OIL CITY, Pa. (EYT) — Scott Walters was introduced to the game of basketball at the Franklin YMCA in 1955. He began officiating the game 20 years later.
Now, Scott Walters is donning the striped shirt once more to call the game with a team of refs like he has countless times before.
This time, however, his team consists of himself, his son, Scott, and Scott’s son, Scott.
It’s Friday night in Oil City and the Venango Catholic Vikings’ varsity boys team was hosting the Allegheny-Clarion Valley Falcons. As the teams were ready for the game, the three men—all of them tall, athletic, with similar builds and shortly-cropped hair—stood at the half-court sideline watching the boys as they warmed up.
All three of these men know the game very well. They’ve played it for years.
The elder Scott Walters first started learning in the game from James Hedglin, Sr., who, at the time, was the youth director at the Y. Scott learned the basics from him, along with many other kids from the Franklin area. In 1974, he was asked by Coach Bob Irons to officiate the 8th-grade boys’ basketball games at Central Elementary.
His payment was a pass that got him into all of the Franklin High School basketball games.
The following year, he passed the PIAA Officials’ Examination for both basketball and football. That year, he reffed the girls’ JV and varsity games through the fall and received a whopping $17.50.
“Basketball for all of us was at the YMCA—for all three of us,” the elder Scott explained. “We introduced basketball to my son through the Biddy Basketball program that I ran at the Y. He played at Franklin, graduating in 1990. After graduating college in Erie, he started refereeing up there. He’s been refereeing for 19 years now.”
The younger Scott Walters got his start in officiating sports by umpiring Minor and Little League baseball games starting at age 13.
The elder Scott ran the Biddy Basketball program at the Y from 1979 until 1999.
“It was a teaching program more than anything else,” he said. “We taught fundamentals. We taught based on Christian principles, you know, making your ball player a better person makes the best ball player there is.”
Once the youngest Scott Walters came along, his grandfather had to rethink things.
“Young Scottie came along. I had gotten out of Biddy Ball in 1999. In 2013, my son and I decided to start it up again. They always had basketball up there (at the Y), but this was a program where we did drills and fundamentals. It was a teaching program more than anything else.”
Biddy Ball is a type of basketball game that is said to have been created by Jay Archer in Scranton, Pa., in the 1950s. The game is custom-tailored for the age group of children who are playing. Court size and basket height, for example, may be reduced for younger kids.
“Scottie went on to play basketball at Franklin, just like his father. He graduated last year. Last winter, he took his test. He was able to officiate over the summer and in the fall. He started doing PIAA officiating here in the winter months.”
Three weeks ago the younger Scott and his son, called “Scottie” by his grandpa, were assigned to officiate a game together at Rocky Grove High School, the elder Scott’s alma mater.
As he was watching his son and grandson referee the game, Scott said his buddies started joking with him, asking, “Why aren’t you refereeing with them?” Scott said. “After watching the game, I thought, ‘Well, why couldn’t I do that? I could get up and down that court for a game or two.’ I called up the assigner, Tim LaVan, and asked him, ‘What do you think of Scott, Scottie, and I doing a three-man game?’ He said, ‘Well, I think that would be great!'”
Scott took his PIAA officials’ examination two weeks ago and passed—not surprising, as he’s been playing, teaching, coaching, and officiating the game for 67 years.
“I officiated two games with my grandson just to make sure I can get up and down the court still and that I wouldn’t embarrass myself. Then, Tim assigned us a varsity game at Venango Catholic. So, we’re going to have a son-father-grandfather game, and hopefully, it will turn out well,” Scott told exploreVenango.com last Wednesday.
“I don’t know if it’s ever happened before, but I decided if I don’t do it this year I’ll probably never do it.”
