Official Business
August 22, 2016If a fan hollers at an official, most of the time the officials ignore it. When Arizona Western College athletic director Jerry Smith says something, officials may want to take notice. After serving for 35 years as an official in football, basketball and baseball, he was inducted into the Oklahoma Officials Association Hall of Fame on July 23.
“It’s definitely a big honor to be inducted,” said Smith. “I enjoyed working as an official and built some lifelong friendships with my crewmembers. The camaraderie we had is something special. I have some great memories with those guys.”
Smith worked across all levels of college, high school and junior high games. He officiated four Oklahoma State Football Championship games. On top of that, he was a regular in the playoffs with more than 75 games called. Smith spent 25 years officiating at the collegiate level and was the President of the Lone Star Conference Officials Association and the President of the Oklahoma Community College Officials Association.
The experience helped Smith be an excellent trainer. He served as the coordinator of officials for the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association, and more than 150 of the officials he trained still work with OSSAA.
Smith is entering his 12th year at Arizona Western College and has worked for more than 40 years in community college athletics.
Arizona Western College is one of the top community colleges in Arizona. The college boasts a partnership with all three state universities that include face-to-face classes in Yuma. AWC leads the state in enrollment growth over the past 10 years and handed out more than 2,300 certificates and degrees in 2014-15.