DeRosa in 18th season in NBA
The Lowellville graduate officiates 70-75 league games a year.
By GREG GULAS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BOARDMAN -- Getting to the National Basketball Association was a humbling experience for Lowellville native Joe DeRosa.
Staying there took plenty of hard work and preparation; two areas that still command the majority of his time and attention.
"I am out there night in and night out with the best athletes in the world, so you can see why it has been humbling for me," said DeRosa.
"After working my first game back in 1989, I asked fellow official Ronnie Garretson what I needed to do in order to stick in the league. His reply to me was, 'work on everything.'
"I never forgot his advice, approached the right people to see what I had to do in order to stick around and to this day, still find myself trying to get it right," DeRosa said.
Worked 2006 All-Star Game
A veteran official in his 18th season with the league, DeRosa works between 70-75 regular season games a year.
He was chosen for the 2006 All-Star Game in Houston, and has worked every postseason since 1996.
He's worked at least one game of the last four NBA Finals, including two last year.
"To me, the game itself seems to be more demanding. While I am not in the same condition that I was when I first started, I still have to prepare myself to run up and down the court 250 times a game and over the course of a season, along with the travel it definitely takes a toll on you. It's like mind over body," said DeRosa.
The 1975 Lowellville High graduate started out by working in the Campbell Catholic School Youth League.
He earned appointments to the now defunct Metro Conference, Ohio Valley Conference and the Southeastern Conference before heading to an invitational-only camp that eventually led to his break with the NBA.
He attended the Darrell Garretson Officiating School and now runs several clinics.
Closely critiqued
"I am under more scrutiny today than I ever was when I first started," said DeRosa.
"Every call that I make in a game is observed, graded and then critiqued by more than one person. There is a data base on every official like no other that has ever been assembled. We are not permitted to swear on the court, nor are we permitted to discuss the players, coaches or owners to anyone.
"When we are miked for a game that is on ESPN, they can use whatever we say so we really have to watch what we say and to whom we say it. Our union put in a code of conduct to help our officials."
One area where the league expects consistency is the calling of a foul.
"We are told that a foul is a foul whether it is in the first minute of a game or the last seconds of a contest. That's just the mentality," he said.
For the past nine years he has served as supervisor of officials for the American Mideast Conference and for the last three years with the Ohio Community College Athletic Conference.
DeRosa spent the All-Star break at home in Merrillville, Ind., with his wife Patti.
"She is in her first year as the awards chair for the AAU Northern Indoor Track and Field Championships so it was nice to be able to accompany her to that event," he said.
DeRosa will return to the Valley May 6 when he is one of 15 inductees to the Curbstone Coaches Hall of Fame at Mr. Anthony's Banquet Center.
Nest week, Carl Kokor, a Niles native who was a member of the Marshall University coaching staff but was not on board when their plane crashed in 1970, killing all 75 on board, will be the guest speaker.