I have always taken pride as an official in being able to get along with coaches.

I always felt they deserved an explanation for any call that I made.

And I almost never lost my cool.

As I mentioned weeks ago, I only ejected one high school coach in all my years as a baseball and softball umpire. In basketball, however, there is a provision to punish unruly coaches (or players) with a technical foul that results in free throws for the opponent.

I was not a basketball official with “rabbit ears” and was normally able to tune out the fans and coaches, but there were a few incidents in which I could not.

And, in some cases, the rule book leaves no option but to call the T.

Some of the following stories are not personal experiences but some humorous tales of technical fouls.

The first story is mine.

It was my first Class A game. It was at Bridgeport, and the Bridgeport coach was Ken Gray.

Ken had previously coached at Saginaw High with great success and was a great coach.

I remember calling a “travel” on one of his players early in the game and heard in my ear, loudly, “I don’t think so, Mr. Miller.”

My introduction to the big leagues.

Later in the game, there was a call made by me, and I was standing near the Bridgeport bench. I hear Ken giving me the business and thought, how come his voice is so loud? I turned my head to see him, off the bench, and standing right next to me.

By rule, he was not allowed to be off the bench, let alone be standing by me.

I hit him with a technical foul.

My mind was saying, “Well, this is your first Class A game at Bridgeport. You just hit Ken Gray with a T. This will be your last game at Bridgeport.”

Post game, my partner and I were showering and getting dressed when Ken stuck his head into our locker room.

He said, “Nice game, guys, see you next time.”

Whew!!!

I am not sure if this is allowed in today’s rules, but there was a provision for calling a technical foul on a fan.

It certainly is not advisable, as there is no way that doing it is a good thing.

But I did it once.

It was in a Catholic League Junior High game. There were very few fans in the gym, which, of course, makes one obnoxious loudmouth easy to hear.

This guy was on our case from the opening whistle.

My partner, Gene, had a bit of a short fuse, and that fan was getting to him.

Gene kept saying, “I’m going to hit him with a T.”

I kept telling Gene that it was not a good idea and to let it go.

We had more talk about it at halftime, but I could see Gene wasn’t buying it.

Sure enough, late in the game, Gene made a call that went against the team with the loudmouth’s son.

The fan stood up and was loudly berating Gene, and he snapped and called a T on the fan.

Now, as the technical foul free throw was being attempted and made and the gym deathly silent, the fan made some really nasty comments about Gene.

I had to protect my partner, so I called another T on the fan.

I hope that the fan learned a lesson. The free throws made by the opposition as a result of “Dad’s” comments were the margin by which his son’s team lost.

Now, this is my favorite technical foul story.

I was not involved at all, but the story is great.

It was a basketball game at Saginaw Buena Vista. George Morris was the Buena Vista coach and was also the athletic director for the school. One of the officials was Ron Stelter.

Ron is the guy who got me into officiating and one of the best officials in the state. Ron was also the athletic director at Saginaw MacArthur.

Both Buena Vista and MacArthur, at the time, were in the same conference, so Ron and George knew each other well.

Ron made a call that George disagreed with. George came right out onto the basketball floor to complain.

Instead of doing what I probably would have done (blowing my whistle and making an elaborate “T” with my hands to indicate a technical foul), Ron met George, put an arm around his shoulder, and calmly walked him back to his bench, explaining to him why the call was made.

Then, when they got to the bench, Ron quietly said, “Now, George, you know I have to call a technical foul on you.”

Ron always did things with class.

If I remember correctly, a picture of George being walked off the floor made the Saginaw News.

Les Miller, of Hubbard Lake, has retired after 53 years officiating multiple sports around Michigan. He can be reached at theoldref@yahoo.com.