Each winter, they spend as many as five nights per week driving along dark, isolated stretches of roads that often are covered in snow or blotted with patches of ice.
They traverse the state, moving from school to school, to take on their assignments. Each time, upon arrival, the dark and cold give way to warm, brightly lit gymnasiums filled with the smell of popcorn, the buzz of excited fans and the pounding of basketballs on the hardwood.
That scenario is routine for veteran Maine basketball officials John Shoppe, Joe Clukey and Tracie Martin.
The trio features a combined 94 years of experience as board-certified referees, which means they have a lot of stories to share.
Staying in the game
Shoppe is a 1970 graduate of Sumner Memorial High School in East Sullivan, where he played ball for coach Gerry Kane. It was there he got his start officiating, covering the girls club team’s games.
“They had six girls with the two forwards, the two guards and two rovers,” Shoppee said. “You were allowed two dribbles before you had to pass, and only the rovers could go back and forth across midcourt.”
Shoppe, 62, has been a member of the Eastern Maine Board of Approved Basketball Officials Board 111 for 35 years. He referees more than 150 games per year, including youth leagues, AAU, high school and college contests.
Clukey’s introduction to officiating came after he served in the U.S. Air Force and was hired at WHOU radio in Houlton. The Island Falls native played basketball at Southern Aroostook High School in Dyer Brook (Class of 1977). But with a full schedule of broadcasting games in front of him, Clukey knew he would benefit from doing some homework.
“I thought, if I’m going to do these games and probably criticize referees, I should know what I’m talking about,” joked Clukey, who took the class for prospective officials, passed his tests and began doing a few sub-varsity games.
“I would do a JV game, change my clothes and broadcast the varsity game. It worked out great for me,” he said.
Clukey, 55, is the assistant vice president and retail services officer at Katahdin Trust Company in Presque Isle. He is completing his 29th season wearing the striped shirt.
Martin learned to love basketball growing up on Vinalhaven, where she scored 972 career points in high school. Upon graduating from the University of Maine, she was hired as a physical education teacher at Narraguagus High in Harrington in 1985.
She has been officiating ever since — even during the 10 years she coached girls basketball (seven as head coach) and amid a stint as the athletic director at Narraguagus.
“Any nights I didn’t have a game, I’d have practice until 4 and then head off and referee somewhere,” said Martin, who is in her 29th year. “For 10 years, it was pretty crazy.”
Shoppe, who lives in Lamoine, thrives on officiating to help pass the winter months. He worked sub-varsity games for almost 10 years, in the days before there was an assignor to match referees to games, before joining the International Association of Approved Basketball Officials.
He remembers his first varsity game: a girls contest at Bucksport against Mount Desert Island.
“A girl went up for a shot. And I got so excited and I bit down on my whistle and the side of the whistle broke out and the little pea fell on the floor,” Shoppe recounted. “The girl got clobbered, and everyone’s hollering. I’m waving my hands trying to stop the game.”
Shoppe was doing double duty at the game. He was then an assistant at Ellsworth under girls coach Russ Boynton, which gave him the chance to check out two future opponents.
Coaches Bob Liebow of Bucksport and Burt Barker of Mount Desert Island were surprised to see Shoppe reffing the game.
“They’re both real good friends of mine and they looked at me and said, ‘What are you doing here?’ I said, ‘I’m scouting and refereeing,’” Shoppe said with a chuckle.
Friends along the way
Officials who share rides to game venues often deal with bad weather.
Clukey, who worked for four years at WAGM-TV in Presque Isle before entering the financial realm, had one harrowing driving experience. He and fellow official Mike Cote — who only a few weeks before was involved in a car-moose crash — were returning home from a game in Fort Kent.
“We crested the hill, and I realized that I had absolutely no control of my car,” said Clukey, who pointed out that thankfully there was no oncoming traffic as the car went into a spin.
“The car hit the snowbank, went up over the snowbank and settled wheels-down in the ditch just short of the woods,” he added.
The men were shaken but unhurt. One of the players and a parent from the game they officiated stopped to wait with them until a tow truck arrived.
Despite the travel, late nights and complaints from some fans and coaches, basketball officiating is rewarding.
To a great extent, the best part has nothing to do with the actual games.
“The people that you work with year after year, you build a pretty good camaraderie with them. There’s a little bond there that everybody builds,” said Martin, who is among the most visible and respected female officials in a field made up mostly of men.
“I think now it’s kind of more accepted,” Martin said. “There’s more women getting involved in it, which is great.”
The referees said being able to stay active is a positive benefit of officiating. They often are reminded how long they’ve been doing it when they see young players with familiar names.
Don’t take it personally
“A lot of the kids now, I refereed games when their parents played,” Clukey said. “There’s a circle of life kind of thing going on.”
The officials sometimes encounter irate fans or angry coaches who disagree with calls.
“I think the toughest part is having a friend that you’ve known for years hollering and screaming as though you’re cheating them,” Shoppe said.
“With the thousands of calls I’ve made, the only thing a referee can say is, when he blows the whistle, he thought what he called was right,” he added.
Often, referees don’t hear the negative comments — or at least try to tune them out.
“It’s part of the game and you’ve just got to try to move on, not take it personal,” Martin said.
The officials admit they do make mistakes.
“Sometimes, you’d like to find a piece of floor to crawl under. It happens,” Clukey said. “I’ve found the easiest thing to do is just admit it and move on.”
Aroostook County officials have a favorite expression for when they have a tough game.
“Sometimes, the best part of a game is the shower,” he quipped.
The best compliment officials receive for a job well done is hearing no feedback at all. They would prefer to go virtually unnoticed.
Shoppe took that desire to a dangerous extreme during a 2013 tournament game at the Bangor Auditorium. He was experiencing chest pains and shortness of breath.
“[Supervisor of officials Dave Ames] wanted me to lay down and have the paramedics come haul me off,” Shoppe said. “I said, on TV with two or three thousand people watching, they’re not going to haul me off unless I’m dead.”
Despite having a heart attack, Shoppe waited until a backup official arrived then slipped into the back hallway, where he collapsed. Many in attendance, including the coaches and fellow referees, didn’t notice he was gone.
“I was lucky to be there. Rescue 1 from Bangor (Fire Department), no doubt they saved my life,” Shoppe said.