At any sporting event, it’s very likely an unhappy fan will express his or her displeasure for the referee at some point throughout a game. At a high-level football game, a storm of “boos” directed toward the officials will rain down at least once during a game.
Most of the time –more like 99.9 percent of the time – those officials, umpires or referees are doing his or her job to the best of their abilities. One thing is for sure, they are not out to get a team.
Two Pine Belt locals, Sam Bilbo and Martin Hankins, feel the wrath of fans every week in the fall. They’re pros, however, and can handle the pressure.
Some can’t.
Hankins, Lamar County Circuit Clerk, moonlights as an SEC football back judge, while Bilbo, a Business Banker at Hancock Whitney Bank, serves as a soccer referee for the SEC. Both were former players in their respective sports, as Hankins played locally at Hattiesburg High before seeing time at Southeastern Louisiana and Memphis, while Bilbo played soccer at a junior college level before getting into officiating.
While they can handle the pressure of officiating big-time games, some can’t.
“I think a stat I saw the other day, according to the National Association of Sports Officials, 70 percent of new officials quit within the first three years,” Bilbo said.
Plain and simple, every sport needs more officials, but sometimes the abuse isn’t worth it for some trying to get into the profession.
“I think it takes having the right mindset,” Bilbo said. “Understanding the angles and the perspectives that everybody is coming from. You do a match or a game, you’re constantly hearing that the entire game. Very rarely do you hear, and they mean it, ‘That was a great job. Outstanding. Best crew we’ve seen.’”
Bilbo would go on to say, the feedback from his assessors or mentors are what he values most. He understands the players, coaches and fans are in the heat of battle, but until an official can gain the confidence and get the bigger picture, it can be overwhelming for anybody.
Because of the low numbers of new officials, it affects higher level officiating. The lack of quality officials can hurt at all levels. Just by sheer numbers, an official who’s just getting into the profession could be refereeing at a level he’s not ready for.
“Everyone wants the bigger games,” Bilbo said. “But, not everybody is ready for the bigger games.”
Hankins is actively recruiting new officials. He tries to find one or two guys a year to just have a conversation. After attending the first high school meeting this year, Hankins says the first-year numbers are up compared to year’s prior.
While the first-year numbers are up, it all will come down to if those officials can take the criticism dealt out no matter what happens in a game. Whether an official calls a great game or not, one side of the field won’t be happy with their efforts.
“That comes with this,” Hankins said. “But also, there are a lot of great other things that come with this. The relationships you build with other guys, the friendships, being a part of the game and giving back to the game. If you truly love that sport, find a way to get involved in it. This is one way to do that.”
If a former player is going to stay involved in a sport, most go the coaching route when his or her playing days are over with. For Hankins, he was out of the game a year before he realized he wanted to get back into football.
While he was attempting the coaching route as a graduate assistant, he served as an official during his team’s scrimmage. He did have some experience during the summers of his playing days, but being a football referee during his GA days sparked his interest, and it was a way for him to stay in the game. He moved back to the Pine Belt and started his new career on the gridiron.
He attended college officials camps and everything started to fall into place. He got in front of the right people and he moved up the ranks quickly. From peewee and junior high games, he moved up and worked junior college games Thursday nights, high school on Fridays and Division III football on Saturdays before the Sun Belt Conference and SEC started to take notice.
“That was able to get me snaps,” Hankins said. “A lot of people have been good to me so far, and they’ve helped me out along the way. It’s been a fun ride so far.”
Like Hankins, Bilbo had to climb his way up the profession, too.
Bilbo started refereeing while in college, and he had a group of friends who would travel to tournaments all over the Southeast - from Orlando to North Carolina to Dallas and everywhere in-between. From there, it’s all about being at the right place at the right time.
“Get lucky and get seen by the right person,” Bilbo said. “For some people, it’ll go quicker than others. Then once you get to that level, it’s all about staying at that level.”
Between the two, Bilbo was named the 2017 SEC Assistant Referee of the Year award by the conference, and Hankins has been in an official during an SEC Championship Game, among other big SEC games. The two have earned credibility in their circles, and that’s hard to come by. Even though they’ve seen the success that they have, Bilbo and Hankins stress the importance of officials at all levels.
There are going to be officials who are just at the lower levels, and there are going to be officials that high school is the highest level he or she can go.
Whether it’s an umpire, referee, judge or official, they’re just as important as any coach or player on the field. Bilbo, Hankins and most officials devote so much of their time to the sport they love, and they deserve more than a standard, “Get some glasses, ref.”
Although, some referees might enjoy a creative one-liner.
