With Danville Area Community College hosting the NJCAA Division Two Men’s Basketball Tournament for the 31st time, DACC Athletic Director Tim Bunton is proud that an important piece of the tournament’s history, the officials, is being newly honored this year.
Inside two officials locker rooms are a series of displays honoring both all the officials that have worked the tournament over three decades, along with those that have gone on to various heights in their officiating careers; such as officiating NCAA Tournament games.
Bunton says some officials have come in this year, looked around, and received a few surprises.
AUDIO: We had one guy walk in that’s been here probably five or six times, he’s a younger guy; and he looked up and didn’t know that some of the officials from the late 90s, he knew the names, but he didn’t know they worked here. So that was kind of cool, to see that reaction. Then another one, he’s been here before too; he said, “My dad worked here!” I don’t think he even knew his dad worked here. So he saw the name, in ’95, and his dad’s name was up there.
Meanwhile, near those officials’ locker rooms and just around the corner from one of the gym entrances, sits someone who’s been doing a very special job at the tournaments for several years. Carol Meff is in charge of distributing statistics to all participating schools, the media, and various requests from coaching parties.
AUDIO: After they come off the computer, especially at the end of the game; I distribute them, e-mail them out to the schools, and different news agencies, that the coaches have requested that we send them to.
Carol works at DACC in the payroll division of the business office.
FOR TOURNAMENT UPDATES: https://www.njcaa.org/championships/sports/mbkb/div2/index
