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Show i r. - "J- iS v . - I ' ' '.,,., jv ,r- . ! --.AN ' .. ... . THE UMPIRE, Jacque Searle, keeps her eyes glued on the Softball and gets ready to shout. "Ball or Strike" during a game between P.L.S. and Twin Arrow. Wednesday. Life IbelhSondl fllhie ptoe Ss mseir csjcld Bc'D" foir ft foe ymmipDire By Aldon Rachele The job is a rough one. but an important impor-tant one as without the umpire or referee the games called baseball, football, softball, basketball, volleyball, wrestling and other sports would be in total chaos. Jacque Searle was the lady behind the plate for a girls' softball game between bet-ween Twin Arrow and P.L.S. "I like to be with kids. Kids are my life. I don't let the fans yell at me. I take it for a minute and then tell them to get off the field. I've learned to tune out the yelling yell-ing because I've played a lot of soft-ball," soft-ball," stated Searle. "If they get belligerent, I get belligerent." When asked to comment on why he like to be an umpire, Felix Espinoza remarked, "It's fun and you get to learn a lot more about the game. You also find out how mean the coaches are. If someone starts yelling and gets out of hand, you warn them once and the second time they are out of there. If they don't leave the team forfeits the game." Many of the umpires are former members of the league where they now make the safe and out calls and one such person is Shelly Olivers. "I umpire because I like to support the girls in softball. A lot of men and ladies helped me when I played in the league and because they asked me to do it," said Olivers. "Once you make your call it has to be final. If they start yelling I ignore them and if they get really bad I send them off the field." Gordon Eldredge has been an official of-ficial at many baseball and basketball games and when asked why he umpires um-pires games he commented, "Somebody has to do it. I feel an r - J j i i I I v I I 1 i IHL COUNT 11, one b.:ill and one strike ;ind delivering the rncvifie to the f.ins is umpire J.icquo Se.irle. obligation to the sport and I had g(xd officating in games 1 played. I try to pattern myself after the good officials that I saw work the games when I was playing." Eldredge added, "I handle the yelling yell-ing crowds by ignoring them. I pretend I can't hear them. They accuse me of being blind so I make them think I'm deaf also. The crowds don't really bother me that much." Many challenges occur in games for the umpire and an uptight coach is the number one challenge for Gordon Eldredge. "A coach has lost several games in a row and the game is on his own court or field and that is a challenge," said Eldredge. Eldredge is a member of the I'nion Ilieh School team, which captured the state hoop crown in 1913. "We lost by eight points to Craig, Colo, before the state meet and the two officials at the game were gixxi. I really appreciate ap-preciate ones that do it and stay with it. Trying to see that a game is played fairly is the basic bottom line. My philosophy is to make sure that no team in the game gets an unfair advantage. ad-vantage. To bo a good official you have to have a thick skin." Football, basketball and baseball games have been officiated by Wayne Keid throughout the years and In-remarked, In-remarked, "The biggest reason th;it I officiate is to keep close to the kids. All athletic contests are exciting and part of American life and I like to be part of it." Keid added, "Experienced referees can tune their ears off to most of the yelling by the crowd. You can't listen to the crowd if you are going to call a good game." When asked alxnil games that stand out during years of officiating, Keid stated, "I've roforood state and college football, baseball and basketball games. I think one of the most in teresting games was a stale semi final between Kanaband Heaver where only on-ly two out of four referees showed up. Neither coach wauled anybody on either side to officiate and we called the game with only two. The Dixie-Snow Dixie-Snow College Inlcrmounlain Col-legiale Col-legiale Athletic Conference championship champion-ship game stands out as the game was decided in the lasl second when Chris Abegglen of Snow College scored Ihe winning points on a driving layup. II was standing room only and all the four year coaches were at the game. It was a very exciting game " "Milford High School qualifed for Iheir first visit to the stale foolkill playolls anil Ihcy were getting beaten badly by Heaver and one of Iheir big tackles hit one of my officials anil knocked him out cold. We threw the player out of the game and his replacement replace-ment came in and hit another official. s we were walking off the field a little lit-tle old lady. 70 years old, started hitting hit-ting another official over the head with her umbrella," said Reid. Officating also has a humorous side to it. "We were officiating a game at Manila High School, which is located on top of a hill and the ball bounced out of txnmds and through an open door," said Keid "The ball bounced about four blcx'ks down the middle of main street and we sent a basketball player to get the bail. When he came back with the ball he was tired and had to tx- taken out of the game." i SHELLY CHIVERS signals to the coaches and players a; as the fans that an out has been committed. 1 - I ' - r ' i . i-' J r i I L. . - THE BATTERS are hjppy as the runner is declared sn umpire Shelly Olivers during 3 G.rls" Sot toll League co"V |
