The basketball referees of the world have tough jobs. They cannot satisfy. No matter the correctness of their calls, they seem to live and die only with the ridicule of angry coaches, players, and fans. Take for example a recent Seattle Parks & Recreation youth basketball game. One young man leaped for a rebound and initiated incidental contact with an opposing player. The ref blew his whistle. A foul, number five for the unfortunate recipient. Instead of walking to the bench, he turned around and yelled, “You’re the worst ref ever!” He was kicked out of the game, and proceeded to tell a woman in the stands to go to hell (high comedy). And even though the young man was undoubtedly out of line, it is the referee that is the marked man for the call, not the player for committing the foul.

And in the midst of all this haze, this grey area surrounding the men in black and white, it is refreshing to have a man such as Casey Davidson, who offers some clarity as to what traverses the mind of a referee, although it seems as though he is far more stable than some of his compatriots.

“The pressure is something refs put on themselves,” says Davidson. “And I personally do not caught up on pressure.”

Davidson’s coolness may come from his experience. Since his days as a player at Western, he has had a keen interest in refereeing. He began working for the city of Seattle in 1983, working rec and youth games. During the past 26 years, Davidson has worked anything from AAU to Division II college to minor league to Sonics scrimmages.

“Gary Payton used to give me a lot of trouble back when he was on the Sonics,” says Davidson. “He would say, ‘hey ref, they don’t call that s**t in this league.’ So if I can handle Gary Payton giving me s**t, I can handle just about anything.”

Despite facing issues regarding running to due his advanced age, Davidson still refs regularly from November to March, drawn the exciting feeling inherent to basketball.

“I’m 59, but I still love the atmosphere,” says Davidson. “When it’s a packed gym, I get excited.”

Even as man in his late-50s, Davidson is optimistic regarding his future refereeing, due in part to the perspective on basketball that he has developed over the years..

“If my body holds up, I could probably do another ten years,” says Davidson. “And I think I can. To be a good ref, you have to be humble. I keep reffing, and I’m starting to realize that it’s a lot like life: the more you know, the more you realize how little you actually know.”

Davidson is a unique ref, characterized by his humility, perspective, and, of course, referring prowess. We hope the ref that ejected the player in the rec game, and refs everywhere, share these qualities, and a cool, thick skin in a situation where they don’t stand much to gain.