COVID-19 takes whistle from ref
MAHONING TWP. — For the better part of 62 years, and the last 46, Cary “Bud” Breech has been a fixture on local fields and courts.
Breech estimates he has called 2,500 soccer, basketball, baseball and softball games. They range from youth leagues to PIAA — with 99% of them taking place in District 4.
He was going to hang up his whistle for good later this spring, but the coronavirus pandemic forced him to do so a few months earlier than anticipated.
But you won’t hear him complain.
“I had more good times than bad. It kept me active,” he said. “I went into (officiating) primarily because I didn’t think much about it as a player, saying, ‘I could shoot my mouth.’
“How good of a job I did, I don’t know. I think the unique thing is I held a valid officiating license” off and on since 1959.
Breech has taken time away from the position due to service in the U.S. Army (1964-67) or health concerns. In only one of those years did he count the number of contests he officiated, saying he worked 68 soccer games and another 108 baseball and softball games that year.
“They add up after all these years,” he said.
As he aged, the landscape and workload changed for Breech.
He once officiated every other game in a basketball tournament, spanning 14 hours — 8 a.m. to midnight — before he got home.
But as he got older, he started officiating by his own rules, attempting to avoid night games because he would have to oversee junior varsity and varsity games.
Of course, not everything that came with the task of refereeing was positive.
Years ago, Breech wrote an editorial for the Press Enterprise, detailing the political process behind who got to call certain games. That, along with the numerous reiterations of the rules and policies, began to wear on him.
“In order to get playoff games, you had to go to a conference in Harrisburg,” he said. “You either had to roam to and from for three straight days or get a hotel, with your own money for two nights.”
He may not always have agreed with how things worked, but Breech always went back. And he chose to tune out the negative and listen to positive feedback.
“I’m mostly tone deaf in my right ear and would run along the sidelines with that side facing the crowd,” he said. “... There were times when fans would approach me and other refs and compliment us. That always meant more to me than the money I got doing it.”
The seasoned ref also has advice and an idea of what the job will look like years down the road.
“If the young guys have rabbit ears and pick up everything the fans, coaches or players say, they aren’t going to last long,” he said.
And with the number of volunteers being a concern for the PIAA, “I think the schools are going to have to have their assistant coaches learn officiating because volunteers aren’t going to want to do this much longer.”
As for Breech, he has mostly fond memories of his time getting paid to watch sports. But now is his time to put away the whistle and spend time with his family.
“I always joked with my wife that I would quit this when we celebrate 50 years of marriage,” he said. “We celebrate 50 years this June, and it looks like I hit that goal.”
Link to story: https://www.pressenterpriseonline.com/daily/page/story/covid-19-takes-whistle-from-ref
