter. He has worked three regional finals, which is the official's version of winning Miss Congeniality at the Miss America pageant. It is a nice honor that nobody remembers. And do not kid yourself with that old bromide about the best officials being unnoticed. Officiating is as much ego as it is technique, judgment or the ability to convince a coach that what he is sure just happened really did not. The best officials want to be noticed, because they want to work the top games, the ones that get you into the championship, and perhaps to the Final Four. Richie Ballesteros wants to be noticed, 50 |