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PLAY BALL by Jason bacaJ ’10
For the last 30 years, The Hon. William Broadhurst ’79L has spent his weekends watching football. But Broadhurst wasn’t watching from the sidelines or the comfort of his living room. Instead, he was in the middle of the games— as a referee. “Up until 18 months ago, I had wonderful anonymity,” he said. But he was outed when an attorney from Roanoke went to a game at the University of Richmond and brought a long-lens camera and a headset to also listen to the game on the local radio station. A penalty was called, and the announcers wondered aloud what decision head referee Bill Broadhurst would make. The attorney looked through his camera lens and recognized his colleague, Roanoke Circuit Court Judge William Broadhurst. “Some guys hunt, some guys fish. Some officiate,” Broadhurst explained. Broadhurst began moonlighting as a referee in 1982, after the Roanoke commonwealth’s attorney, Donald S. Caldwell, suggested he try it out one weekend. Over the last 27 years, Broadhurst worked his way through the ranks from Pop Warner to the Football Championship Subdivision, formerly Division 1-AA. Broadhurst works games for the Colonial Athletic Association, Patriot League, Ivy League and, when time permits, USA South and Old Dominion Athletic Conference games. But officiating isn’t simply a weekend pastime. Referees spend nearly as much time preparing for a game as the players do. As head referee, or “white hat,” Broadhurst must upload the previous game’s foul report on Sunday and download that game’s film to review his crew’s 16
performance. On Monday, he confirms meeting times with coaches for the upcoming week’s game and checks hotel reservations. Tuesdays, he reviews the game film, holds a conference call with his officiating crew to discuss their performance and reviews notes from the officiating observer who watched the game on Saturday. On Wednesday, he finalizes travel plans and talks with the supervisor of officials about any types of fouls his crew has missed or called incorrectly. Thursdays are free, but on Friday Broadhurst travels to the city hosting the game, holds a post-dinner meeting with his crew to watch the previous week’s game film and a training film from the supervisor, and completes a weekly rules exam. On Saturday there’s a pregame meeting, and, finally, the game. “Officiating is a fairly time-consuming hobby,” Broadhurst admited. “Not including travel, I’d say it takes a full two days.” Having a degree of control over his schedule helps him handle the extra workload. He can free up Fridays to accommodate his travel, but the downside is that he has to make five days of work fit into four. And he acknowledges that after shoehorning an officiating job into a judge’s already busy schedule, family time can get pushed to the wayside. “It’s a sacrifice for all officials,” Broadhurst said. “I like to think I handled it in proper proportion, but I probably haven’t.” Broadhurst plans to referee for as long as he’s physically able and still having fun. “Being part of an officiating crew is like being part of a team, made up of individuals who work hard, sacrificing physically and mentally for the good of the crew,” he said. “Those qualities are harder to find in the world than you’d think.” W & L
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