[
HIS SPACE] editorial
A Ref for Life S
At a time when good officials are at a premium, lacrosse lost a great one in Scott Frederick
cott Frederick, a men’s lacrosse official for more than 40 years and the founder of the National Collegiate Lacrosse League (NCLL), died Dec. 22 from injuries sustained in a kitchen fire at his home in Baltimore. I think his passing went unnoticed by too many lacrosse people.
Many of them no doubt never heard of him, but there are plenty who have. I think Scott Frederick officiated more games than anyone who ever lived. Frederick never became a big-name lacrosse official like Matt Palumb or Kevin O’Leary, who regularly work marquee TV games and NCAA final fours. Scotty worked at places where you might not even
know lacrosse is played. He belongs in the
Guinness Book of Records under “most games refereed in a lifetime,” because he didn’t just officiate men’s lacrosse. He worked everything, including football, girls’ lacrosse and field hockey. He officiated wherever they wanted someone in a black-and- white striped shirt to blow a whistle — for a fee, of course.
Frederick was a ref. That’s how he made his living his whole life. There were brief periods of other employment along the way. (He was an occasional disc jockey.) Most of all he was a lacrosse official, pure and simple.
I officiated lacrosse and football with Scotty a long time ago. I stopped by the
time I was 40. Scotty was just getting started. He never did stop. He was 75 years old when he died. In his final years he worked a lot of games with Chuck Mallonee, of the same age. Chuck is still officiating. At the funeral home where we paid respects to Scotty, I saw numerous lacrosse officials, including Mallonee, Chris Eley, Fred Eisenbrandt and Mitch Tullai. Chuck told me that last year, when they were 74, he and Scotty worked six games in Pennsylvania at places like Kutztown State.
“Who sent you way up there?” I asked Chuck. “Scotty,” he said. “He was the assigning authority. Sometimes he called his own number.” Mitch Tullai officiated college national
championship games with Eisenbrandt back in the day. The highly respected Tullai
thinks Frederick belongs in the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame.
Justification for that, even more than his longevity with the whistle, is that Frederick was instrumental in creating an umbrella organization for club teams at colleges that did not play NCAA lacrosse, plus some like Loyola, Johns Hopkins and Navy that had NCAA teams but also fielded club teams. Naturally Scotty officiated their games. “Scott was the first official in the East to establish centralized officiating services for the NCLL,” said US Lacrosse president and CEO Steve Stenersen, “120-plus college club teams stretching up and down the East Coast.”
I officiated lacrosse and football with Scotty a long time ago. I stopped by the time I was 40. Scotty was just getting started. He never did stop. He was 75 years old when he died.
30 LACROSSE MAGAZINE March 2012 >>
Lacrosse would benefit from having more Scotty Fredericks today, people who could answer the “Officials Wanted” cry that grows louder as the sport expands. US Lacrosse provides training, representation and services for all men’s and women’s officials nationwide. “Nationally, the supply of officials is never adequate,” said Lucia Perfetti Clark, manager of officials training and umpire development at US Lacrosse. “In areas where the game is growing, officials are an afterthought. They want coaches trained and players playing, but there is little consideration for the fact that someone needs to call the games.” Scotty, ol’ friend, we could really use you now. LM
—Bill Tanton
btanton@uslacrosse.org A Publication of US Lacrosse
©JOHN STROHSACKER
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116