March Madness

March Madness - the annual NCAA basketball tournament - the time when folks fill out their brackets and compete to see who can pick the most winners.  Even those who aren't basketball fans get involved in this annual event.  But for over 30 years I was involved in another March Madness and I miss it.  My annual event was the PIAA basketball championships.  It started late one afternoon when one of my bosses received a call that he needed a clock operator for that night's district play-off doubleheader at the Farm Show Arena in Harrisburg.  We had just completed a staff meeting and he had to find somebody quickly.  He knew that I had kept score before and asked if I would be willing to fill in as the timer.  Even though I had never done this before I gladly accepted and that job grew into many years of working play-off games there.  I worked with a team of administrators from Penn Manor including an announcer, scorekeeper, and ticket sellers.  We often had double headers and sometimes triple headers with both boys and girls.  At times it was stressful.  The girls had just begun to play with the same rules as boys and some of their games then were so very slow and long, filled with fouls and jump balls. Those were often boring and at times it was hard to even keep awake. But we had many great games and I saw some great teams and players.  My worst experience came in a game between Steel-High and Red Lion.  The refs had to come to me to have me determine if a foul they called came before or after the final buzzer.  I ruled before.  The Red Lion player stepped to the foul line with time expired and his team one point behind.  He made both shots to win the game and eliminate Steel High.  The next day the Harrisburg Patriot newspaper reported that Barry Kauffman, the timer from Millersville, had made the decision.  I expected some problems from the losers who take their basketball very seriously, but fortunately it never came.  A few times over the years we were pelted with ice and soda when fans were upset with the refs.  The worst time came when future NBA player Sam Bowie was kicked out of the game with two technicals.  After doing this a few years. the head of the PIAA asked me if I would be willing to serve as official statistician for the state finals at Hershey. This was a new and important position. I gladly accepted and for 25 years I served at both the Hershey arena and later the Giant Center.  After the first year it was obvious that I needed a helper to handle the press since often there were more than 100 press members present for a game.  They allowed me to hire a person and for most years I was able to work with one of my sons, usually Craig, and that was very special. After a few years, for a variety of reasons, the team from Penn Manor was no longer needed there, except for me.  A few years later they stopped playing games at the Farm Show so that experience was also gone.  But the state finals were enough for me at that point.  It was again a stressful time since there were four championship games on Friday and four on Saturday.  I had to complete my work each half very quickly so the stats could be distributed to the waiting press.  But again, we saw some great games and great players, such as future NBA stars Kobe Bryant and Billy Owens.  All games were televised so we were often front and center in the broadcasts.  We had access to the hospitality suite and received free meals.  We "rubbed shoulders" with all the big wigs from throughout the state and often saw well-known college coaches who were there to recruit.  And everything Hershey provided was first class.  But a few years ago the PIAA decided to move the finals to State College.  Those of us who had worked at Hershey were not invited to go along and we were replaced by Penn State employees. Typical of the PIAA, there was no thank you for 25 years of service and not even a notification that I was no longer needed.  And so my 25 years ended suddenly and very quietly.  But that is the way it often works in life. This year they have returned to Hershey.  Now I don't really know if I could handle that pace and stress today, but I do miss this March Madness.  Sitting at home watching the games on television is just not the same thing.  But I do have many great memories.