University of Virginia Library

For Official Curtis Prins It's Not The Money That Counts

By DOUG DOUGHTY

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Curtis
Prins is an investigator for the
House Banking and Currency
Committee who worked" six
days a week, around the clock"
investigating the financial
aspects of the Watergate
break-in.

He is also one of many ACC
referees who will officiate
games at University Hall and
other league sites this season.

Mr. Prins travels all over the
country without his family,
hears the heckling of
dissatisfied fans wherever he
"refs" and earns what
amounted to the paltry sum of
265 dollars last season because
he "loves basketball". He says
"the good of the job is that
there have to be officials in
order for there to be
basketball. You fulfill that
need."

A native of the Washington
area, Mr. Prins graduated from
the University of Maryland in
1957 where he was the first
sophomore ever to become
Sports Editor of The
Diamondback, He also ran
track and sat on the bench of
the basketball team where he
was admittedly "the worst
player in the world."

After his collegiate careers,
Mr. Prins joined the staff of the
Roanoke World News for
which he covered Virginia
athletics in the late '50's. He
found sports writing "narrowly
defined artistically and
monetarily. You write about
the same things, only the
names change."

Following a term as editor
of Golf magazine, he entered
the field of financial writing,
a great new field which used to
be the dullest stuff in the
world. One of my first jobs was
covering the committee
(Banking and Currency) and
when a job opened up I took
it."

Although he enjoys his new
job, Mr. Prins felt compelled
"to keep a finger in the game"
of basketball. That
involvement includes
officiating one or two
high school games each week
and "from 25 to 30 college
games each season." In
addition to being employed by
the ACC, he is president of the
Old-Dominion Referees
Association which officiates
games in Lane's and
Albemarle's conference.

Financial Matters

Although the ACC "is at the
top" in its treatment of
officials, the league refs realize
no financial windfall from their
second career.

The ACC gives each of its
officials 125 dollars a game and
25 cents for each mile traveled
one way. What that amounts to
is that "you can fly but can't
stay over. Only on a long trip is
it worth it to fly." For Curtis
Prins the assignment to
officiate at the St. Louis
Invitational provided a rare
opportunity to travel first
class.

The approximately 200
dollars in traveling expenses he
received just about paid for his

plane ticket, room and meals.
But, whenever he is offered a
free meal, as he was when
"treated" to dinner in St.
Louis, Mr. Prins does not find
it hard to accept.

That might draw cries of
prejudice from Virginia's
opponents but Mr. Prins rejects
the idea that such generosity
might influence his decision:

"I wouldn't be prejudiced in
working that school's games.
The only thing might be that I
would bend over backwards to
give the benefit of the doubt to
the other team."

Prejudice

The fact that he graduated
from Maryland also does not
affect him. ACC rules prohibit

referees from officiating at
their alma mater, besides "at
least in my case, you don't
have enough time to think. The
games goes too fast, it's too
mechanical for you to control
it."

Technicals

One of the most
controversial jobs that a
referee has is to call technical
fouls. There are certain
guidelines for ACC officials:
"When the clock is running the
only time a coach can get up is
to call a timeout, to signal a
player to call a timeout, to talk
with a substitute or go to the
scorers table. The ACC
coaches voted to enforce the
rule. The only troubled I have is
with out-of-conference
coaches."

A player has to do a little
bit more to be "slapped with a
tech." For Mr. Prins there is a
pattern for whenever he brings
his hands together in the sign
of a T.

"Every official is different.
If a player swears it has to be
at you. Anybody yells damn
after a missed shot. Other than
that a player has to say
something like 'He's been
fouling me all night and you
haven't been calling it' or he
has to slam the ball on the
floor".

Any official receives his share
of booing. Some get booed so
much they get immune to it.
Curtis Prins "prefers a lot of
crowd noise." In addition, he
says he likes booing, "it
means I'm being accepted."

Some things do bother him,
however "A bad aspect of
crowd noise is that sometimes
you lose the sound dimension
with your partner. Last year
we had such a case in the N.C.
State-Virginia game. A boy got
fouled in the act of shooting
but he never heard the
whistle."

Horace Carmichael,
well-known as the Cavaliers'
most fanatical booster, is no
stranger to Mr. Prins. "That
damn whistling is awfully
annoying...but he's a great part
of the game. I wish every place
had a fan like him" Also
annoying to him are "people
throwing thing–that gets to
me" and fights between
players.

Distinction, Not Money

Being selected by ACC
supervisor Norvell Neve to
officiate at St. Louis had to be
quite a distinction for Mr.
Prins. "For 99 per cent of the
officials prestige is more
important than the money" he
admits. His goal is to be named
to officiate in the year-end
NCAA tournament. He'll never
work an ACC championship
tourney because he attended
Maryland.

He was "extremely
disappointed" at the
sparsely-attended gateway
tournament, "I would have
given up my game fee to give
out tickets so people would
come. As an official you don't
want to see a three-quarters
empty crowd. It means
basketball is in trouble and the
number of officials will
dwindle."

Mr. Prins has often said,
"I've always wanted to get on
the radio and say 'all you
people with frustrations and
hostilities who beat up your
wives come out and boo me'".

Conditioning

Officiating requires extreme
dedication, which almost
predicates that a ref has to be
in good physical condition in
joining the players in their 40
minute run up and down the
floor each game.

"I start my training in the
middle of the summer: I go up
to the high school each night
and run three miles. Sundays, I
run quarters and miles and
time myself. As it gets closer to
the season, I run wind sprints"
he explains.

The ACC has a training
program for its refs ("among
the best", according to Mr.
Prins) which includes a timed
mile before the season. This
year Curtis Prins was the
fastest of the varsity officials in
the ACC.

Refs Are Loners

Admittedly a loner, he
loathes having to leave behind
his wife and two children at
their small farm in Fairfax
Station, Virginia. He
remembers, "two years ago I
had a friend who quit
officiating because he drove his
daughter to college and along
the way he realized that he
didn't even know her."

Socializing is difficult for
Mr. Prins. He isn't supposed to
make merry with the league
coaches, many of whom are
good friends. He still claims
"when they tell me I have to
stop socializing, that's when I'll
quit".

Still it's hard to fit in After
the 75-74 Virginia loss in the
finals at St. Louis he appeared
at the Cavaliers solemn
post-game party. He has called
a fair game, but from the
beginning he was subjected to
the bantering of the Wahoo
coaches and the questioning of
his calls by the Virginia
players.

For Curtis Prins, officiating
culminates the life of a fan. In
addition to his basketball, he
umpired baseball for 17 years
and considered umpiring
professionally. That
notwithstanding, he said it all
the day after he had seen his
first hockey game. "I wish I
could skate. I'd be a hockey
official tomorrow."