- 1981: East Conemaugh Little League. I played rightfield on an All-Star team loaded with talent. I was so disappointed and angry that I was relegated to rightfield and yet on a fateful Saturday afternoon I made several putouts and had a memorable assist in a 17-11 win over an all star team from Boswell. Coach Ron Reynolds honored me with the gameball afterward. I still have it today.
- 1988: I played linebacker in the Ken Lantzy All Star game at the "old" Point Stadium. I wasn't there to play an "exhibition" game and treated it like a real football game. I was rewarded for my 8 tackle performance and blocked extra point on special teams as one of the defensive MVP's.
- 1991: Playing strong safety for the St. Francis College football team at St. John Fisher University in upstate New York, we needed a win to secure the championship of the Atlantic Collegiate Football Conference. Thanks to a wonderful individual effort by my friend and wide receiver Dan Mathis, we took home a 14-7 win that afternoon and secured championship rings that remains one of my most prized possessions.
- 1999: Kind of a silly one here, but playing in the Adult League Championship game of the Somerset Adult Hockey League, I score a hat trick to help lead our team, Georg Trucking to a 4-1 win over Stoystown Auto Wreckers. Hey, it's a championship.
- 2004: I am honored by earning a spot as a linesman in the Bantam U14 Tier I National Championship game between Honeybaked and the California Wave.
- 2006: I line up at the starting line of the Cleveland Marathon embarking on my first. I didn't know if I could do it, but it remains one of the most memorable days of my life.
- 2008: I get to umpire homeplate of a AAABA matchup between perennial powers New Orleans and Baltimore. It is an honore to call balls and strikes for a guy drafted by the Red Sox and throwing 95 mph cheese.
- 2008: As a new color analyst for Johnstown High Football, I get to call the District 6AAA Championship game at Mansion Park. Despite a Trojan loss, it is a cool experience to toss on the resume.
- Toss in a few Penguin Cup championships at Mellon Arena (5 of them) and last year's State Championship hockey game and I've built a pretty nice officiating resume.
I bring this up today because last evening as I continue my "comeback" to running, I am still relegated to refereeing. I had to concentrate on where I was a month ago, two months ago and three months ago to fully appreciate the progress I have made. It made me realize how lucky I've been and how fortunate I was to be standing at center ice last night ready to drop the puck on a varsity hockey game. Having been back at reffing for three weeks, I had worked 10 games prior to this one; a regular season matchup between State College and Altoona. Not one of the biggest games of anyone's lifetime, but considering where I was, I had a few seconds while the teams were getting ready to hit the ice to realize where I was and what I was doing. It would be the fastest game I'd worked since early October, 2008. I have to admit I thought about the possiblity that it might be one of the final "big" games I'll officiate. I have no idea where I'll end up this year in terms of playoffs and not really sure I want to advance real far. My focus is on my running and getting back to it. But standing at center ice for those few seconds and pondering my future; both immediate and long term, I realized it might be one of those "moments". Probably not, but the possiblity froze me for those few ticks. It made me realize a lot of things, including where I was a long time ago, and where I was at that moment. Big game? Not really, but in some ways, they're all big.
No comments:
Post a Comment