Kentuckiana Football Officials Association

May 30, 2002 Supervisor of Officials Hopefully you are all aware that the Board of Directors has hired (or rehired) Steve Van Bogaert as the KFOA Supervisor of Officials. Below is a note to all members from Steve. Let’s all welcome Steve back! Recruiting Not to sound melodramatic but the future of the KFOA is in YOUR hands! Even with an outstanding recruiting class last fall our organization remains in peril! Our membership numbers are the lowest in the history of the KFOA. We must have another recruiting class similar to 2001 just to be able to service our existing little leagues! Recruiting is not just the job of the Board. EVERY member must do what he can to bring in potential members. Let’s get back to basics. Why do we officiate? Money? Hardly. Although officiating does pay for itself, it is hardly a profit center. Status? I don’t think so! There is nothing like coming off a muddy field, soaking wet and having a grandma tell you, “You suck.” Or how about that sixth grade educated little league coach arguing that the Cedar Haven Rattlesnakes just broke the huddle with twelve players, “they can’t not do that, I seen that called on Kentucky.” “Throw the flag you idjut.” Ah, nothing better. The funny thing is there is no place else any of would rather be. We must officiate because we love the game. And if we love the game we probably hang around with others that love the game too. Therefore, the Board is giving each and everyone of you a quest. All members must send/bring at least one recruit to one of the informational meetings at Papa John’s Stadium this summer. The meetings are Wednesday, June 26 and Monday, July 8 at 7:00PM. Gentlemen, we’ve got to have your help and support. By now you should have heard about the posters that we have had printed up. Maybe you have even seen one. Anyone that has ideas on where to hang a poster or two should contact Mike Nelligan (244-0782-home or 266-2254-work). Availability Sheets Don’t forget to mail your information sheets to Wes as soon as Possible. These forms are very important to the Board as we use these to determine how many little leagues we will be able to service each fall. Please fill them out COMPLETELY and mail them to Wes today. If you lost yours or cannot find it, please call Wes and have him send you another or if you have e-mail I may be able to send you one. But do it today! We need to know who is available. KFOA Roster As part of his position, Steve Van Bogaert will be keeping the roster up to date. If you move or change any of your roster information including E-mail, please let Steve know as soon as possible. Steve’s address is: 4402 Mosiac Ct., Louisville, KY 40299. His E-mail is Easylife@prodigy.net. Hall of Fame The 2002 Hall of Fame Banquet was held Saturday, May 11 at Big Springs Country Club. This year’s inductees were Chuck Triebly and Nick Cline. We had a good mix of young and old at the banquet, with about 65 guests in attendance. But the KFOA should be able to do better. Keep in mind that someday you may be chosen to enter the Hall of Fame. Wouldn’t it be nice if most of your fellow officials were there to witness it? Chuck and Nick are both very deserving of this honor. Please join me in congratulating Chuck and Nick’s family. General Membership Meetings As of today the Board has decided to hold our meetings at Fern Creek High School. Since Male informed us that they would not be able to accommodate us this fall, Mike Nelligan contacted Jim Watkins seeking his help to help us in finding a new home. Jim was very helpful but to date Fern Creek is the only school that has room for us. We are still looking for a more central site, but time is running out. If anyone has connections and can get us in somewhere else, please contact any Board member as soon as possible. General Membership Meetings, Continued This years meetings will begin on July 31 and continue forever (just kidding). The dates are as follows: 7/31, 8/7, 8/14, 8/21, 8/28, 9/4, 9/11, 9/18, 9/25, 10/2, 10/9 (nominations) and 10/23 (Stag). E-mail If there are any members who have E-mail and have yet to receive any electronic correspondence from Matt Austin, please send him your E-mail address as soon as possible. This includes any changes in your current E-mail address. Matt will be sending out future additions of this newsletter and it is much faster and cheaper to send it electronically. Matt’s E-mail address is; Matt.austin@Insightbb.com. Thank you for your cooperation. Promotions Congratulations to the following officials that have been promoted to the next level of officiating. John McGrath-NFL, Chuck Russ and Tim Smith-SEC, Dave Seewer and Bob Brotzge-Mid South, Roy Potts and John Meiman-SEC Supplemental list. I apologize if I missed anyone. Golf Outing The 2002 golf outing is scheduled for 9:00AM, August 11 at beautiful Shawnee Country Club. Ron Sherrard is heading up this year’s event and should be contacted if you have any questions or require a courtesy car. As always, if anyone has door prizes that they or their company can donate, they will be greatly appreciated Family Picnic Stan Weihe has graciously offered to hold his annual picnic again this summer July 20th. However attendance at the last couple of picnics has dwindled and Stan and the Board are asking for your input. We need to know how many of you and your family members would be interested in attending this year’s picnic. If there is a lot of interest, Stan and Ellen will gladly host it, and the Board will help fund it. If most of you are not interested in participating then there is no sense in putting it together. One way or the other we need to hear from you. Please e-mail Matt Austin (Matt.Austin@insightbb,com) or Stan Weihe (Sweihe@ymcalouisville.org) or call and let us know what you think. If you attend, you will have a great time. There is plenty to eat and drink, horseback riding, closest to the pin contest, walleyball, fishing, go carts, hay rides and much more. KHSAA Registration The KHSAA is asking all officials to send in their license renewals as soon as possible when you receive them. They are going to have a temporary employee handling the paperwork and there could be delays. Therefore the quicker you send them in the better off you’ll be if there is a problem. Note from the Supervisor As many of you may know, I am returning as your Supervisor of Officials for the 2002 season. I return with great enthusiasm for the upcoming season. I will be working closely with Wes and the Board of Directors to make this season go as smooth as possible. There are three areas of concern facing the KFOA this year. The first is NUMBERS! As in recent years our numbers are dwindling. Many of our large class of first year officials last year have elected not to return. This coupled with a number of veterans moving up to the college ranks and transferring to new jobs have left us with the lowest membership in resent years. Please help the recruiting committee, Mike Nelligan and Chuck Russ, by submitting at least one name for them to contact. The second is varsity Observers. Wes has agreed to let me manage the Friday night Observers. My hope is to have all observers current on the proper mechanics. I will also be assigning them to games to observe. My hope is to have at least two observers see every official over the season. Some have expressed the need for immediate feedback, in the locker room, following the game. Please contact me with your opinion on this issue. The third issue is game assignments. The KFOA has purchased the Arbiter assigning program. Wes and I are working together to ensure that computer generated assignments will work in the best interest of the KFOA and it’s members. I will be using this program for all little league assignments and Wes is looking very closely at it for varsity assignments. One item of information we need from all officials is the area zip code and the time you can leave (work or home) to go to your game assignments each day of the week. It can be a different zip code each day. Please e-mail or call me with this info as soon as possible There will be more detailed information on the Arbiter at the beginning of the season. It you have any thoughts or concerns with these issues or any other, please feel free to contact me. See you July 31st. Steve Van Bogaert (H) 297-5073 (also Fax) (C) 641-7803 (P) 621-1031 easylife@prodigy.net Calendar of Events U of L Passing Tournament Papa John’s Stadium June 1, 2002 Male Passing Tournament Male H.S. June 8, 2002 Bullitt East Passing Tournament Bullitt East H.S. TBA Informational meeting Papa John’s Stadium June 26, 2002 Informational meeting Papa John’s Stadium July 8, 2002 Family Picnic (tentative) Stan’s Farm July 20, 2002 First General Membership Meeting Fern Creek H.S. July 31, 2002 KHSAA Officiating Camps Lexington Catholic August 16 & 17, 2002 KHSAA Clinic TBA KFOA Golf Outing Shawnee Country Club August 11, 2002, 9:00AM

Chuck Treibly Nick Cline(*2001)*(Posthumously)

As the 2001 football season came to an end, it was evident that the KFOA is one of the premier associations in the nation. Here is a list of some of the honors our members received at years end. Bob Brotzge, Jim Gutterman, Steve Ishmael and Phil Faust - KHSAA Championship games. Mike Hagan and Kavin McGrath - Army vs Navy with the President of the United States doing the toss. Charlie Showalter - SEC Championship game John McGrath - Citrus Bowl (Michigan vs Tennessee, Jan 1, ABC 1:00) Paul Jones - Outback Bowl Many of our OVC officials had Division I-AA playoff games As you can see the list is long. Congratulations to each one of you for an outstanding season. You make all of us in the KFOA proud to be a member.