Paul Sorgen, Ph.D., associate professor in the College of Medicine, didn’t quite make it to the Nebraska high school basketball state tournament this year. His season ended in the district finals.
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Paul Sorgen, Ph.D. |
Oh, by the way, Dr. Sorgen, who recently was named a UNMC Distinguished Scientist, is a high school basketball official. That’s right, a zebra. The man with the whistle and the stripes.
Tournament a big deal for refs, too
Making the state tournament is the ultimate goal for the referees, too, Dr. Sorgen said. Just the way it is for a player, or a coach. Dr. Sorgen’s cadence picked up speed just talking about it.
“It’s very much a goal,” he said. “It’s the ultimate goal for what we do.”
Dr. Sorgen hopes he’s getting close to becoming respected enough to make the state tournament. But again, there are parallels to coaching and playing (and perhaps research as well): there is skill level. There is hard work and preparation. But always, there’s a little luck involved, too.
A full slate of games
Dr. Sorgen generally works about 60 varsity games a year in Omaha and the surrounding area. His fellow referees know he works at UNMC.
“They joke around that I’m a rocket scientist,” Dr. Sorgen said.
But he keeps his day job a secret from coaches. They might use his identity against him when arguing for calls.
“What? You can investigate intra- and intermolecular interactions that define the structure of the major cardiac gap junction protein connexin43 (Cx43) during pH gating, but you can’t call three seconds?”
An enjoyable atmosphere
Dr. Sorgen serves as a referee because he enjoys the exercise, the crowd, the band, the competitiveness and the atmosphere that saturates every game of high school hoops.
The state tournament is the epitome of all that. It would be great to go see it. But, not this year. Not yet.
“When I do go to state,” he said, “then thereafter, I would go.”
As a former basketball official, I know how tough the job can be. Kudos to Paul for taking on this challenge. Enjoyed reading this story — very entertaining!
That's great, indeed! HS BB games are very entertaining, and there is immense load on the referees. Indeed, hundreds of folks attend each game in an evening, including the players (first the girls game, then the boys game), coaches, police officer(s), school prinicipal and other school administrators, band (several dozens of students or even a hundred), cheerleaders (ten to twenty), dance team (ten to twenty), parents, cheering classmates, and concessions stand folks (students, parents and/or teachers). Now, the same applies for the opponents' team (except for the concessions stand folks). The first game (girls) goes for an hour and a half (pure game time is 32 minutes), then followed by a half-hour break (when the dance team or other entertainment shows off), and another an hour and a half more of game time (boys). Roughly, the show goes from 5:30-8:45pm on a game evening. The efforst and time going into all that are huge, and the athmosphere is unbelievable. That is on school grounds; state tournament at the Devaney Center in Lincoln is even better.