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NBA Referee Dick Bavetta Bounced Into Hall of Fame
BY RICHIE BRAND, FOR INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
10/26/2015
Bavetta grew up in Brooklyn and started whistling NBA fouls in 1975.
When Dick Bavetta missed the cut as a National Basketball Association referee in the mid-1970s, he didn't fret. After all, it was the ninth year in a row that the Brooklyn native had come up short at tryouts to be an NBA official. What was one more?
Rather than quit, Bavetta kept shooting for his dream. And when he broke through, he didn't stop until he reached the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Along the way, the son of an NYPD cop clocked a record for consecutive games officiated — 2,635 in the regular season — during his 39-year career as an NBA ref.
Daddy's Boy
Not missing a beat was in Bavetta's genes.
"I saw my dad as a policeman working all hours of the day," Bavetta, 75, told IBD. "Through all kinds of weather, I never heard him say anything about not going in. ... He always showed up. My parents' habits just became inherent, and that work ethic became a part of my DNA."
Richard William Bavetta was born in 1939 in America's mecca of basketball, New York City.
But in the Big Apple, Bavetta was just a small fry.
Bavetta's Keys
Hall of Fame NBA official for 39 years.
Overcame: Rejected nine straight years from NBA referee tryouts.
Lesson: Being persistent and focusing on goals can help overcome obstacles.
"Sometimes I just pinch myself and wonder how I've been able to affect other people's lives just by going about my normal routine."
Reared in Brooklyn's working-class Park Slope neighborhood, the diminutive Bavetta did not stand out on the court.
He played hoops in the Catholic Youth Organization, then at St. Saviour's grammar school. He grew, but not much in basketball terms, never topping 5 feet 10 inches and 155 pounds, even as an adult.
Though he described himself "at best average" as a player on the court, Bavetta made his high school team at Manhattan's Power Memorial Academy, the same school that legendary baller Kareem Abdul-Jabbar would attend.
From there, Bavetta played at St. Francis College in Brooklyn.
While Bavetta was getting his Master of Business Administration in the 1960s from the New York Institute of Finance, prepping for a career on Wall Street, his older brother, Joe, lured him back to the game he loved.
Joe was a New York City Police Department detective and one of Dick's greatest influences. The man with the badge moonlighted as a referee, officiating games in the American Basketball Association, Eastern League and high schools throughout the city.
Dick was a broker by then, in management training at Salomon Bros., and watched Joe referee games.
Dick also kept involved by playing in a Wall Street recreation league.
From Player To Ref
One night after a game that Dick participated in as a player, Joe's referee partner failed to show.
Dick got the call and the whistle, which became entrenched as a part of his uniform.
For the next decade, Bavetta juggled his job on Wall Street while officiating games on the side.
With Joe opening doors and serving as his reference — Dick was known as "Joe Bavetta's brother" during his first five years as a ref in the area — the younger sibling seized every opportunity to get on the court.
High school games, rec league, Eastern League, Jersey Shore Basketball League — he was in on the action all over the East Coast.
And when Bavetta passed his refereeing accreditation test in November 1966, he shot for the moon.
Convincing The NBA
It took eight years to change the league's mind, and when Bavetta made the cut in 1974 and began working games the next year, it was only as a part-time referee.
He steadily rose through the ranks, becoming full time in 1977 and one of the best at his craft.
Among other things, Bavetta would sweat to make it happen.
Throughout his career, he developed a running routine no matter which city he was in — six miles on game days, eight miles on off days.
Being in shape and consistent — even wearing five pairs of socks each game — boosted him.
"A work ethic adds to your confidence in any profession," said the Hall of Famer. "And a solid understanding of the rules enabled me to succeed and be certain there was nothing I couldn't handle. Sometimes just getting to a game and being there — there were so many obstacles to overcome weatherwise, and in other circumstances, that just getting there gave me the confidence to overcome any challenge that might come up with the game."
Roadblocks were prevalent during Bavetta's nearly four decades in the league.
Tough Contest
Take the 1984 game between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers, when his partner, referee Jack Madden, broke his leg in the first half.
Bavetta worked the rest of the game alone, even calming things down when a full-scale brawl initiated by future Hall of Famers Larry Bird and Julius Erving broke out on the court.
How did he de-escalate the situation? In part by tossing the two legends from the game.
Fifteen years later, Bavetta was in the middle of another melee.
This time he took the worst of it.
When New York Knicks center Patrick Ewing got into it with the Indiana Pacers' Jalen Rose at Madison Square Garden, Bavetta ended up on the floor.
Rose threw a punch meant for Ewing that missed and landed squarely on the referee's face.
Bavetta finished the game with a broken nose and a Band-Aid.
But he was not down for the count. Bavetta kept his ironman streak of consecutive games going, officiating his scheduled New Jersey Nets-Atlanta Hawks showdown at the Meadowlands on the night after surgery.
Bavetta drove through snowstorms between cities to get around airport closures, diverted to more regional airports than he can count to combat delays, and subbed at the last minute for other officials who tapped out.
It was, in part, because time with his family was what counted.
"I knew that if I couldn't make a game, they'd have to call someone to fill in for me," said Bavetta. "And that really interrupts the normal schedule because we didn't get that many days at home."
Jeff Van Gundy, who can attest to life on the road with his 11 seasons as an NBA head coach, knows why Bavetta stuck: "A lot goes into never missing a game, but what stood out about Dick was his enthusiasm."
Bavetta, who in 1992 became the first NBA official to referee the Olympic Games, credits his wife of nearly 50 years, Paulette, and daughters Christine and Michele for sustaining his long career.
"Not every game goes the way we want," said Bavetta from his ranch in Ocala, Fla. "The fact that there was always someone to talk to at home — they were always calming factors, great listeners. We all at times need someone to vent to, and I just had that strong family core. ... It made it all a lot easier, their understanding of what I was doing. ... They accepted the sacrifices."
The former referee is charitable, too, funding the Lady Bavetta Scholarships that have sent minority children to parochial high schools for the past 30 years.
Marathon Career
Bavetta was proficient in his discipline, officiating 270 playoff games, 27 NBA Finals games and three All-Star games before retiring after the 2013-14 season.
It all led to his Hall call last month in Springfield, Mass., something Van Gundy calls well deserved: "It's great that officials are getting recognized, because they have a huge impact on the game. Anyone who has ever played or coached realizes their effect. Officials have a special burden because they have to be impartial and fight human nature ... and I think Dick did a great job of fitting that bill."
BY RICHIE BRAND, FOR INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
10/26/2015
Bavetta grew up in Brooklyn and started whistling NBA fouls in 1975.
When Dick Bavetta missed the cut as a National Basketball Association referee in the mid-1970s, he didn't fret. After all, it was the ninth year in a row that the Brooklyn native had come up short at tryouts to be an NBA official. What was one more?
Rather than quit, Bavetta kept shooting for his dream. And when he broke through, he didn't stop until he reached the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Along the way, the son of an NYPD cop clocked a record for consecutive games officiated — 2,635 in the regular season — during his 39-year career as an NBA ref.
Daddy's Boy
Not missing a beat was in Bavetta's genes.
"I saw my dad as a policeman working all hours of the day," Bavetta, 75, told IBD. "Through all kinds of weather, I never heard him say anything about not going in. ... He always showed up. My parents' habits just became inherent, and that work ethic became a part of my DNA."
Richard William Bavetta was born in 1939 in America's mecca of basketball, New York City.
But in the Big Apple, Bavetta was just a small fry.
Bavetta's Keys
Hall of Fame NBA official for 39 years.
Overcame: Rejected nine straight years from NBA referee tryouts.
Lesson: Being persistent and focusing on goals can help overcome obstacles.
"Sometimes I just pinch myself and wonder how I've been able to affect other people's lives just by going about my normal routine."
Reared in Brooklyn's working-class Park Slope neighborhood, the diminutive Bavetta did not stand out on the court.
He played hoops in the Catholic Youth Organization, then at St. Saviour's grammar school. He grew, but not much in basketball terms, never topping 5 feet 10 inches and 155 pounds, even as an adult.
Though he described himself "at best average" as a player on the court, Bavetta made his high school team at Manhattan's Power Memorial Academy, the same school that legendary baller Kareem Abdul-Jabbar would attend.
From there, Bavetta played at St. Francis College in Brooklyn.
While Bavetta was getting his Master of Business Administration in the 1960s from the New York Institute of Finance, prepping for a career on Wall Street, his older brother, Joe, lured him back to the game he loved.
Joe was a New York City Police Department detective and one of Dick's greatest influences. The man with the badge moonlighted as a referee, officiating games in the American Basketball Association, Eastern League and high schools throughout the city.
Dick was a broker by then, in management training at Salomon Bros., and watched Joe referee games.
Dick also kept involved by playing in a Wall Street recreation league.
From Player To Ref
One night after a game that Dick participated in as a player, Joe's referee partner failed to show.
Dick got the call and the whistle, which became entrenched as a part of his uniform.
For the next decade, Bavetta juggled his job on Wall Street while officiating games on the side.
With Joe opening doors and serving as his reference — Dick was known as "Joe Bavetta's brother" during his first five years as a ref in the area — the younger sibling seized every opportunity to get on the court.
High school games, rec league, Eastern League, Jersey Shore Basketball League — he was in on the action all over the East Coast.
And when Bavetta passed his refereeing accreditation test in November 1966, he shot for the moon.
Convincing The NBA
It took eight years to change the league's mind, and when Bavetta made the cut in 1974 and began working games the next year, it was only as a part-time referee.
He steadily rose through the ranks, becoming full time in 1977 and one of the best at his craft.
Among other things, Bavetta would sweat to make it happen.
Throughout his career, he developed a running routine no matter which city he was in — six miles on game days, eight miles on off days.
Being in shape and consistent — even wearing five pairs of socks each game — boosted him.
"A work ethic adds to your confidence in any profession," said the Hall of Famer. "And a solid understanding of the rules enabled me to succeed and be certain there was nothing I couldn't handle. Sometimes just getting to a game and being there — there were so many obstacles to overcome weatherwise, and in other circumstances, that just getting there gave me the confidence to overcome any challenge that might come up with the game."
Roadblocks were prevalent during Bavetta's nearly four decades in the league.
Tough Contest
Take the 1984 game between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers, when his partner, referee Jack Madden, broke his leg in the first half.
Bavetta worked the rest of the game alone, even calming things down when a full-scale brawl initiated by future Hall of Famers Larry Bird and Julius Erving broke out on the court.
How did he de-escalate the situation? In part by tossing the two legends from the game.
Fifteen years later, Bavetta was in the middle of another melee.
This time he took the worst of it.
When New York Knicks center Patrick Ewing got into it with the Indiana Pacers' Jalen Rose at Madison Square Garden, Bavetta ended up on the floor.
Rose threw a punch meant for Ewing that missed and landed squarely on the referee's face.
Bavetta finished the game with a broken nose and a Band-Aid.
But he was not down for the count. Bavetta kept his ironman streak of consecutive games going, officiating his scheduled New Jersey Nets-Atlanta Hawks showdown at the Meadowlands on the night after surgery.
Bavetta drove through snowstorms between cities to get around airport closures, diverted to more regional airports than he can count to combat delays, and subbed at the last minute for other officials who tapped out.
It was, in part, because time with his family was what counted.
"I knew that if I couldn't make a game, they'd have to call someone to fill in for me," said Bavetta. "And that really interrupts the normal schedule because we didn't get that many days at home."
Jeff Van Gundy, who can attest to life on the road with his 11 seasons as an NBA head coach, knows why Bavetta stuck: "A lot goes into never missing a game, but what stood out about Dick was his enthusiasm."
Bavetta, who in 1992 became the first NBA official to referee the Olympic Games, credits his wife of nearly 50 years, Paulette, and daughters Christine and Michele for sustaining his long career.
"Not every game goes the way we want," said Bavetta from his ranch in Ocala, Fla. "The fact that there was always someone to talk to at home — they were always calming factors, great listeners. We all at times need someone to vent to, and I just had that strong family core. ... It made it all a lot easier, their understanding of what I was doing. ... They accepted the sacrifices."
The former referee is charitable, too, funding the Lady Bavetta Scholarships that have sent minority children to parochial high schools for the past 30 years.
Marathon Career
Bavetta was proficient in his discipline, officiating 270 playoff games, 27 NBA Finals games and three All-Star games before retiring after the 2013-14 season.
It all led to his Hall call last month in Springfield, Mass., something Van Gundy calls well deserved: "It's great that officials are getting recognized, because they have a huge impact on the game. Anyone who has ever played or coached realizes their effect. Officials have a special burden because they have to be impartial and fight human nature ... and I think Dick did a great job of fitting that bill."