Saturday, July 24, 2021

A good guy and a good ref

 Just learned from a Facebook friend that Dick Budd died last week.  

Dick was one of the better local referees in South Jersey back when my kids were playing.  I knew Dick was an optician by trade but did not know he was an Army veteran who served in Korea (as I did) and a Rotarian as my father was.

As a coach or parent you were always happy to see Dick Budd referee your game.  Not only was he a nice guy, he knew the Laws Of The Game, was fair and hustled.  It didn't hurt that he had a sense of humor.  In one game we ran a trick play on a free kick where one of our girls stepped over the ball without touching it, causing the other team to encroach - which should have given us another free kick which we would have used for a quick restart.   Dick missed the stepover and did not call the encroachment, causing howls from the parents.  Instead of getting upset, he just shrugged and said, "What can I say?  I blew it."  Heckling became laughter and earned respect.

Dick's obituary is here:  


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