Grand Blanc Senior Joins Officials 'Legacy'
February 15, 2017
By Lisa Paine
Swartz Creek View
HARTLAND – Michigan, not unlike most other states across the nation, is struggling with a shortage of officials for junior high and high school sports. Steve Tannar, the Kensington Lakes Activities Association assigner, says locally that Michigan High School Athletic Association registered officials are down by one third.
Looking to stem the tide, the MHSAA is reaching out to high school juniors and seniors through its Legacy Officials Program.
Jason Caine, a Grand Blanc senior, is working with his veteran partner, Shawn Waterman. Caine said he came across the program through an online application and “just wanted to give it a try.”
“I attended a clinic at Goodrich High, just the basics, and it just took off after that,” said Caine. “After the clinic I attended Rules School and the Genesee County Officials Association (GCOA). Through that, I got partnered with Shawn Waterman (a veteran MHSAA official). They mentor us and show us the basics.”
Caine is also being mentored by eight-year MHSAA official and former coach Brian Morley of Grand Blanc. Caine, who played freshman and junior varsity baseball at Grand Blanc, said he’s not a typical multi-sport athlete.
“I’m a DECA Officer at Grand Blanc,” explained Caine. “It’s a business club that presents their businesses to potential investors. Officiating is a side hobby that I want to pursue. Next year I plan on attending college and with officiating, I can take that with me wherever I go.”
Tannar said the ultimate goal of the Legacy program is to get the word out to recruit more teens like Caine.
“The main reason we are looking to grow our officials program is because we have such an officiating shortage all over the country,” said Tannar. “Not many of us are under the age of 40. The average age of our officials is mid to upper 50s. If we don’t recruit and get them working now, we’re going to be faced with a shortage of officials.”
“It really began when they switched girls basketball (to winter) and everyone tries to play triple headers on Tuesday and Friday,” explained Tannar. “I need 42 officials in one night to fill the six schools I assign for the KLAA.”
Tannar noted that in 2012 the GCOA qualified 125 officials to work in MHSAA tournaments. This year that number dropped to 84.
“Mentoring the rookie officials such as Caine is a big responsibility," said Morley, who is one of three officiating trainers in the area. He’s been officiating in the Saginaw Valley League, Flint Metro League, Genesee Area Conference and KLAA.
“This year we were in an ad for the MHSAA, and Jason was one that responded. He was looking for something other than working at McDonald’s. I told him the MHSAA has a program in place to train officials,” said Morley, who found his own path to the MHSAA officials program as an adult.
Morley also spoke to the number of officials needed.
“We figured for the Saginaw Valley plus the Thumb area and into where Steve is (KLAA), somewhere between 300 and 400 officials are needed on a given Tuesday or Friday,” Morley said.
Officiating isn’t easy, as it’s about more than just calling the games, noted Tannar.
“The number one reason for quitting officiating is the fans and their reactions, not the coaches or players,” Tannar said.
Mark Uyl, assistant director for the MHSAA and its coordinator for officials, echoed that. He’s seen the profession take its hits over the past five years.
“The biggest challenge in officiating is it’s a thankless job,” Uyl said. “We are expected to be perfect on our first day. But you can’t play without officials, so our culture needs to rethink how we are acting as fans in the athletic arena. We are in an angrier society right now and until that trend reverses itself, we face that challenge.”
“So much of officiating is handling people, managing emotions. If we can keep getting people of all ages interested in our officiating program, we can continue to put quality officials at all levels of games – youth sports, junior high through high school and into the college games,” Uyl said.
The fans were one of Caine’s first concerns.
“It was a little nervy at first, but when I got up there, Shawn was a great partner and assured me everything was OK no matter what the outcome,” said Caine. “My background at the clinics and Rules School gave me the confidence.”
Morley explained the importance of teaming up rookies with veterans.
“That’s why this training is so important. If Jason and these others didn’t have us to learn from, lean on, fans can be brutal. Part of our training is how to combat or ignore the angry fans and block that out and do what we need to do in these games. Our job is protect our rookies in their first couple of years to help everyone handle the heat of the moment. We can’t lose someone because of the ugliness that often goes on around us,” said Morley.
The money isn’t bad either. Morley and Uyl said refs can pick up anywhere from $35 to $65 on any given night.
"Many don’t realize how good the money is in officiating,” said Uyl. “After school jobs are $9-10 dollars an hour. (Officiating), they can make $35 in one game.
Tannar said the plan is to turn up recruiting another couple of notches into the next year.
“Next year we want to get into the schools and do a presentation to an all-level program at every school. If I can get one or two kids, that gets us 40 new officials.”
Uyl is grandfathering in Legacy Official students for free, saving them money on the typical registration fees.
More clinics are planned for the Legacy Officials program in the spring and fall of 2017.
This story originally appeared in the Dec. 29, 2016, edition of the Swartz Creek View and is reprinted with permission.
PHOTOS: (Top) Veteran official Shawn Waterman (left) stands with Grand Blanc senior Jason Caine during Caine's first game as an MHSAA referee Nov. 30. (Middle) Caine monitors the action during the junior high game in Hartland. (Photos courtesy of Steve Tannar.)
Minter's Contributions Worth a Mint
April 9, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Tom Minter admits his wife Linda knows the spiel well. She's been hearing it spun for years.
The recently-retired MHSAA assistant director might be chatting up a recent grad at his or her high school open house, or talking with a former athlete whose playing days are done but love for a sport hasn't waned.
“When I recruit officials, I tell them, ‘Hey, you can stay in a game you know something about. It’s good exercise. You stay with the kids, who help keep you young, and it’s one of the few hobbies that pays you,’” Minter said.
He knows all to be true after 48 years running the fields and courts of Michigan’s high schools, and more than a half-century total as a referee and umpire who worked his most recent girls soccer game just a few days ago in Ovid-Elsie.
Minter, an official for nine MHSAA Finals and longtime clinician and trainer of referees and umpires all over the state, has been selected to receive the MHSAA’s Vern L. Norris Award for 2013.
The Norris Award is presented annually to a veteran official who has been active in a local officials association, has mentored other officials, and has been involved in officials’ education. It is named for Vern L. Norris, who served as executive director of the MHSAA from 1978-86 and was well-respected by officials on the state and national levels. Minter will be honored at the Officials’ Awards & Alumni Banquet on May 4 at the Kellogg Center in East Lansing.
Minter also worked at the MHSAA’s home office from September 1995 through January 2012 and so knows or is familiar with just about every Norris winner before him – making this award extra meaningful.
While the desire to remain part of the games after his playing career ended led to Minter’s early involvement, the opportunity to pass on what he’s learned keeps him immersed in the officiating community.
“Hopefully now I’m able to pass some of this on and to encourage, provide the listening ear like people provided to me in the past,” Minter said. “It’s created in me a sense of legacy.
“To be in the company of people like Vern Norris and Dick Kalahar and all the other winners, it’s just the recognition that you’ve made a contribution. That is so satisfying.”
Minter began his officiating career while a student at a U.S. Air Force base high school overseas. Natives of Akron, Ohio, the family followed Minter’s father – who worked for Goodyear Tires – to Scotland in 1958.
Minter played mostly baseball to that point, and didn’t know much about the pastime of his new home – soccer. But on suggestion of his physical education teacher – who also had played pro soccer – Minter took up officiating the sport to fast-forward his education in the game.
Minter refereed his first high school soccer game in 1961, and played at the high school and college levels. After also officiating for a year in Ohio, Minter began officiating in Michigan while a student at Jackson Community College. He graduated from Jackson Community College in 1966 and Michigan State University in 1971, and also served a stint with the U.S. Army.
Minter has worked games in football, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer and baseball and has served as an officials assignor both at the high school and college levels; he currently is secretary for the Greater Lansing Area Soccer Officials Association. He worked five baseball MHSAA Finals, two football and one each in boys and girls soccer before joining the MHSAA staff in 1995 as the selection from nearly 200 candidates for his position.
As part of the announcement that Minter would be joining the staff as assistant to executive director John E. “Jack” Roberts, Roberts compared Minter to a versatile running back – capable of handling a variety of in-office obligations while also able to ‘bounce to the outside’ and assist with administration of sport services to member schools.
Among many contributions as an MHSAA employee, Minter was assistant director in charge of boys and girls soccer and oversaw construction of the MHSAA’s home office, which opened in December 1996. Although retired, he remains a versatile contributor providing assistance to the MHSAA in East Lansing and high school athletics on a national level.
“Tom Minter continues to help with capital improvement projects at the MHSAA office, and he continues to represent the National Federation (NFHS) Officials Association on its Sports Medicine Advisory Committee,” Roberts said. “His many contributions to high school athletics, and especially officiating, continue to be far-reaching. We are delighted to recognize Tom Minter with the Vern L. Norris Award.”
Minter came to the MHSAA after serving as Meridian Township Treasurer for 19 years and also as a volunteer fireman for that community, which includes Haslett and Okemos. Minter was an Ingham County commissioner for six years and served on Meridian Township’s planning commission and zoning board of appeals, and has been a member of the Haslett/Okemos Rotary Club for 36 years – including as its president in 1985-86.
He currently serves as chairperson of the Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness, Health and Sports, a 15-member body established in 1992 that promotes the increase of physical activity and improvement of health for Michigan residents. He was first appointed in February 2012 and serves with Kalamazoo’s Ron Winter, a friend going back to their days at MSU and a current referee in the National Football League.
Minter also continues to work as a Big Ten football replay official and observer of officials for the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference – for which he served as an on-field official for 25 seasons including eight as crew chief. He also worked in the Mid-American Conference and Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association.
All allow him to provide a wealth of knowledge to those continuing to hone the officiating craft – especially when it comes to tangible aspects like rules, mechanics and the like.
But working for the MHSAA fulltime gave Minter a unique perspective on the intangibles of officiating at the high school level – like keeping in perspective that athletes are high school students, enjoying athletics as part of the education process.
The value of providing such mentoring will be a significant part of his brief acceptance speech May 4.
“We’re all here because we worked 20, 30, 40, 45, 50 years. What are we doing to ensure our replacements?” Minter said. “That’s what we have to do, to ensure that we leave a replacement.”
High school game officials with 20, 30, 40, 45 and 50 years of service also will be honored at the Officials’ Awards & Alumni Banquet on May 4. Tickets for the banquet are available to the public and priced at $20. They will not be sold at the door. Tickets can be ordered by calling the MHSAA office at (517) 332-5046 or by sending the order form available at this link.
Previous recipients of the Norris Award
1992 – Ted Wilson, East Detroit
1993 – Fred Briggs, Burton
1994 – Joe Brodie, Flat Rock
1995 – Jim Massar, Flint
1996 – Jim Lamoreaux, St. Ignace
1997 – Ken Myllyla, Escanaba
1998 – Blake Hagman, Kalamazoo
1999 – Richard Kalahar, Jackson
2000 – Barb Beckett, Traverse City; Karl Newingham, Bay City
2001 – Herb Lipschultz, Kalamazoo
2002 – Robert Scholie, Hancock
2003 – Ron Nagy, Hazel Park
2004 – Carl Van Heck, Grand Rapids
2005 – Bruce Moss, Alma
2006 – Jeanne Skinner, Grand Rapids
2007 – Terry Wakeley, Grayling
2008 – Will Lynch, Honor
2009 – James Danhoff, Richland
2010 – John Juday Sr., Petoskey
2011 – Robert Williams, Redford
2012 – Lyle Berry, Rockford
PHOTOS: (Top) Longtime official Tom Minter signals a score during a 2010 football game. (Middle) Minter awards Williamston girls soccer coach Jim Flore an MHSAA runner-up trophy in 2010.