A stressed-out referee goes to see a psychologist. He complains of feeling depressed and loathed. He is concerned about always disappointing somebody, no matter what he does.
The doctor is highly sympathetic, and assures the down-and-out official that he can help. Then he writes something down on his prescription pad and hands it to the referee.
The note reads, “Go to this address, and tell the optometrist I sent you.”
In a sports-obsessed world where fans’ weekly dispositions — and sometimes even livelihoods — are subject to the bounce of a ball, game officials make for easy targets. Fans and coaches will remember a call in the fourth quarter that went against their football team before they will consider their team’s multiple turnovers, missed tackles or drops that were the actual primary contributors to the final outcome.
Officials are easy targets, indeed. Referee jokes such as the one above are as common as quips about lawyers and politicians. As another fall of football finishes up in high school stadiums across the state, prep officials say they don the stripes on Friday nights for one main reason: Doing so keeps them connected to a game they love.
Without officials, there simply is no game, and it is doubtful many fans would ever volunteer to take an official’s place. The term “no-win situation” applies to game officials as much as it does to any one demographic group, but officials show up anyway on Friday nights, working for little pay in what can sometimes be considered a hostile working environment.
Most say the pay basically covers their expenses. Because they do show up, however, high school football remains an integral weave in the fabric of American communities.
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Dax Hill of Conway is working his 13th season as a back judge in the Southeastern Conference, the college football gold standard. Only the National Football League delivers as much pressure or as many eyeballs. Like many who embrace the labor of love represented by officiating, Hill followed his father’s path, which began under the Friday night lights.
“My dad was a high school football official, and the crews in the Conway area were looking to add more officials,” he said. “I started with seventh grade and junior high games, in addition to working some high school games.”
SEC official Dax Hill of Conway listens to former Auburn coach Gus Malzahn.
Hill worked his way up to the SEC and is a regular for many of the league’s biggest matchups each weekend in the fall. In addition to the pressure cookers that are the Iron Bowl, Egg Bowl and World’s Largest Cocktail Party, Hill has worked two SEC championship games and been assigned to several bowl games, including the Cotton and Fiesta.
The best officials — the ones who earn assignments to league championship games, bowl games and, now, playoff games — enjoy a certain anonymity. After all, there are names attached to certain former Southwest Conference and SEC officials that are well known to Razorback fans for all the wrong reasons. (Fans may forgive, but they sure never forget.)
For those who make the calls — whether it’s a line judge ruling a sideline catch inbounds, an umpire giving the pitcher a close strike or a baseline official calling a charge in the lane — officiating is a true labor of love. It represents a service for which one can generally hope for positive reviews from half the customer base at best.
Though the pay and benefits increase in value as one ascends through the ranks, high school officials — who have day jobs — are not there for the pay.
“For a high school game, the average fee is around $150 an official with no travel stipends, so when you look at the hours involved with travel and the time of the game, it does not translate into a large amount of pay,” Hill said.
The reward, he added, comes in knowing that dedication to the craft helps assure the continuation of one of America’s favorite sports — no refs, no sports. Plus, officiating allows those involved to remain connected to a sport they love.
“Many other sports can be played as an adult, but football is not one of them,” he said. “Officiating keeps [us] connected to the game. Officials are people looking for a challenge and [who] enjoy the process of making a contribution to the game.”
Hill spent 27 years as a science teacher in Conway public schools before working in the hematology lab at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock for a year. His love of the classroom led to his return to teaching. This month, Hill begins his first year on the faculty at Vilonia High School.
Football crews, perhaps, are immune to some of the craziness experienced by their counterparts in other sports, those who are working much closer to fans and therefore more likely to hear “suggestions” in real time. Nevertheless, high up on the Mount Rushmore of thankless jobs sits football official, flanked by tax collector and telemarketer.
Though Hill moved up to the college stage, he remains involved with high school officiating in his home state as one of the leaders of the Arkansas Association of High School Officials.
“We assign officials to work games, but the main purpose is to recruit and train high school football officials while also creating more professionalism and credibility for high school football in Arkansas,” he said.
The AAHSO was the brainchild of Walt Coleman, 72, the retired Little Rock dairy producer and former NFL head referee who serves as the unofficial patron saint of Arkansas football officials. Generations of Arkansans grew up drinking milk from his family’s iconic Coleman Dairy, which was started in the 1860s and sold to Hiland Dairy in 2007, but Coleman carved out his own “celebrity” over the course of an NFL officiating career that ran from 1989 to 2018. Coleman was a line judge for his first six seasons in the league before his promotion to referee, and he was the ref for the infamous tuck rule game in Foxborough, Massachusetts, the 2001 AFC divisional playoff game that Patriots fans believe launched the
Belichick-Brady dynasty in New England.
Little Rock’s Walt Coleman spent almost 30 years as an NFL official. (Photos provided)
Many football fans in Arkansas likely recall glowing commentary about Coleman from then-Fox broadcasters Joe Buck and Troy Aikman and their playful teasing about his distinct Southern accent when he announced a call.
Like others who got into officiating, Coleman grew up with a football official father. Walt “Buddy” Coleman II ran the state’s largest dairy during the week, but on Friday nights and, eventually, Saturday afternoons, he donned the stripes. Buddy was a longtime, respected line judge in the old Southwest Conference — Walt said he never wanted to be the referee — and his love of the game has been passed down through two generations. Following in his generational footsteps, Walt Coleman IV debuted as an NFL official in 2015.
Coleman, the one who made the correct call that fateful snowy afternoon in Foxborough (Hate the rule, not the call), began his officiating career in 1974 with junior high and high school games. Having a prominent SWC official as your dad at the time was an advantage, Coleman said. He eventually moved up to Southland Conference games, like his father before him, and eventually got the call to join Buddy in officiating SWC games.
The draw of officiating naturally boils down to competition. While officiating with his dad in the SWC is something he cherishes, Coleman said most officials are former athletes themselves who want to see the game they love flourish.
“You want to stay involved when you can’t play anymore,” Coleman said. “It’s a competitive deal. You’re trying to be the best you can be because without officials, you couldn’t have high school sports. You could say officials are a necessary evil. These guys who go out on Thursday [junior high] and Friday night, you’ve got to have them.”
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The paths established in the Coleman and Hill households are the exception; most officials are content to answer the Friday night siren call and remain at the local level. Those who answer the call must go through Kristy Clark, Arkansas Officials Association secretary for the Arkansas High School Activities Association.
Clark registers officials in all sports for AHSAA member schools at all levels. The only requirements necessary to don the stripes are registration with the AHSAA, joining the AOA and passing a background check. Clinics and other resources are available to the newbies, but entry into the striped arena can be harder in football at the high school level, Clark said, because the crews of four have usually known each other for a long time and generally stick together.
“Football is a little harder to get into,” she said. “You can’t just register and get out there and call a ball game; you need four other people with you. Most crews have worked together for years, so adding people or starting your own can be a struggle.”
AAA-member schools in Arkansas are required to use AOA officials for varsity games in eight sports — football, basketball, baseball, volleyball, wrestling, softball, soccer and track. Clark said the AAA always needs more officials in all sports and even has female officials calling high school games. She estimated there is between five and 10 female football officials across the state. The AAA is not facing a shortage yet, but Clark said it would love to see more people interested in becoming game officials. The only problem? Officiating is still looked upon as a no-win proposition.
“Feedback suggests a lot of that is due to the hostile work environment that comes with officiating,” Clark said. “COVID[-19] certainly didn’t help either. We are slowly back to our pre-COVID numbers here in Arkansas, but again, we always need officials. Our biggest area of need is probably the spring sports, particularly baseball, softball and soccer.”
To get started as a high school football official in Arkansas, a candidate can be asked to replace a member of an existing crew, or a candidate can assemble a new crew. Hill said the state is managing “OK” with its current number of high school football officials, “but it is a yearly challenge.”
Part of a football official’s job is to listen while coaches ask questions or even vent their frustration.
Once a crew is in, he said, comradery usually keeps the group together.
“One of the positives of high school football officiating is the chance to travel and work as a crew. It develops friendships, so guys are very hesitant to change or move to other crews,” Hill said. “Every year, though, officials will be lost for a number of reasons, and those officials need to be replaced. One of the goals of our association is to recruit new officials. Many guys become an official because they were encouraged by a friend or someone else. They don’t just decide on their own to become an official.”
That is just how Ron Standridge of Russellville got into officiating in 1988. Now the car rental manager at Cogswell Motors in Russellville, Standridge was playing and umpiring softball when a friend asked him to start officiating football.
“I played football in high school and wanted to be involved in the game,” he said.
Standridge retired from refereeing in 2021 but still fills in on crews as time permits, he said. He also assists with replays for all state championship games. In 2009, he began calling games on the NCAA Division II level for the Gulf South Conference and then in 2011 for the Arkansas-based Great American Conference. He still works as an observer for the league and is a replay communicator for NCAA football at the FCS level.
Standridge said officiating has become a year-round hobby and requires real commitment.
“Camps and clinics are available throughout the year,” he said. “You have to love it to be successful.”
Plus, Friday night’s men in stripes shoulder a lot of pressure, especially considering the pay and time away from families. Coleman said the pay ends up amounting to less than minimum wage when considering the time commitment. “The higher you go, obviously, the better the pay is, and in college, conferences pay for travel expenses,” he said.
Still, Arkansans keep signing up to stay connected to a game they love. Clark said the AHSAA averages around 2,600 individual officials per year in all sports.
“I’d estimate around half of them work at least two sports,” she said. “We had over 800 football officials last year, but that’s the highest it’s been since 2020. We are hoping to have even more this year. One of my favorite sayings is, ‘Without officials, it’s just recess.’”
Hill said the AAHSO was formed purposefully to improve high school football officiating in Arkansas. Coleman was familiar with Texas high school football officiating and the training provided there and wanted to provide Arkansas officials with the same opportunity, he said.
The organization has proven to be a valuable advocate for high school officials in the state.
“The AAHSO assigns crews to games, but we also work to recruit new officials, train all officials with rules questions and mechanics and try to add professionalism to the game,” Hill said. “I believe our organization is well respected across Arkansas, and the officials have earned a lot of credibility within the coaching ranks. I have personally tried to give back and pass on things I have learned because at my roots, I am a high school official. High school officiating is where I started, learned, struggled and improved. I would not be where I am today without my time as an Arkansas high school official.”
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John Duncan followed his kids into officiating, or rather, they led him to it. When his boys started playing youth football and baseball, Duncan said he volunteered to be an umpire for baseball and work the chain crew for football and eventually decided to give high school officiating a try.
“On the baseball side, I really enjoyed calling Little League games and sought out the local assigner for high school games, then got started with him,” he said. “Football much the same way. I asked one of the on-field officials one night how to get started, and he advised me to find a local referee, which I did. I started calling some junior high games with him and it just led to more and more. I am now in my 23rd year in both sports and enjoy it as much today as when I started.”
During the day, Duncan is the director of business development at the Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce. By night come fall, the striped crusader and 23-year officiating veteran from Benton is calling football games, and he still calls baseball games in the spring.
Duncan wears the white hat of the head referee, who serves as crew chief. What keeps him coming back, despite the break-even pay or the occasional grief from coaches and/or fans, is simply being a part of the game, he said.
“I’m very fortunate to have had the same four gentlemen with me for 10 years now,” he said of his crew. “On Friday nights, we will call anywhere we are assigned in the state, and on Monday and Thursday [for junior high and junior varsity games], I stay close to home.”
He cited the friendships made with coaches and other officials, as well as the brother-like relationship he shares with his crewmates as the biggest rewards he takes from officiating. The flip side? The hunt for the fan or coach who thinks his team ever deserved a flag would deliver similar results to the search for Bigfoot.
“The players are great and most of the coaches too, but the toughest part of the job is a few of the coaches who see us as the enemy and the lack of respect the fans show us,” Duncan said.
Fans and coaches do sometimes cross the line, he added, but such behavior is not common, and while coaches do sometimes hold a grudge for a previous call, Duncan said things rarely get personal. Still, most fans do not fully appreciate an official’s job, he said.
“They think the job is easy, [that] we just show up 10 minutes before the kick and wander around making things up,” he said. “Nothing could be further from the truth. The pay might cover the expenses, but on an average game week between travel, preparation and game time, I spend 20-plus hours on football. It is truly done for the friendships and the love of the game.”
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Despite what some fans, and possibly even coaches, believe, officials do not have an agenda, nor do they try and impact the outcome of a game, Coleman said. In fact, that is the very thing they try not to do. Though he grew up a Razorbacks fan, Coleman said he left behind allegiance to anything but the game itself once he donned the stripes.
“I still watch the game from an official’s perspective,” he said. “That’s the team I’m always rooting for, those guys in the striped shirts.”
Duncan said he has no regrets about becoming an official and would answer the siren call of Friday night all over again if he could.
“I enjoy it as much today as when I started,” he said. “At 61, my time on the field is closer to the end than the beginning, and that makes me a little sad.”
Walt Coleman
Refs Dish on Fans, Coaches
Do fans fully appreciate game officials and the role they play, or even realize the sacrifices they make? For two Arkansas high school football officials, the answer is an unequivocal no — and no replay is needed.
John Duncan, a 23-year officiating veteran from Benton, said the job is not an easy one, despite what some might think. He said his side gig sometimes requires more than 20 hours a week and the pay might cover expenses only.
He said players and most coaches are respectful to officials, but admitted that a few coaches seem to see officials as the enemy. Fans and coaches do sometimes cross the line, he added, but such behavior is not common, and while coaches do sometimes hold a grudge for a previous call, Duncan said things rarely get personal.
Ron Standridge called Arkansas high school games for more than 30 years before retiring from field work in 2021. He said fans “absolutely do not” appreciate what goes into officiating but was quick to add, “That’s OK.”
“Fans are fans. I’ve been called anything and everything imaginable,” he said. “Most are humorous. Some are even creative. As long as they are not overly obnoxious or threatening physical harm, it’s business as usual. There’s a saying in officiating: ‘If you want a friend, you better bring one.’ Fans are easy to ignore. Coaches not so much, but incidents are very rare. I have always enjoyed the interactions with the coaches.”
Standridge said some coaches probably do hold grudges over previous calls, but “other than a very few coaches, most know we are imperfect people working an imperfect game.”
Ultimately, all officials must learn to exist on an island and tune out the fan reactions, advised Arkansas’ patron saint of football officials, former prep, college and NFL referee Walt Coleman of Little Rock. He said high school football officials absolutely hear complaints from fans who disagree with a call, but “it’s not that bad in football, not like basketball.”
“We’re harder on ourselves individually than the fans are,” he said. “You may not remember the right calls, but I can sure remember all the times I screwed up.”
As reliable sources of critique, coaches sometimes play mind games with officials, Coleman admitted. When fans see coaches berating an official for a seemingly noncontroversial call, there is a method to the madness.
“They can get in your head,” he said. “I’ve had coaches tell me, ‘I thought your dad was bad, but you’re even worse.’”
Coleman said he learned to diffuse a confrontational coach by simply stepping back out onto the field.
“As an official, you have to remember, you’re not out there just to throw your flag,” he said. “You’re just out there to manage the game and make sure it is played fairly. We’re human, though.”
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