Letter To Editor: Triangle Football Officials Association Are Against HB91

By: G Steve McNeill
TFOA Regional Supervisor

The Triangle Football Officials Association (TFOA) is a group of over 250 dedicated men and women with a passion for officiating. We officiate high school football in the greater Triangle area (including Wake, Durham, Orange, Harnett, Johnston, Franklin, Vance, Granville, Moore, Person, Sampson, and Warren Counties).

We function as independent contractors governed by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA), and we adamantly oppose the legislation currently moving through the General Assembly referred to as HB91.

The NCHSAA has always operated with the highest ethical standards. Its 108 year history evidences the finest tradition of acting in the best interest of high school sports and student athletes. This standard is unparalleled across the country and our experience as NCHSAA approved officials bears witness.

One of the NCHSAA’s duties is to provide officials across the state the framework with which to manage games, players, coaches, and schools fairly and equitably, while supporting our positive relationships with high school athletics and North Carolina’s 400 plus member schools. This relationship, developed over decades, has been instrumental in our officiating being seen as a gold standard throughout the United States.

The NCHSAA — though not without room for improvement — has managed the State’s high school officiating program judiciously throughout its history and in our opinion HB91 will act as a detriment to this program. The proposed legislation will negatively impact the retention of current officials and may create an additional burden on attracting the next generation of officials so badly needed in all sports. Simply put, you cannot play high school sports without officials.

Despite the proposal that educator and coaches comprise the Committee, its members would be answerable to the politicians who nominate them rather than the high schools and school districts they currently represent. This will negatively affect high school athletics making politics, not the best interests of student-athletes, the primary consideration.

We believe this decision will end high school athletics as we know it in North Carolina and will adversely impact the ranks of officials who support high school student-athletes.

The undersigned members of the Triangle Football Officials Association (TFOA) fully support the NCHSAA:

Oscar Pace, Jimmie Massengill, Scott Wetzel, Lyn Roberts, Don Johnson, Ken Tyndall, Alan Rigsbee, Battle Whitley, John Critcher, Justin Ford, Bennie Odham, Ron Nicely, Richard Millner, Gary Wiley, Eddie Pendergrass, Mike Chalk, Chris Andrews, Mike Thompson, Keith Johnson, Mark Barbour, Deran Coe, Travis Keith, Mike Joyner, Sean Delaney, Chris Summerlin, Joe Wolozyn, Brooks Matthews, Jimmy Williams, Greg German, Justin Brown, Richard Wood, Michael Owen, James Lawson, Robert Ziemba, Darren Deese, Bent Boykin, Max Carter, Gerald Bagley, Greg Hayes, Sam Allen, Michael Sachs, Joe Mydosh, Nick Rummage, Keith Stephens, Michael Utley, Evan Sauer, Dustin Champion, Lewis Jackson, Donald Bryant, Rodney Clapp, Ben Strunk, Michael Thomas, Sean Cherry, Melvin Gray, Travis Foster, Dennis Andrews, Robert Hemingway, John Smith, Richard Platia, Steven Jolley, Mike Honkomp, Brandon Kaput, Jeremy Hicks, Derek Nunn, Michael Williams, Mike Stevens, Marc Phillips, Bob Vaughan, Marcus Jimison, Matthew Rollins, Jeff Corbett Todd Murray, Steve Shelton, Marc Waterloo, William Harrison, Todd Blackburn, Jackie Rhodes, Raymond Fuller, Solomon Ricks, Bart Tyler, Robert Nichols, Horace Graham, John Holmes, Tim Blum, Jeff Faulkner, Tommy Fallin, Ron McCuddy, Samuel Hershey, Matt Thompson, Roger Olmstead, Michael Wallace, John Quiggle, Ryan Dawson, Ken Hall, Jerome Blue, James Ewing, Edward Rabil, Scott Burkhardt, Kennedy Gentry, Dustin Champion, Eric Hopkins, Billy Vick, David Strickland, Joe Lapp, Sam Fasola, Jimmy Barbour, Scott Plaster, Vernon McGrew, Lewis Jackson, Jackie Rhodes, David Kennedy, Robert Zimmers, Donald Rosenbaum, Scott Boykin, Rick Tate, Anthony Hill, Austin Merritt, Derek Smith, Larry Stringfellow, Mike Germino, Otis Tucker, Kevin Lassiter, David Sauer, Guy Zahn, Danny Dorman.