BEAVER TOWNSHIP — For five decades, Lowellville-native Joe DeRosa was regarded as one of the best officials to work both NBA and collegiate basketball games.
Having worked at the game’s highest level, he is one of the few officials qualified to address the difference between the two games.
“The biggest thing is the rule changes in both the NCAA and NBA,” DeRosa told the Curbstone Coaches during Monday’s meeting at Avion Banquet Center. “Most every rule has changed but if you think back to the early 90’s, with the Detroit Pistons and their ‘Bad Boys’ persona and how physical the game was, the NBA recognized it, continued to try to minimize that physicality and I think that’s been a big change. In the college game, they have been reluctant to make some of those changes, which I am not so sure helps their game right now, but they are trying to keep up with the times. I’m just not sure they really are at times.”
Addition of the euro step by both groups has helped revolutionize the hardwood game.
“The euro step is one rule that has changed in the college game, which is a good change because it gives their more athletic players the ability to make, at times, some pretty outstanding plays,” DeRosa said. “I don’t think it has hurt the game. It has helped the game, however, just look at the difference between the NBA and college. The perfect example is the one play that happened at the end of the Maryland game a couple weeks ago in the NCAA tournament. It was a determining factor in the game. That was a college travel but in the NBA, that same move would not have been a travel. It’s tough because it was the end of the game, a critical situation and that’s just the way it works.”
DeRosa and Joe Forte remain the only two officials to have worked an NBA Finals, NCAA championship game and refereed the Olympic Games.
He is glad to see how the WNBA is growing in popularity while keeping a close tab on college NIL (name, image and likeness) and transfer portal developments.
“I think the WNBA is growing because the women play hard, for the most part,” DeRosa said. “They have become more athletic and just play the game. There isn’t a lot of drama, and that’s really what you would like to see, 10 players on the court, trying their best without all the other antics that might come across in a game.
“I personally think the NIL was inevitable. I think the transfer portal, when you bring in 12 new players and have just one player that is still with your team, you really don’t know what you have for a few games, so you have to adjust accordingly. It is like that for everybody. To be quite honest, I don’t like the transfer portal but it is here to stay.”
DeRosa’s son, J.B., is following in his father’s footsteps and is currently in his eighth season as an NBA official.
“He continues to progress and I just hope he stays the course,” DeRosa said. “He’s young but he’s experienced. He has refereed at virtually every level from junior high, to high school, to small college on both the men’s and women’s side, to Division I women’s and Division I men’s basketball, the G-League, the WNBA and now he is in the NBA. We are really proud of him, hope that he continues to grow, continues to progress and stays humble, which he is and has been so far because he is really fun to watch. He had a little different route than I did but has handled it very well.”
Next time a game is televised, keep an eye on the referees and most likely you will see an ‘S’ emblazoned prominently on the back of their shirt.
The company that outfits nearly every arbiter nationwide, junior high on up from lacrosse to football, is Smitty Officials & Referee Apparel, located in Canton and co-owned by DeRosa and his wife, Patti.
With over 10,000 products available, they are continually expanding to meet the demands and needs of officials in every sport nationwide.
“We like to say that the ‘S’ is everywhere,” DeRosa said. “It is really hard work to keep it at that level because everything is constantly changing, virtually every day, every week and every month, but we are going to continue what we are doing, if nothing else, to try to make it better for all the high school associations across the country, virtually, everyone. Of course, with college basketball and college football, we supply uniforms for almost all of the NCAA championships at the Divisions I, II and III levels and it just continues to build.”
“Over the past year and a half, we have introduced over 2,000 new products and just came out with a brand new football pant that I just placed another order for this past week. It is really going well, but we continue to make tweaks and changes to the things that we have been making, looking to improve the quality while maintaining the level we want to maintain.
“It just continues to keep growing. Also, we just came out with six new styles of umpire pants that are selling very well. We’ve helped develop new style umpire shirts so pretty much whatever somebody thinks can work for us, and comes to us with an equipment idea, we try to do it.”
More information on Smitty’s can be obtained at www.smittyapparel.com.
On Monday, Doug Phillips, Youngstown State head football coach, will serve as guest speaker.
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