DOVER - As long as there is basketball there will be referees and as long as there are referees, they will be cussed and discussed, but it is doubtful if any set working a Tuscarawas County Tournament will draw enough fire to equal the record of the set working the current Class B tourney at Memorial Hall. The 3 are Adrian "Fizz" Miller of Strasburg, Russ Stevenson of Midvale and Ben Schreiner of Gnadenhutten and they have already drawn enough "boos" from the audiences that have packed the Hall, to set a record...and the tournament doesn't end until tonight.
Fans...followers of the competing teams and others who have attended the meeting just to see the basketball teams...are almost in accord in their criticism of the work and have aimed some of the criticism at school officials handling the tournament. The officials are not to blame. After the referees were named, they were assigned to the brackets of the tournament before the teams drew their places in the brackets.
When it turned out that Miller was to work the Strasburg games, Stevenson the Midvale games and Schreiner the Gnaden games, the coaches of the League discussed it at some length and then let the matter stand. So the referees aren't responsible for their assignments. Miller worked the Strasburg game last night and received the worst punishment of the meeting for 2 fouls he called on Dundee's Dick Machan. In one case, the booing lasted several minutes and the game was held up.
Fans have become so partisan about the officiating that they have started counting the fouls assessed by the various officials against the various teams...and the figures look bad. Just so some fond parent or some League student doesn't have the wrong idea, the individual medals offered in the tournament do not go to the tournament winner and the League winner. They go to the tournament winner and runner-up. Otherwise one team might win both sets.
A.C. Bahler, Sugarcreek-Shanesville School Superintendent who is managing the tournament was back in good spirits last night when all the seats were filled...he is again predicting a record attendance for the tournament as a whole...cheering groups from the various schools lose no time in picking their favorites and going to bat for them...Strasburg pulled for Midvale, Sugarcreek-Shanesville for Tuscasrawas, etc., one natural rival against the other all the way. Tusky's Rolli was assessed a technical foul last night for throwing the ball into the crowd...wonder who will pay for the woman's spectacles broken when the ball hit her along the side of the head!
Saturday, February 25, 1939
The Daily Reporter
Dover, Ohio
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