(Editor’s Note:  This story appeared in Southern Illinois Sports Connection Magazine in 2009 and highlighted a retired and veteran Southern Illinois basketball official, Ernie Reynolds, who officiated games in different era as opposed to a new official, Cory Hastings, who was just beginning.  Ernie Reynolds died this week at the age of 87.  Our condolences and prayers to his family.)

 

Ernie Reynolds worked for more than 25 years as a high school basketball official in Southern Illinois and helped chart a path for today’s referees

 

By Jim Muir

It takes only a brief conversation with 82-year-old Ernie Reynolds to figure out that, even though he officiated his last sporting event more than 35 years ago, he still holds a deep love, and maybe more importantly, great respect for Southern Illinois high school basketball.

“I can truly say that I got back a lot more than I gave,” said Reynolds. “Basketball has been very good to me and provided me with some great memories.”

A Carterville native, Reynolds began his basketball officiating career in 1948 and worked a full slate of games through the 1972-73 season. During his career he worked five state tournaments (1960, 1961, 1962, 1963 and 1968) and also officiated two state championship games (1961 Collinsville vs. Thornton-Harvey and 1968 Evanston vs. Galesburg).

A lifelong member of the Egyptian Officials’ Association, Reynolds holds the distinction of calling the final high school state tournament game at Huff Gymnasium in 1962 and the first high school state tournament game at Assembly Hall in 1963. Reynolds recalled that he was asked by the executive director of the IHSA what he thought the first time he walked on the floor at the mammoth and brand-spanking new Assembly Hall at Champaign.

“I told him I didn’t have any idea what it was going to be like for high school basketball,” Reynolds said. “But, I said it would sure hold a lot of shelled corn.”

Reynolds was asked, both as a spectator and an official, what basketball has meant to him.

“Well, let me put it like this, the best thing that ever happened to me is that I married a good woman and I’ve got a great family,” said Reynolds. “But, after that, officiating basketball is one of the greatest things that has happened to me in my lifetime and it’s meant more to me than I can explain. I wouldn’t trade anything for the experience. I had the opportunity to work for some of the greatest coaches ever in Southern Illinois and also referee the games of some of the greatest players. And on top of that I’ve met some great people and made some wonderful friends.”

Reynolds worked during the era of two-man officiating crews and teamed almost exclusively with the late Wayne Bollinger, but also mentioned other officials of that era that he worked with on a regular basis including Ernie Driggers, Ford Peebles, Robert Blondi, Sr. and Claude Rhodes.

“Wayne and I worked so much together that we pretty much knew what the other one was going to do before he did it,” said Reynolds.

When asked to name some of the coaches that stand out to him Reynolds reeled off a list of names that reads like a who’s who in the coaching ranks, a list that included Lee Cabutti, Stan Changnon, Rich Herrin, Ron Herrin, John Cherry, Bob Dallas, Virgil Fletcher, Doc Bencini, Arthur Trout and Noble Thomas. Players that stand out in Reynolds mind includes Rich Yunkus and Danny Johnson (Benton), Jim Gauldoni and John Tidwell (Herrin), Greg Starrick (Marion), Billy Perkins and Peaches Laster (Carbondale) and the entire 1957 Herrin Tigers team that captured a state championship.

“I covered a bunch of their games that year,” said Reynolds. “They were just a sound team that did not make mistakes.”

Reynolds also worked the first state tournament where officials were allowed to wear short sleeve shirts – quite an innovative step at the time he said.

“It was in 1961 and it was quite a big deal when the IHSA finally let us start wearing short sleeve shirts,” said Reynolds. “I remember that it had to be consistent across the board, everybody had to wear short sleeves or nobody. I think it made it much better for officials.”

Reynolds was asked how he dealt with irate coaches or players who felt he had missed a call.

“I could count the technical fouls I gave on one hand,” said Reynolds. “I figure if you know the rules, work hard and know how to talk to coaches and players you won’t have to hand out technical fouls.”

However, one ‘T’ does stand out in Reynolds mind and he assessed it against then-Carbondale coach John Cherry, a person that he called “a close personal friend.”

“He’s still my close friend,” Reynolds said.

But during a game at the Carbondale Holiday Tournament in the late 1960s the fact that the two men were friends might not have been on display.

“John had a good team that year and he kept telling me the entire game that the other team was playing rough and fouling his big man,” recalled Reynolds. “I told him I didn’t think his big man was being fouled and he told me again that he wanted me to call something and I told him that I’d call something if I saw it. John looked at me and said, ‘if you’re not going to call anything why don’t you just call a technical on me. I said, ‘John, you don’t want that,’ and he said, ‘call at ‘T’ on me.’ I think he just wanted to see if I had the guts to do it, so I popped him and didn’t leave any doubt about it.”

Reynolds said the game concluded without incident but when he was changing clothes he heard a knock on the dressing room door.

“It was John, who is a real gentleman, and he stuck out his hand and told me he was sorry,” said Reynolds. “We shook hands and I accepted his apology, but I told him to make sure the next time he asks for a technical that he really wants one.”

Reynolds offered some spot-on advice for younger officials climbing the ranks and even for those that have been around a while.

“First of all, a real interest in basketball is crucial, it has to mean something to you because if you go into it to make a few bucks extra you’re in it for the wrong reason,” said Reynolds. “Officiating is the toughest thing in the world for a young man to go into, but I think the most important things are that you have to respect the game and also that young officials need to talk to the older officials, ask questions and don’t be afraid to ask for advice. You’ve never been officiating too long or get too good to ask for advice.”

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 New School

Pinckneyville High School senior Cory Hastings is one of the youngest licensed officials in the state

 

By Jim Muir

At the age of 17 Cory Hastings is a young man with a definite plan.

Hastings, a Pinckneyville High School senior, was recently licensed as a three-sport official with the IHSA. Hastings can call basketball, baseball and softball.

Hastings played a variety of sports throughout junior high and during his first three years of high school but opted to forgo playing sports his senior year and instead began an officiating career.

“Well, my dad has been an official, but I realized that I was not going to play sports in college or beyond but I still love sports and I wanted to be a part of the game and officiating is a way to do that,” said Hastings. “I figured I was better off to start trying to build a good base and get my name out so people know who I am. I think I made the right decision. It really comes down to the fact that I love sports and want to remain involved.”

Hastings was asked to detail the first time he donned striped shirt and whistle for an athletic competition.

“I have to admit that I was more than a little nervous,” said Hastings. “Football was a little intimidating, I’ve watched a lot of football but I never played football. The night before my first game I was up until midnight going over and over the rule book. I was up at 5 a.m. looking at it again, and then got in from school and was in it again. I had refereed basketball at camps in the summer and umpired baseball in the summer too, but football was different. I had never been on a football field except for PE and fire drills so it was a totally new experience.”

Hastings also admitted to some nervousness the first time he called a junior high basketball game.

“The crowd is right on top of you, the gyms are small and you can really hear just about everything that is said,” Hastings said. “I really think it might be easier to call a game when the gym is packed and you can’t anything than when it’s half empty and you can everything.”

Hastings said his dad helped prepare him for the fact that not everybody will agree with him at all times.

“I understand that at any given moment half the fans might like you and the other half are getting ready not to like you,” Hastings said. “I think you have to go into it with the idea that it’s just like life and that you’re never going to please everybody all the time. I think you just have to do your very best to call a fair game.”

Hastings said he has made an effort to reach out to older officials and seek their advice, a move that has been well-received. Hastings listed an impressive group of officials that he has talked with including Dana Pearson, Cory Miller, Mike Austin, Spanky Smith, Jason Rhodes, Bob Blondi, Trent Purcell and Rick Runge.

“Any time I see an official I will try to talk with them and ask them about what I can work on, different techniques, what you do in certain situation, just try to get info from as many sources as I can,” said Hastings. “Everybody’s style is a little different, so I just hope to put it all together and develop my own style. I think it’s always going to be a learning experience, 20 years from now I will still be learning new things. There is always going to be a new rule, a new interpretation.”

Hastings is now a member of the Southern Illinois Basketball Officials’ Association, based in Centralia, the Egyptian Official’s Association, out of Carterville and is also a member of the Southern Illinois Umpire’s Association, in Carbondale.

“There are veteran officials in all those groups that I try to talk to on a regular basis,” said Hastings. “I talk on the phone to other officials and trade emails just to keep in contact and see what I can do to become a better official. I’ve even asked some of the officials to come and watch a game and then critique me and tell me what they think I can do to improve. The main thing I hear from a lot of officials is to always hustle and always try and be in position.”

Following high school Hastings plans to attend Rend Lake College and then Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and also plans to continue his officiating career.

While Hastings has his educational future mapped out he has also laid out a time frame for his career as an official.

“I’ve given it a lot of thought, and I’d like to wait at least three to five years and work underclass and JV and then slowly work into varsity basketball,” said Hastings. “And after I put some time in there and pay my dues I might even like to look at doing some college officiating. I think the biggest thing is to just take my time and not get in a big hurry.”