West Coast Officials Association Tampa Monday July 16

West Coast Officials Association Tampa Monday July 16, 2018 General Membership

WORST OFFICIAL EVER AWARD!

WORST OFFICIAL EVER AWARD! As voted upon by the Fan, Families, Players, Coaches and multiple Youth, High School, Adult and other Sports Organizations.

WORST OFFICIAL EVER AWARD! This would include but not limited to, AAU, YBOA, USAA, YMCA, Jesuit Lawyer and JCC Adult league, Boys & Girls Club, TB Sports, I 9 and various Church leagues.

WORST OFFICIAL EVER AWARD! If you feel that you are deserving of this predigests award, please stand up!

WORST OFFICIAL EVER AWARD! These are your nominees!

WORST OFFICIAL EVER AWARD! And the winner is…?

WORST OFFICIAL EVER! RODNEY DICKERSON

Agenda - General Membership § § § § § Opening Remarks Introduction of Executive Board Officers Gold Whistle Awards Hall of Fame Introduction of Officers Football – Remarks & Introduction of Sports Committees Basketball – Remarks & Introduction of Sports Committee Update from FHSAA Leadership Conference Update from Lanness Robinson Treasurer Remarks, Dues, Fingerprints & Budget

WCOA Procedural Update Executive Board Meeting – Appointments § Treasurer, EO Chair, Secretary, BC’s § Booking Commissioner & Treasurer Agreements § Election Procedure & Election Committee – Lamarr Simon – Ella Coffee – Andrew Linden

Executive Board Officers Rodney Dickerson Greg Kaiser Dave Queen Kim Mowrey Larry Rothermel Mark Marino Marshal Dessalines Jerome Smith President VP of Football VP of Basketball Member-at-Large, Football Member-at-Large, Basketball Treasurer Secretary EO Chairperson

Golden Whistle Award

Golden Whistle Award Richard Birdsong 20 years of WCOA service

Golden Whistle Award Eric Newman 46 years of WCOA service

Golden Whistle Award Monty Theus 18 years of WCOA service

Golden Whistle Award Thom Powers 37 years of Service

Golden Whistle Award Richard Birdsong Eric Newman Monty Theus Thom Powers

WCOA HALL OF FAME 3 rd CLASS WCOA Hall Of Fame Criteria 1. A past or present member demonstrating the highest standards of ethical conduct, integrity, moral character, and professionalism in the community for past members and possibly having continuously performed distinguished service and leadership to the association, for current members in the West Coast Officials Association. 2. In addition to years served nominee must have made a worthy physical and/or mental contribution to the West Coast Officials Association during his time of membership. Longevity without significant contribution or achievements does not constitute credentials for consideration. 3. Nominee may be living or a deceased member. 4. Nominee must have served as a West Coast Officials Association Board Member, Officer, functioning committee post or directorship or some position of service such as Rules interpreter, for example. Distinguished contributions by any member should be considered as eligible. The board category could be a point in a nominees favor if a tie vote is involved. 5. Nominee must have been a West Coast Officials Association member for a minimum of twenty (20) years. Consideration will be given for extenuating circumstances.

Hall of Fame § Al Orr Basketball Official Al Orr was a member of WCOA football and basketball for probably 25 years. He was involved in many responsibilities in both sports but basketball was where he spent the most of his personal time contributing to VP of Basketball and served as training officer and as a sports rep for at least 15 or more years. He trained, evaluated and developed officials endlessly in both sports. He was involved with a group of members to move from a club to a business with a formal tax-ID number, bylaws and some formal procedure. He regularly served as a clinician in basketball and regularly was involved in either coordinating the football half-day client or taught the umpires class. Al worked whatever assignment was given to him when many officials didn’t want to work girls basketball or youth football. Al worked at least two state basketball finals. Al was a military officer coming to Tampa through Mac. Dill and he worked for the City of Tampa (or Hillsborough County) as a director of parks/recreation and worked with handicapped individuals. He was a regular volunteer/director for Special Olympics and was involved with USA Paralympics and served as an International Paralympics referee. Al also recruited/trained officials for wheelchair basketball.

Al Orr

Hall of Fame § Thom Powers Football/Basketball Officiated high school football and basketball in the state of Florida for 37 years. Functioned as Treasurer for the association for three different time periods, totaling approximately 15 years. He has been selected for post season assignments for 25 years in both football and basketball. FHSAA Service: Elected by his peers to serve two terms on the Florida Officials Advisory Committee representing football associations from one of the four regions in the state. Served on several FHSAA test preparation boards. Served as a football evaluator several years for crews during regional and championship play. Awards: WCOA Silver Whistle for dedicated service (1997) Tampa Bay Basketball Coaches Association - Official of the Year (2006) Tampa Bay Basketball Coaches Association - Official of the Year (2016) FHSAA Basketball Official of the Year (2008) WCOA Football Official of the Year (2007 and 2015) FHSAA Football Official of the Year (2009) Tampa Bay Chapter - National Football Foundation Official of the Year (2013

Thom Powers

WCOA HOF 3 rd INDUCTION CLASS Thom Powers Al Orr

Football Sports Committee Greg Kaiser VP of Football Carlos Nieves Sports Rep Jerome Ford Sports Rep - Grievance Harold Greenfield Sports Rep - Secretary Marty Palenik Sports Rep - Training Ken Calhoun Booking Commissioner Hank Weil Asst. Booking Commissioner

Basketball Sports Committee Dave Queen VP of Football Matt Geer Sports Rep Herman Broxton Sports Rep Victor Mc. Kenzie Sports Rep Marcus Williams Sports Rep Carl Erickson Nolan Padgett Booking Comm. - Assigning Booking Comm. - Rescheduling

Leadership Conference Notes NFHS Rules Book App § Each official will receive the NFHS Rules Book App after they register with the FHSAA § This app allows you to download the rules book to your phone, tablet, etc. without the need for internet access - This app has a keyword “search” feature § Officials had complained they couldn’t look up rules at schools and venues due to no internet access § The NFHS will likely cease to print rules books in the next 3 years, so if you haven’t mastered the electronic version you need to quickly learn

Leadership Conference Notes FHSAA Registration Increase By $2 § The FHSAA will increase their registration fee by $2 § This is to cover the cost of the NFHS Rules Book App that truly costs $4 per official § The remaining $2 cost was covered via the vendors who are contracted to sell official FHSAA uniforms

Leadership Conference Notes FHSAA Registration Adjustments § The time windows to register for the various sports will be expanded a bit § For brand new officials and transfers, there will be a “personalized registration” possible to allow these individuals the ability to register after the formal deadline without penalty § Previously, once the deadline had passed, registration was not permitted at all, however, the FHSAA doesn’t want to discourage anyone interested in being an official from having the opportunity given the shortage of officials

Leadership Conference Notes Coach / AD Meeting Must Be Offered § Each association much offer at one meeting a year that all coaches and athletic directors are invited to in order to review rules and discuss “hot topics” § The FHSAA will distribute the date to the schools in the area and then ask associations to report back to the FHSAA which schools actually showed up to participate

Leadership Conference Notes Rules Tests Considered A Liability § The FHSAA is not a big fan of granting waivers for officials who failed a sport’s rules exam to be allowed to work games that their failing score would have disqualified them for § If there is an injury during the game that results in civil action, attorneys can ask for the test scores of the officials who worked the game – Why was an official with a 72% on the exam assigned? § For Hillsborough County Public Schools, our contract prohibits anyone who scores less than an 80% from taking the field for a varsity contest (this is a higher standard than the FHSAA’s 76%)

Leadership Conference Notes Working On Increasing Officials’ Pay § The FHSAA asked all associations to report their booking fees, travel fees, etc. in order to see what game fee increase could be reasonably justified § Several associations refused to report this information for fear the FHSAA would limit these ancillary fees - Some associations charge 3 to 4 times what others do for the same sport and the same number or even lesser number of games - A few associations use such fees to pay board members - FYI, the WCOA doesn’t pay the president, vice-presidents or board members a dime

Leadership Conference Notes How Do Associations Get More Post Season Assignments? § Geography is a huge determiner in what associations are assigned to which playoff games § If all things are equal, what would give one association an advantage over another? 1) Impress the schools you work in the playoffs 2) Quickly accept and confirm playoff assignments to the FHSAA office 3) When playoff crews are assigned, have minimal changes to the crews from what was initially submitted 4) No Drama – phone calls, complaining, brown nosing

Lanness Robinson Notes § MUST know your Lawson number to report to the school in order to get paid – No Lawson number means you will get placed on the county’s No Pay and No Assign List § Lawson numbers are a vendor number that you use instead of your Social Security number which helps protect you from identity theft

Lanness Robinson Notes § Game reports are VERY important to him – Issues are addressed with the school if we raise them – Reports need to be very specific and submitted promptly to get the problems addressed immediately Ø He needs to know the exact school and problem – If there is a particular issue the game report doesn’t cover, email that to VP of Football or Basketball and they will summarize the emails received each week into a single email to Lanness

Treasurer – Mark Marino § General Remarks § Dues / Fines § 2018 - 2019 WCOA Budget