Unscripted with James Craig
“I officiate/umpire because I absolutely love it! What has changed in the past 15 years is that parents now look at sports as a way to earn scholarships to college and that has made the stakes even higher and put more pressure on those of us that officiate the games. This threatens the very existence of officiating in the future…”
Unscripted
By Keith Edmonds
Ink Spot Contributing Writer
AIn athletic contests there are so many moving pieces that make the experiences for athletes, parents and fans memorable (or unmemorable at times) that we rarely take the time to acknowledge their existence. From the players, to the coaches, and of course the spectators everyone in attendance plays a role in making the contest complete. While all of these components play a vital role in each event there is one role that may be the MOST overlooked but could be the most CRITICAL during an athletic contest and that is the role of the OFFICIALS, UMPIRES or REFEREES. These men and women control the ebb and flow of the event and unfortunately receive lots of criticism and scrutiny from most everyone in attendance. In today’s UNSCRIPTED I have the honor of sharing time with a man that is/has been widely recognized as one of the best in our state of Indiana by being selected to be inducted into the Indiana High School Hall of Fame.
During our time together, I asked James “Stevie” Craig what made him get into officiating and what keeps him going after almost 40 years in this business, along with being recognized for his talents on/off the field of play…
UNSCRIPTED: What made you make the decision to become an official? Especially in today’s world of intense scrutinty and to be honest, abuse you receive?
JAMES: “In the beginning I was playing American Legion ball and one of the things they asked us to do was “give back” to the game. My choices were groundskeeper, scorekeeper, or umpire. The only one that paid was umpiring so my my mom suggested that I go into umpiring. So I started umpiring teeball, and little league games which was a nice and easy way to make money. In those days parents just came out to watch their kids play strictly for “enjoyment of the game.” What has changed in let’s say the past 15 years is that parents now look at sports as a way to earn scholarships to college and that has made the stakes even higher and put more pressure on those of us that officiate the games. This threatens the very existence of officiating in the future.”
UNSCRIPTED: Why do you think that things have changed so dramatically for something that used to be a very respective position?
JAMES: “It still a very respective position but what has happened is that we have lost the “local” feel of sports in our area. We used to have Little Leagues, and Babe Ruth leagues all over our area but that has been replaced by travel ball and AAU. Parents are coming out of their pockets to support their kids financially and you know as well as I do that when money comes into a situation the stakes become extrem higher. The high schools have almost lost their input”
UNSCIPTED: Do you think that it’s becoming extinct in regards to officials, are parents taking over? There were highly respected men such as Tom Knox and Clark Hamilton who were not only well-respected officials but tremendous mentors for us. Are people like this becoming after-thoughts?
JAMES: “The legacy of men like those exists today in James Payne who is the first person that comes to my mind when you use words like “mentor” and “role-model” to describe officials in our area. The problem is that there aren’t enough people like him in the pipeline coming from the lower levels to replace those of us in the twilight of our career. So to answer your question, YES, I think that in some capacity you’ll see more parents officiating games and athletic contests especially at the lower levels. Now with all this being said, I wouldn’t give this up for anything!”
UNSCRIPTED: Let’s shift for a moment.. With the advent of games being broadcast on YouTube or SummitCitySports. Has that changed how you officiate games knowing that you can reviewed over and over or do you just continue being who you are in your approach towards officiating games?
JAMES: “I’m going to do what I do! People like to use the term “swallowing your whistle” when referring to us as referees, or officials but what I try to do (and instruct my crew as wel to dol) is treat every game the exact same way. So we don’t look for EVERY single way to penalize a team or “guppy’s” let’s say, but instead we look for the major things or “whales” that affect the flow of a particular play. That keeps the game flowing in a smooth direction and hopefuly when it’s all said and done, people won’t even know we were there that night which is a huge compliment to us!”
UNSCRIPTED: To bring this to a close, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that you were recently bestowed a tremendous honor that I’d like you to share
JAMES: “I was recently awarded the 2022 IHSAA Umpire of the Year by the Northeastern Officials Association. I am only the 2nd baseball official in this associiation to receive this honor which means a lot to me.” I saw other individuals get this award and was hoping that my time would come at a point which was at the peak of my abilities, and fortunately it came. Quick fact though, if I had 2 phones in front of me and one rang to do a baseball game and the other a football game, I’d take the football game call first in a heartbeat!”