The best referees in sports, as they say, often go unnoticed. It is only when a perceived or real mistake is made that the spotlight is turned their way.
“When was the last time you watched a professional game, an NFL game or a college game and thought that the refs had done a great job?,” asked Joe Gintoli, the secretary-treasurer of the Fairfield County board of the International Association of Approved Basketball Officials, the governing body for basketball referees.
Next week the local group of over 200 officials will be going out of their way to call attention to themselves.
And no one will be complaining.
For the third straight year, the group will be using pink whistles during all games as part of their promotion of “Blow The Whistle On Cancer,” a national fundraiser.
Working both with the Coaches vs. Cancer Foundation and the American Cancer Society, all the officials will be donating part or all of their pay from games. There will also be pink megaphones at the entrance to each gymnasium for fans to make contributions. Fifteen schools are going to allow their cheerleaders to go into the stands to collect at halftime of games.
“This is a good win for everybody,” said Gintoli, who is the New England representative to the national committee. “Our board does something every year. We do more than blow a whistle.”
Two years ago, the Fairfield County board of IAABO raised $6,000. Last year it raised $7,200. Both times it was the No. 1 board in the country, and Connecticut raised more money than any state.
Gintoli said the county officials have raised around $75,000 through an assortment of endeavors going back to 1991.
Gintoli has worked college games exclusively for the past five years, though he has remained as an administrator on the high school level. He was always considered someone coaches wanted on the court for a big game.
Next week’s events are especially important to Gintoli: he has been a cancer survivor for 19 years.
“This is important for everybody, but it means so much more to me personally,” Gintoli said. “We have had a few members of the board touched by cancer and lost members to cancer.”
While inherently officials in all sports have a thankless task that often makes their relationships with coaches and fans appear adversarial, hopefully next week everyone will follow their lead in this admirable cause.
To get more information or to make a donation, you can contact Gintoli at jgintoli@aol.com
