Rice Brings Officials Expertise to MHSAA
August 2, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Before starting down the path toward becoming one of the nation’s most respected trainers of baseball umpires, Brent Rice was a student at small-town Concord High School who didn’t have to put much effort into succeeding academically.
But he received a challenge that has continued serving him along the way.
It came from one of his high school coaches, who said he’d go to bat for the then-senior leaving school early to begin attending the prestigious Harry Wendelstedt Umpire School in Ormond Beach, Florida. But first, Rice would have to show the higher level of effort and commitment it would take to succeed on his quest to become a professional official.
That nudge from high school sports drove Rice’s surge into officiating, and also remained with him as he decided to come home and serve Michigan’s high schools – with nearly two decades of teaching and training experience to guide him as an assistant director for the Michigan High School Athletic Association.
Rice, who went on to umpire minor league baseball for 12 years and become administrative director and chief of instruction for the Wendelstedt school, has been named to an MHSAA assistant director’s position, effective August 13. He will be charged with supervising the nearly 10,000 registered officials in all sports and also serve as the MHSAA’s director of baseball and assist with softball.
“I went to a small school, and I learned a lot of life lessons through that and I want to be able to give back,” Rice said. “It’s where I got my start, and where I want to finish up.”
The Wendelstedt school is the most highly-attended professional umpire school in the world, and Rice has served as chief of instruction since Sept. 2000 while adding responsibilities as administrative director in Jan. 2005. Rice also umpired at various levels of minor league baseball from 2000-12, including as a crew chief, and has directed or contributed to training publications referred to by thousands of professional umpires worldwide.
Rice, 36, graduated from Concord High School in 2000 and has a bachelor’s degree from Western Michigan University. He began attending Wendelstedt as a student while a senior at Concord and currently umpires at the Division I college level in the Big Ten and Atlantic Coast Conference. He moved to Battle Creek from New Orleans four years ago, and since returning to this state has been registered as an MHSAA official for baseball, volleyball and 11 and 8-player football, working as part of a regular football crew.
He was selected for the assistant director position from a pool of nearly 70 applicants.
"Brent Rice has devoted his career to preparing the next generations of officials, and he will provide great expertise in growing our efforts to recruit, retain and train officials in all of our sports," said newly-appointed MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl, who formerly served as assistant director and the association's coordinator of officials. "He is a national leader in teaching and training and has been a much sought-after speaker and clinician for many years, yet brings knowledge and passion for Michigan and educational athletics.
“His experience, work ethic and relationship-building skills will make him a valuable addition to the MHSAA staff."
Rice will draw on nearly two decades of experience in administration and rules interpretation in addition to his on-field umpiring experience.
While at Wendelstedt, Rice supervised 30 Minor and Major League Baseball instructors and developed the curriculum for training future professional umpires. He led the day-to-day operations of the program, and also presented daily classroom lectures on rules and directed staff demonstrations of field mechanics.
As the school’s administrative director, Rice was responsible for maintaining registration and enrollment records and developing programs to increase enrollment. Among his successful initiatives were recruiting programs that focused on engaging college student-athletes and military veterans.
He has directed the design, composition and annual revision of the school’s Official Baseball Rules and Interpretation Manual, the go-to source for umpires at all levels across the country and internationally. Rice also is a regular contributor to officiating publications and in the production of video training packages, and has been commissioned to rewrite the Official Baseball Rules manual used at all levels of the professional game.
Additionally, Rice has worked with both Minor League and Major League Baseball to develop various protocols and has served as a consultant for the Chinese Professional Baseball League, Korean Baseball Organization and the summer collegiate Northwoods League, as well as USA Fencing.
One area Rice would like to start work on immediately at the MHSAA revolves around tackling poor sportsmanship – a main factor driving officials away from the avocation.
Rice doesn’t see recruiting officials as the most difficult part of bolstering the MHSAA’s ranks; it’s retaining them.
“For me, the challenge is to try to find incentives outside of the box in some way … find other things to bring them along, make them feel supported and ultimately stay with you,” Rice said.
Rice played football and baseball as a student at Concord. He is working toward a master’s degree in public administration to go with his bachelor’s from WMU in political science and sociology. He and his wife Jenna have two daughters.
PHOTOS: (Top) Brent Rice, left, instructs an umpire during a drill at the Wendelstedt Umpire School. (Middle) Rice, far left, speaks to a group of students under his supervision. (Photos courtesy of Wendelstedt Umpire School.)
Reeb, Officiating Crew Dedicated to Helping Make Island Games Go
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
January 8, 2022
High school sports officials are quite familiar with the phrase, “They can’t play the game without you.”
Athletic Directors are even more familiar with it. They live it. They believe it. Covering the multitude of interscholastic contests is quite daunting for mainland Michigan ADs.
School officials on Mackinac Island and Beaver Island have an even bigger task.
That’s where Dave Reeb comes in. He’s been officiating volleyball and basketball for as long as folks can remember.
Without Reeb, 73 years young, and his partners, the island athletes simply wouldn’t be able to play the game.
“For many years Dave has organized getting refs over to the Island for our volleyball and basketball programs,” said Kerry Smith, Beaver Island AD. “He always makes sure we have someone here.
“Especially at a time when refs are hard to find, he always comes through for us.”
Reeb would have been at Mackinac Island this weekend with Glen McIntyre to officiate a boys basketball Northern Lights Conference game between the Lakers and Munising Baptist. COVID-19 challenges caused the visitors to cancel the Friday evening and Saturday morning contests.
McIntyre is currently registered for basketball, volleyball and softball with MHSAA. He began officiating in 1979. He got into volleyball a few years ago He’s scheduled to go with Reeb to Mackinac Island again Feb. 11 and to Beaver Island Feb. 18.
In the meantime, Reeb will take advantage of the weekend off and travel to Perry with his wife, Linda, to watch one of his grandsons play middle school basketball. It should be easy traveling as compared with journeying to Mackinac and Beaver.
Boat, airline and sometimes snowmobiles are offered by the schools to get Reeb and his partners over from the mainland and to the school. Reeb lives in the Inland Lakes area, as do many of his partners.
During his early days of going to the islands, Reeb flew out of Petoskey with his former referee partner Randy Sagante in a private plane actually piloted by Sagante. The two of them were dubbed “The Flying Referees” by a local reporter.
Chartered flights have been the most common mode Reeb and other referees have used to get to both islands.
“With Mackinac, you never know,” said Reeb, a 30-year volleyball and 20-year basketball veteran. “When you go over there on the ice crusher … it’s been fun too.”
Reeb’s next island game is at Beaver Island on Jan. 14. Steve Hines, formerly the longtime girls basketball coach at East Jordan, will be taking his first trip to officiate the Islanders with Reeb. They are scheduled to fly out of the Charlevoix Airport.
Hines has officiated volleyball with Reeb and has been to Mackinac Island once for volleyball. They’ve done basketball games together previously on the mainland.
“When I exited coaching, I decided to give officiating a shot,” Hines said. “I am looking forward to going with Dave.”
Hines is a shiny example of what school administrators love about Reeb. He always comes through with a partner so kids can play the game
“Every time, yep,” Hines said of Reeb.
Amy Peterson, who is now in her second year as superintendent, principal and athletic director for Mackinac Island, is glad she met Reeb shortly after starting on the Lake Huron island. She had been involved in athletics in her previous job at Houghton Lake but only as a parent of school athletes.
Reeb had been coming to Mackinac Island long before she arrived.
“I got to know Dave last year right when I got here,” Peterson said. “One thing about Dave is he is either here himself to help or he knows a whole lot of people who can.
“Being new to this area and the athletic part, he was really helpful.”
Another example of getting officials to the islands is Reeb’s grandson, Jacob. He went to Beaver Island in 2018 and 2019 to referee both volleyball and basketball with his grandfather.
“After we’d get done, he’d stick around and shoot baskets with the teams,” Reeb said. “They got to know him.
“It was fun for him. It was a connection for him too.”
It isn’t just his just his abilities to get officials nor his officiating skills that stand out for Reeb on the Lake Michigan island though.
“Dave is not only a ref but a friend to our community,” Smith said. “He genuinely cares about the kids and community here.
“He is an amazing asset to our school and the other schools he serves all over Northern Michigan,” Smith continued. “Dave is one of a kind, and we truly appreciate his commitment and dedication to BICS.”
Smith noted Reeb has had a significant impact on student-athletes over the years.
“The kids and parents know him well,” she said. “He goes out of his way to help kids improve skills as well as help new coaches.
“He always has a smile and a kind of easy-going demeanor,” she continued. “Everyone knows Dave, and we will keep him coming back to the island for as long as he wants to ref.”
Reeb has enjoyed the relationships, too, just as he did during his career as an educator with the Inland Lake schools.
“It is great to see the students progress year to year,” he said. “Now I am seeing some of their kids coming through, just like I did at Inland Lakes.
“Some of the fans have been enjoyable … you see them again and again,” he added. “I have really, really enjoyed it, and it helps the schools.”
Retired Beaver Island volleyball coach Connie Boyle indicated Reed was much more than a referee. She was impressed with Reeb’s commitment and saw him as a mentor, coach and a friend to many of the visiting coaches, as well as visiting and island athletes.
“When you ref on the island, it is a huge time commitment because you need to be at Island Airways in Charlevoix for your flight by 4:30 and you will ref basketball and volleyball games that night, as well as first thing in the morning, which means you won't leave the island until 1 o’clock the next day,” she said. “You can always count on Dave to do an impeccable job during the game.”
Boyle is one of many who noted the specialness and frequency of which Reeb and his wife Linda made quilts and presented them as gifts.
“Occasionally he gifts a senior one of his very special quilts, which are truly amazing and cherished by the girls,” Boyle said. “Because if Dave Reeb thinks you're a special player and person, you stand even a little taller.”
Boyle’ s daughter Caitlin, who died last year after battling a brain tumor, received a quilt from the Reebs. She was part of the Islanders Class of 2009.
Tom Frick, now retired, was a teacher at Mackinac Island and Inland Lake schools. He refereed volleyball and basketball for nine years. He was yet another example of Reeb finding referees to help.
“One day we were talking and he said, ‘Get your stuff, and we’ll do it’ - so I did,” Frick recalled. “We went over there four or five years.
“He was very committed to the those people on the islands,” Frick continued. “They really enjoyed him.”
Weather often interferes with getting on and off the islands. Reeb has never taken the two-hour ferry ride from Charlevoix to Beaver, counting on the plane ride. He has been on the much shorter ferry ride to Mackinac.
For the most part, the flights to the islands have been fine, the officials noted. Only once on each Island did Reeb get “stranded” while refereeing the Lakers and Islanders. He and his partner had to spend another night waiting for the weather to clear for a flight back to the mainland.
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Official Dave Reeb counts off an inbound during a basketball game at Beaver Island. (2) Former longtime official Morris Porter monitors the action as Caitlin Boyle sets during a 2008 match. (3) From left, Reeb, Gerald LaFreniere, referee Jerry Cook and Rick Speck talk things over at the scorer’s table. (4). From left, former official Randy Sagante with Beaver Island athletes Heather McDonough (11), Deven Cook (15), former volleyball coach Connie Boyle, Caitlin Boyle (14), Maeve Green (6) and Reeb. The four athletes were seniors in 2008-09. (Basketball photos courtesy of Beaver Island News on the ‘Net; volleyball photos courtesy of Frank Solle.)