Payne Game Recalls Official's Legacy
September 9, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
At 4:30 p.m. before the first game of this high school football season, a small group of mid-Michigan officials met at Lansing’s Mount Hope Cemetery.
As has become their tradition, they paid respects to a friend gone too soon, told a few stories, then worked the game in his honor before winding down by rehashing more of the same memories of Tony Payne they recall at the start of each fall.
Payne, a Lansing Harry Hill High School and Ferris State University graduate, served as an MHSAA official for 23 years and also worked in the Big Ten, Mid-American Conference and NFL Europe before dying on April 21, 2006. He was only 44 years old, passing after a lengthy illness.
Each fall since, a group of officials mostly from the Lansing area but representing Jackson and Muskegon as well have gathered to work a “Tony Payne Game,” mostly to honor their friend but also to raise money in his name for a scholarship that could be awarded for the first time next year.
This year’s Payne Game was opening night, Aug. 28, at Haslett as the Vikings took on Walled Lake Central.
“Tony was a mentor to everybody; he pretty much epitomized what we try to do around here,” said Jeff Spedoske, president of the Capital Area Officials Association and one of many who learned under Payne’s tutelage. “When you accomplish something in officiating, get the privilege to be at that level, you try to turn around and help as many behind you as you can. That was him to a T.
“I can’t believe we’ve done it seven years. Every time I see that date that Tony passed, it doesn’t seem really that long ago.”
Joining Spedoske on the crew for this year’s Payne Game were Rob Stanaway, Bruce Keeling, Mark Coscarella, Craig Weirich, Mike Maisner and Tom Minter. That’s generally the group, along with Mike Conlin, who did not work this year’s game but was in attendance. All worked with Payne at some point during their careers, be it at high school games or as a member of his college crews.
Together, they represent a combined 270 years of MHSAA officiating experience, although for a few the Payne Game is the only high school event they work each year. Conlin, Keeling and Maisner in particular remain active officials in the Big Ten, and the other five all have vast experience at higher levels.
But as Spedoske noted, so did Payne – and how he used that knowledge is part of what the crew annually celebrates.
Payne remained an MHSAA registered official through 2004-05, most years for football, basketball and baseball and also once for softball. He officiated six MHSAA Semifinals in either football, girls or boys basketball, and championship games in 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2001.
Conlin recalled a week when he and Payne worked a junior varsity football game at Leslie on a Thursday with two rookies – taking the opportunity to pass on their skills and experience in front of mostly players’ families.
Two days later, Payne officiated a Big Ten game in front of tens of thousands, not counting those catching the game on TV and the radio waves.
Stanaway’s first girls varsity basketball game was with Payne, a last-minute opportunity for the then-newer official. During the ride to the game, Payne quizzed Stanaway on rules, plays and handling people, then continued that support during the game and provided the “most honest and constructive feedback I have ever received” when the game was done, Stanaway said.
Within a couple of days, Stanaway was contacted by his assigner, who had changed all of his sub-varsity games for the rest of the year to varsity games – per Payne’s recommendation.
“Tony had gone out of his way to help me by contacting the person in charge and recommending me for ‘bigger’ games,” Stanaway said. “I thanked Tony over and over, and he only responded by saying that someday I would have the opportunity to help someone else, and when I did, I had better help them along.
“Tony's words are a driving force in my desire to be a part of the Capital Area Officials Association, added Stanaway, who serves as the CAOA co-director of basketball operations. “Tony has been a role model for me in teaching other officials about our avocation and supporting their officiating dreams. As I've watched new officials grow, improve, and achieve their dreams of working their first varsity game, their first tournament assignment, their first State Final or even advance to collegiate opportunities, I thank Tony for showing me not only how to help them, but why to help them.”
Conlin serves as assigner in the Capital Area Activities Conference and sets the game for the crew to work each year in addition to also working it most seasons. He and Payne went back to 1989, and Conlin hasn’t worked high school games regularly since moving to the Division I college level in 2000 – aside from the last few Tony Payne Games.
The CAOA gives a lifetime achievement award each year in honor of Payne, the association’s first treasurer.
“We work hard to keep Tony’s name out front,” Conlin said, “to make sure people don’t forget where he came from.”
While the crew always donates its fees from working the Payne Game to the scholarship fund, the biggest annual boost comes from the Art Don Tony Memorial golf outing at Arbor Hills in Jackson. Proceeds from the annual event will fund scholarships in three officials’ names: Payne’s for a student attending Lansing Community College, late Grand Rapids official Don Edwards’ for a scholarship at Grand Rapids Community College, and late Jackson official Art Willard’s for a scholarship to Jackson Community College. All three died during a two-year stretch.
The CAOA, with an initial donation from Alro Steel founder Al Glick and later contributions from the West Michigan and Jackson associations and crews Payne knew from college levels, has raised $75,000 – enough to make those three $1,000 scholarships endowed – and make it possible those scholarships could be given for the first time next year.
Comparatively, the money raised by the crew working the Tony Payne Game is only a small percentage. But the game is as much for that group of officials to work together in remembering Payne and then meeting together after at whoever’s house is closest to unwind and remember some more.
“It’s easily the most important game on my schedule in the fall, for me personally, and it’s fun to be able to work with those guys once a year,” Spedoske said.
“After the game we end up at somebody’s house, and that’s kinda what it’s all about. We end up telling a lot of the same stories over and over. It’s about remembering Tony and the times we had on the field and off the field with him, and keeping his memory alive.”
PHOTOS: (Top) The crew for this season’s Tony Payne Game at Haslett lines up for the National Anthem, in order from left: Rob Stanaway, Bruce Keeling, Jeff Spedoske, Mark Coscarella, Craig Weirich, Mike Maisner and Tom Minter. (Middle) Craig Weirich signals between plays. (Below) Tony Payne officiates a basketball during his career that stretched more than two decades.
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.)