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NBA Ref Joe Crawford Speaks at St. Pius X's Basketball Camp

The Newtown Square resident and St. Pius X alum touched on life in the NBA, his childhood, and the lockout at St. Pius X School's basketball summer camp on Aug. 10.

BROOMALL–Wednesday morning in the community center of , the NBA's second senior-most referee addressed a much tougher crowd than he's used to. A touch younger too.

"Some nights, players or coaches get angry and I have to quell that," Philly-native Joe Crawford animatedly explained to the approximate 25 boys and girls at St. Pius X School's annual Basketball Supercamp. "And some nights I might cause a few riots myself."

The famously excitable Crawford, who turns 60 at the end of the month, graduated from St. Pius X and still lives in Newtown Square with his wife. One of pro sports' few recognizable refs, Crawford has officiated in the NBA since 1977, during which time he's worked more playoff games than any active referee, called every finals between 1986 and 2006, and never missed a day of work.

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Growing up the son of a Major League Baseball (MLB) umpire, and the brother of a future MLB ump, Crawford told the campers that he always knew he wanted to officiate, but because he came of age in a basketball neighborhood, he traded in one round ball for another.

"Who tells you if you're wrong?" asked one camper who wore a LeBron James Miami Heat jersey, wondering aloud who polices the NBA's police.

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Crawford told the young basketball player that he officiated James in games two and five of this year's finals before giving a surprisingly complete answer: during games, the league allows officials to view replays to correct calls and post-game, the NBA has four separate employees whose sole job is to evaluate every call made by every official over the course of the year. At the end of each season, Crawford and his fellow refs gets a report explaining every instance they were wrong. Crawford himself also watches tape of every game he works to stay sharp.

And despite their uniforms, Crawford added that it's not all black and white in the officiating world: there's also the matter of style.

"You can't just call these fouls like a crumb-bum," Crawford told the group, jimmying and gyrating by way of demonstrating the right and wrong way to relay calls into the official scorekeeper. "That's what separates me from the average referee—I have style."

He also has a work ethic. Crawford began reffing youth-league games when he was 18, moved onto high school shortly thereafter, and made his way to the NBA by his mid-20s.

"What's the worst call you ever made?" asked a particularly precocious camp-goer.

Crawford said that of all his many gaffes—"I've never had a perfect game. I've never had a perfect quarter even," he admitted—his most egregious came during a matchup of the Phoenix Suns and the Portland Trailblazers.

The way Crawford tells it, Suns point guard extraordinaire Steve Nash was dribbling at the top of the key, guarded—inexplicably—by Trailblazers center Marcus Camby, when he made a hard move to the basket.

"I thought I saw Camby touch him," Crawford said, regretfully. "I thought. That's the worst thing you can do."

Camby, subsequent replays proved, didn't touch him at all, but Crawford errantly called a foul and awarded Nash a pair of undeserved free-throw attempts.

His best call?

"Marrying my wife," he beamed, eliciting giggles from an audience two decades away from the institution.

Crawford himself may be ways off from one of his greatest loves: actually officiating. He says that when it comes to the present NBA lockout, there's nothing to do but wait.

"I'm exercising every day—two hours a day—and just hoping for the best," said Crawford.

He and the rest of the league's employees are slated to collect paychecks until September but after that all bets are off. He tries to keep a positive outlook.

"I believe that reasonable people will settle things...hopefully," he told the kids.

Crawford spoke at the school to wrap-up this summer's Baksetball Supercamp.

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