Connecticut official Bob Else, 91, enters 75th season as basketball referee

Bob Else of Cheshire started officiating in 1952 and will work his 75th basketball season this winter at age 91.

Bob Else of Cheshire, Connecticut, will officiate his 75th basketball season this winter at the age of 91. He first picked up a whistle as a high school senior in State College, Pennsylvania, in 1952, working recreational league games before joining the PIAA and calling high school games there for more than a decade. He moved to Connecticut in the mid-1960s.

Region 10 commissioner Buddy Chernovetz recalled telling Else, then in his mid-80s, that he would no longer assign him doubleheaders. Else insisted he could work any number of games, saying officiating kept him connected with fellow officials, and Chernovetz kept giving him the assignments.

Beyond refereeing, Else coached youth baseball. He co-founded the Cheshire Mustangs with scout Ed Dipersio, and among the players he coached was Brad Ausmus, who played 18 major league seasons and is now the New York Yankees' bench coach. Dipersio said Else also made extensive volunteer improvements to the Cheshire High baseball field and later helped secure a $50,000 grant in Meriden for the American Legion program's field.

Else, a 1965 Bryant College graduate, served there as a student athletic director and junior varsity basketball coach, helped launch the school's baseball program, and was inducted into the Bryant University Hall of Fame. He also volunteers with the Special Olympics. He credits decades of training Labrador retrievers, which involved walking the dogs two to three miles a day, with helping him stay fit enough to officiate into his 90s.

Asked how much longer he will keep refereeing, Else said he will continue as long as his body allows.