An Official Crisis: Age, pay, and abuse at heart of declining roster of referees locally and nationwide

July 24--It's the last day of the high school baseball regular season in the spring of 2021. Two teams are battling it out for a section championship and seeding in the WPIAL playoffs.

It's the bottom of the seventh in a one-run game. The tying run is on first with two outs. The batter lashes the ball into right field. It lands right near the foul line and kicks into the corner.

With no chance to get the runner scoring from first, the cutoff throw zips into third base as the batter tries for a triple. The ball and the batter arrive at the same time. If he's out, the game is over. If he's safe, the score is tied and the game plays on.

It's the type of call that umpires across the country handle on a regular basis. Now imagine there is only one umpire on the field. That single umpire has to judge whether the ball was fair or foul when it landed in right field, make sure the runner on first touches every base as he comes around to score, and make a judgement on the play at third.

Such a scenario may only seem like a hypothetical, but it's a very real fear for longtime officials in Beaver County like Lenny Leiper. A veteran official in multiple sports, Leiper assigns games for the Beaver Valley chapter of officials.

"We are in dire straits," Leiper said. "If it doesn't get any better, you're going to see one guy at games. Because we just can't cover them."

The National Federation of State High School Association, which governs the rule book for high school sports, requires only one official for baseball, softball and basketball. It's far from ideal, but if the numbers don't change, it may soon be the only option in Beaver County and beyond. While the Beaver Valley is hurting for officials, it's far from alone.

There are roughly 14,000 officials certified by the PIAA throughout the state. The WPIAL estimates it has about 2,300 male officials and 300 female officials operating within its boundaries. But those officials are getting increasingly older. According to Barry Mano, president of the National Association of Sports Officials (NASO), the average starting age for sports officials in 1972 was 18. In 2016, it was 42.

In the Beaver Valley chapter, Leiper said the number of football officials has dropped into the 50s from a peak around 90. Baseball, once in the 50s and 60s, is down to about 30. Softball has dropped to just 18.

"Everybody is just strapped for officials," Leiper said.

The issues aren't just with recruitment, but retention. The NASO estimates that 70 percent of new officials quit within their first three years. It's a clear line of demarcation that has administrators scrambling for ways to keep those new officials engaged.

"If you can keep an official through their second year, that is what you need to do to keep them for any length of time," said Patrick Gebhart, an assistant executive director who oversees officials for the PIAA.

So what's driving officials away besides those who are aging out?

In a nationwide survey conducted by the NASO, 47.9 percent of male officials and 44.7 percent of female officials have felt unsafe because of the behavior of an administrator, coach, player or spectator. The survey added that 57 percent of officials believe sportsmanship is getting worse, particularly at the youth level, and a plurality cited parents as the most problematic. Nearly 85 percent of officials who responded said that spectators treat them unfairly, even if it doesn't rise to outright abuse.

Pay is also a concern, as 63.5 percent believe they are underpaid, though they add that school district budget constraints understandably play a role. Still, inconsistent methods of payment, increased demands on time, and escalating cases of fan abuse have officials saying the pay is no longer fair.

Those numbers are just the beginning. Over the next week, the Times will explore the varying ways that officials are paid, why recruitment and retention of fresh legs has proven to be be so challenging, the reasons behind escalating cases of abuse, and how some officials maintain their passion in the pursuit of jobs as college and pro referees. Ultimately, though, the conversation centers around one central topic.

"The overriding concern that we all have is that we don't have enough officials and the ones we do have all been around for a long time," said Bill Sinning, the PIAA male officials representative for the WPIAL. "That's not unique to western Pennsylvania or Pennsylvania in general. It's a nationwide event."

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