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DeRosa shares about taking college spotlight
By Greg Gulas
AUSTINTOWN
For 21 seasons, Lowellville native Joe DeRosa was one of the National Basketball Association’s top game officials.
The last four seasons, he’s found himself on college basketball’s biggest stage.
After working this year’s men’s national championship game between Connecticut and Kentucky at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, DeRosa became just the second referee to work an NBA championship game, college basketball title tilt and Olympic “Final Four” contest.
The other referee to hold that distinction is Joe Forte.
Speaking to the Curbstone Coaches during Monday’s meeting at Luciano’s Restaurant, DeRosa noted that the transition from the professional ranks to the college game was a fairly smooth transition.
“In an NCAA championship game, you have a beautiful atmosphere with 80,000 screaming fans,” DeRosa said. “And while each team might have an excellent following, it’s not a partisan crowd.
“It’s a big venue but a divided crowd which includes a lot of general fans.
“In the NBA finals, no matter what game or venue there are 20,000 screaming fans rooting on their team,” DeRosa said. “Both remain huge events with the common denominator each fan wanting his or her team to win.
As for the Olympics, which he worked in 1996 in Atlanta, games were a toss-up as to the type of crowd they would draw.
“I worked the bronze-medal game between Lithuania and Australia and if the United States wasn’t playing for the gold medal afterwards, there probably wouldn’t have been a large crowd,” he said.
Last season, DeRosa worked approximately 60 games, canvassing the map with assignments from the Horizon League, Southeastern Conference, Conference USA, American Athletic Conference and Big 12 Conference.
He credited Curtis Shaw, Big 12 supervisor of officials, for helping pave the way for his return to the college game after retiring four years ago.
“If Curtis doesn’t make phone calls on my behalf to other conferences, this never would have happened for me,” DeRosa said. “I’m just so appreciative of the many individuals who have helped me along the way.”
DeRosa credited his father, Joe, Sr., with inspiring him to become an official. He said Darrell Garretson, Joey Crawford, Ed Rush, Hugh Evans, Billy Oakes, Steve Javie and Jack Madden were instrumental in aiding with his development.
“My mother, Patti, has watched every game she possibly could over the last 28 years,” DeRosa said. “My wife, Patti, daughter Valerie and son J.B. are to be thanked as well because they’ve sacrificed a great deal.
“Those sacrifices have allowed me to be away from home for extended periods of time and afforded me a career at basketball’s two highest levels.”
His company, Smitty Official’s Apparel, remains one of the country’s top distributors of apparel for sports officials as they make available only to wholesalers everything from lanyards, to shirts, to jackets to pants.
“We started with two employees in 2007 and right now employ 12 people,” DeRosa said.
Information on Smitty’s wide-range of apparel may be found on their website at www.smittyapparel.com.