Men in Black (And White) - Referees

Twenty five years ago I wrote a magazine story about the life of a high school basketball referee – the abuse they faced, verbal and occasionally physical, all for very low pay, and the reason they all said they did it: for the love of the game.

My two favorite stories from that article came from an old coach turned radio analyst, the legendary Jock Sutherland:

 Jock told me the first story happened in 1959 when he was at the old Henry Central High. “We were down by about thirty but I was still arguing. I took three or four steps toward the referee but he kept backing up. He bumped into me and said, ‘What are you doing out here? That’ll be a technical for every step back.’ I just held my hands up – what am I going to do. My players took it to mean I needed help and they came out and carried me off. Then they carried me around the gym on their shoulders while the band played. The next day Earl Cox had it in the newspaper under the headline ‘Smartest Coach in the County.’ That story went out over the wire and ended up in Reader’s Digest.”

 When Jock told me that story it had been 40 years since it happened and he got it a tad wrong. I looked it up and the headline really read “Quickest Thinking State Coach? He’s Gallatin County’s Sutherland.” (So he was coaching at Gallatin County not Henry County. And it was actually 1958 not 1959.)

Here’s how Earl Cox, longtime sports editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal wrote it originally in 1958 complete with the original illustration by Courier-Journal artist Ben Ramsay:

 

By EARL COX

Basketball, the game that lures a sizable portion of Kentucky's population into gyms from November through March, has its extremely serious moments.

But the hardwood sport has its lighter moments, too. For instance:

Charley 'Jock" Sutherland, one of the finest shooters Ralph Carlisle ever turned out at Lexington Lafayette, is now coach at Gallatin County High at Warsaw. A couple of seasons ago, Sutherland earned for all time the title of quickest-thinking coach in Kentucky.

During a tight game, Sutherland dashed onto the floor to dispute a referee's decision.

The official indignantly informed Sutherland that for each step he took returning to the bench, a technical foul would be assessed on Gallatin County. Know what Sutherland did?

He yelled for his players to come out on the floor. They carried him back to the bench and he got off with only one technical foul!

 

Jock Sutherland when he coached Lexington Lafayette

For my magazine story, Jock told me a second great referee story, again involving him:

 “Once we were playing down at Hazard and the referee kept drinking out of our Gatorade. Our bus-driver had some vodka and he poured it in our Gatorade. The referee just kept coming over to our Gatorade. His partner asked him if something was the matter. He said it was the best Gatorade he’d ever had. By the end of the game, he didn’t know where he was.”

 

Coach LeRoy Sprankle’s Rules for Athletes

As promised, from the May 16, 1924 issue of the Kingsport Times are Kingsport Central High coach and athletic director LeRoy Sprankle’s rules for his athletes:

 No man will be reserved a plate for the football menu unless he abides, strictly, absolutely and unerringly by the gilt-edge and iron-bound rules formulated by the K. H. S. club, an organization of the Student athletes, for the upbuilding of athletics. The chief clauses are:

1. No smoking under any circumstances.

2. No drinking under any circumstances.

3. No association with questionable company of either sex.

4. No keeping of late hours.

Coach Sprankle has ruled that all candidates who do not sign the pledge to keep the above rules inviolate shall not be allowed to participate in any athletic event.  

 

If a candidate would be a member of Kingsport Central’s varsity team:

1. Be a man, physically, mentally and morally.

2. Be determined.

3. Be aggressive.

4. Improvement.

5. Have the ability.

6. Be eligible at all times.

7. Attend every practice.

To attain these requirements, he advances the following suggestions as aids along the way.

1. Eat plain and nourishing food.

2. Do not eat between meals.

3. Do not overeat.

4. Do not eat much candy.

5. Establish regular habits.

6. Drink a glass of cold water upon retiring and arising.

7. Get plenty of exercise.

8. Toughen yourself - box, wrestle and hike.

9. Study yourself, find your weakness, improve it.

10. Don’t give up. Fight and make your opponent put out his best to beat you.

11. It takes a man to live up to this, are you a man?

 

Those were Sprankle’s guidelines 99 years ago.

 

 

The Night Jerry Lee Came to Kingsport

Jerry Lee Lewis, the Louisiana Wild Man, died back in the fall. My favorite Jerry Lee Lewis story, one of them anyway:

 Jerry Lee Lewis was booked to play Kingsport’s Civic Auditorium on July 24, 1968 on a double bill with Conway Twitty. There were two shows scheduled for that night, one at 8 p.m. and a second at 10.

Jerry Lee was the headliner. Conway was the opening act even though both were equally big stars at the time.

Jim Sauceman told me about the show; his brother-in-law, the late Tiny Day, was the promoter.

“Conway was always late. Jerry Lee’s bus came in the parking lot about 2 p.m. Conway called about 6 p.m. and said he wasn’t going to make it on time. Tiny took the message to Jerry Lee, who said, ‘Killer don’t open for anybody.’“

Killer is Jerry Lee’s nickname. He pretty much gave it to himself. When he was a kid, he called all his buddies “Killer” so they started calling him “Killer.” It stuck and years later it would become even more appropriate but that’s a story for another day.

When Jerry Lee told Tiny that he would not open the show, Tiny replied, “To get your money, you’ll open.”

Jerry Lee hit the stage at 8 p.m. sharp.