TERRE HAUTE —
The Indiana High School Athletic Association is always seeking licensed high school officials in its 20 sanctioned sports, a selling point being “participation in high school athletics doesn’t have to end with high school graduation.”
In the case of Terre Haute native Bart Smith, his start in officiating was certainly not “right after high school.” When he heeded the call while employed by the Federal Correctional Institution in Pekin, Ill., he was 45 years old.
Fifteen years later, Smith, who will turn 60 later this year, has evolved into a highly sought swimming and diving official in both states of Indiana and Illinois. “Fifteen years ago, my daughter was on the diving team at Pekin High School,” Smith recalled. “The school asked me to help them out and I did … went from there. Got my officiating license in Illinois. Just kept going.”
Five years ago, Smith retired from his federal prison position and moved back to his hometown of Terre Haute. Soon after, he became a card-carrying official in Indiana as well.
Now he regularly officiates swimming and diving meets at Terre Haute North, Terre Haute South, West Vigo, South Vermillion, North Vermillion, Danville (Ind.) and Bedford. Smith officiated his second straight North-South boys/girls meet on Thursday. He’s even worked a couple of college events at DePauw University.
Smith continues to work in Illinois too, places like Danville and Champaign, and has also worked for several years at the IHSA state tournaments. He’s worked the sectional in Indiana the past couple years, and says he “hopefully will get to state this year.”
What is interesting, is that Smith had no previous background in swimming or diving.
“First couple years was hard because my daughter was in diving … I think that’s where I got a lot of my experience,” Smith said. “The coaches had no problem with me judging, but I was more worried about the parents. I mean, I’m too hard on my daughter, or I’m too easy on my daughter, or too hard on their kid or too easy on their kid. Those two years really helped me out.”
Keeping a meet moving along briskly is a key. Most meets are electronically scored, but Smith keeps an order of finish by hand in each event as a backup. Smith admits diving was a challenge for him to pick up on all it’s nuances.
“Diving … there are so many things you have to watch,” Smith noted. “The approach on the board, the oscillation if their doing back or inwards dive, their form, whether they do a half twist, full twist, somersault, two somersaults or a half-somersault. It just varies from little things.
“I try not to watch [divers] warm up, because I don’t want to see any of their mistakes … or how good they were. You have to judge that dive. Not yesterday’s dive. Once it’s over, it’s scored, you need to erase it from your mind and watch the next diver.”
Most meets he officiates, he is one of three judges in the diving event.
“If you ever get three [scores] the same, it’s one of those fluke instances,” Smith said. “Most of the time, the divers will be within a half-point of each other. That’s good. It’s nice if we all see the same thing, but you’re sitting at too many different angles, see too many things going on. But usually, a half-point or a point [difference] is not that bad.”
Most officials, especially in basketball, baseball or softball, catch the wrath of fans, coaches, even players on much more regular basis. But not so much in swimming and diving.
“The kids are energetic, the parents are too … but they don’t bother the officials too much,” Smith said. “The coaches might come to me and ask ‘what about this’ or ‘what about that’ and I’ll say ‘this is what I saw.’ They’ll say OK. Most of the time when I raise my hand for a violation, the coach has seen it too.”
Speaking of baseball, Smith recently embarked on a new officiating path for the spring months, beginning his third year as a high school baseball umpire. So he is fully aware the crowd, coaches and players can be a handful on occasion.
“Doing freshman, [junior varsity] games right now, so I can learn my ins and outs with that,” Smith laughed. “We’ll see where it goes.”
Even though he’s “retired,” Smith keeps quite busy when not officiating. Smith works as an usher at Hulman Center events, then during his free time, keeps his feet nimble — which should come in handy as an umpire — in a traveling square dance group.
Local Interest
TH native made the right call
Smith’s start in officiating later than usual
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