Great Memories

          The end of February and beginning of March bring back many great memories of things that were an exciting part of my life during these months in my earlier years - and I'm not talking about things like shoveling snow.
          The special memories all started during a late afternoon administrative meeting at school.  At the close of the meeting I was with the Assistant Superintendent who was also the Chief Administrator of the PIAA District 3.  He was sharing with some of the other men that he had just learned that he needed a time keeper to run the scoreboard and clock at a basketball playoff doubleheader that night at the Farm Show in Harrisburg.  He turned to me and asked me if I would be able to help him out.  Now I had never done that before but I quickly volunteered.  It wasn't long until a team of five of us from the administrative unit were on our way to the Farm Show to run the doubleheader - a scorer, a timer, an announcer, a ticket taker and the game director.
        What I didn't realize then was that this would be the start of about a 30 year experience.  During those early years we had games at the "Barn", as we called it, almost every night - sometimes even triple headers and often four on Saturdays.  It was fun to watch the games, although some, especially girls games in those days, were very boring and at times it was even hard to keep awake especially after a long day of teaching.  And that was dangerous especially since I was responsible for running the game clock - I may have even missed a few seconds here and there.  I especially enjoyed watching Carlisle and York Catholic teams play during their great years when they both won several district and state championships.  Jeff Lebo and Billy Owens were two of my favorite players.

          One night I had to fill in as scorekeeper for a regional elimination game.  Actually I preferred that job.  Before the game the officials came to me and asked me if I knew that with two technicals a player would be eliminated from the game.  I never knew that and thought it was strange that they would tell me that.  In those years hanging on the rim was an automatic technical foul.  Would you believe that twice Lebanon's seven foot future NBA player Sam Bowie hung on the rim and was charged with a technical.  I had to summon the officials that he had to leave the game.  We got booed and had things, including soda, thrown at us.  Not a fun experience that night.
         But my worst experience came during a District 3 elimination game between Red Lion and Steelton-Highspire.  At the close of the game Steel-High was leading by one point when a Red Lion player went to shoot and was fouled just as the time ran out and the horn sounded.  Good officials quickly make the call at the end of the game, but these officials didn't.  Instead they came to the table and asked me if the foul was before or after time ran out.  That never should have been my call.  I finally said I thought the foul was before the horn sounded and that was the call they then made.  It was actually a one and one foul situation and the Red Lion player went to the foul line and calmly sank both free throws to win the game and eliminate Steel High from the play-offs.  The Steel- High crowd behind me was angry and things were thrown at us and on the floor.  We were escorted out for our safety.  Then the next day in the Harrisburg Patriot News the sports writer said the decision was made by Barry Kauffman of Millersville and not the officials.  I expected the worst was yet to come from those fans who now knew my name and where I lived, but thankfully nothing more ever did happen.
          However, one good thing did come out of that experience.  The Executive Director of the PIAA was there that night.  Later he came to me and said that I made the correct call.  He was impressed with my work and asked if I would consider being the official statistician for the state basketball championships at Hershey.  I was thrilled to do that and readily accepted.  And so for 25 years I filled that position at both the Hershey Arena and the Giant Center for eight state finals each March.  I was also allowed to hire an assistant whose main job was to work with the press.  So for most of those years one of my sons worked with me and these are memories that will never be forgotten.  Often my wife and others saw us on television. We saw great games, famous college coaches who were there to scout, and great players.  We saw future NBA players such as Kobe Bryant.  And we were treated royally by the PIAA and Hershey.  It was a first class operation.  
         Unfortunately this ended when Penn State decided to donate its facilities and staff at State College and the PIAA saw a way to cut expenses.  And so for me that was the end after 25 years.  But the timing may have been good because it was getting harder for me to do all the stats and the stress was increasing.  It is interesting that the move to State College only lasted a few years until the PIAA realized that Hershey was actually a better location and moved back.  But by that time the PIAA leadership had also changed and I was not invited back.
          But I do miss the excitement.  I also miss the friendships that I had with the team of men who traveled and worked many games together.  Actually I lasted longer doing games than any of the others.  Two of them have now passed away, one has dementia and the third moved away.  Even though it has now been at least 16 years since being involved, each February and March the memories stir and my mind goes back to those fun times.