The Ekalaka Eagle - Your Community Builder

As time moved on, I decided I would like to work games other than just at Ekalaka. Individuals who worked sports activities belong to an organization called Montana Officials Association (MOA) and had groups in Miles City and Glendive. I decided to take the basketball test and become a member of the organization. I didn’t pass. After much study with the rule book and a book called the “Case” book, I passed. The “Case” book was a wonderful book that had every kind of situation and problem that could come about as a referee worked games.

I became an MOA member and received a patch to put on my referee shirt.

To receive a rating, refs had to attend a study each week. Of course there wasn’t one in Ekalaka, so I had to travel to Miles City, usually on Tuesday nights. Referees were also rated by coaches and other MOA members.

I would leave the post office after work, grab the lunch made by my wife, and drive 120 miles for the study. Several years later we were able to have the study in Ekalaka. Don Gundlach was one member of the group, others were from Baker. I worked out of both the Miles City and Glendive pools. Officials were assigned games for the season, unless asked ahead of time and scheduled by coaches. In later years, I always had two games at Sidney and Glendive and several in Plevna.

My games took me as far west as Colstrip and Hysham, south to Broadus, north to Wolf Point and Sidney, and east to Rhame, ND.

Thinking back on the Colstrip games, I am reminded that Glen Ausen was the superintendent of schools at this time. Glen was principal at the grade school here in Ekalaka at one time. Some of you surely remember Glen and his wife as your teacher. Colstrip had not arrived at the coal program at that time. It was a small town with a small school.

I would like to share an experience I had on one of those trips back home from a Colstrip game. It was snowing hard. I had dropped off my partner in Miles City and was headed home to Ekalaka. I got quite sleepy just short of Plevna, and woke up suddenly, finding myself going down the ditch scattering sage brush and greenwood. I stopped the car just short of a creek. Fully awake, I drove on home.

The next day Phyl. stopped to see me at the post office. When she came out, the car was in the middle of the street. “Sharkey” Stenseth, who was a mechanic at the time, adjusted the motor and transmission. After that, I made a promise to stay in Miles or Glendive on “sleepy nights.” To say the least, the Lord took care of me that night and at other times.

During some of my later years of working games I had a partner (that’s what they were called) by the name of Ross Major. Ross went to Carter County High School, was a better than average basketball player, graduated in 1964, and attended college in Glendive. He and I were working out of the Glendive pool and were assigned a game at Circle. As we came out on the floor for the game, I heard a gentleman fan make the following statement, referring to a comic strip: “Well it looks like we are going to have Jeff and Mutt tonight.”

Ross was 6’6” tall and I was around 5’5”. Ross lost his life to cancer at a young age— another dear friend so very much missed.

I will now close this referee memories article but will have more to come later.