The District IX Committee established a 50-year Officials’ Service Award five years ago to honor those sports’ officials who reside within the district or who have officiated most of their officiating careers here. Sports’ officials play an integral part in the education process of our student-athletes. Without them, we could not have interscholastic sports.
The District Committee has previously presented two service awards this year, one in volleyball and one in bask etball.
Colin Gaiser marked the second basketball recipient for the 2024-2025 school year. Colin is a resident of Chicora and a member of the Clarion County Chapter of Basketball Officials. He is a well-respected member of the basketball officiating community. Presenting Colin his award is Mr. Bill Howard, Chairman of the 50-Year Service Award Committee.
Colin’s comments: The first game I worked was a boys’ JV game at Karns City in November of 1975 with my friend Denny Barber coaching the team. Denny went on to be my partner for the next ten years until he returned to coaching. At that point I partnered with Mike “Snuffy” Smith for the next 10-12 years until he decided that he was going to step away. Next was Kevin Snow for the 8 – 10 years. Then my final regular partner was Don Loughery until he moved to Florida at year 40 for me. At this point the closest officials that I hook up with for travelling purposes are Ken and Kevin Mortimer. It has been a pleasure to work with so many other veteran officials as well as successful coaches, and talented, young ladies and gentlemen. God has truly blessed me with relatively good health. I encourage others to consider becoming officials so the coaches, players, and fans may continue to enjoy watching sporting events.
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