Marc Ratner

By Ron Kantowski

Saturday, Aug. 16, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Although Marc Ratner has worn many hats on the local sports scene, the one he always keeps close is his black referee’s cap with the thin white piping.

He’s been on the football field in the PCAA, the Big West, the WAC, the Mountain West, the Cotton Bowl and one Notre Dame game. He still does some replay work for the Mountain West.

The longtime Nevada Athletic Commission executive director who resigned to accept a position with the Ultimate Fighting Championship — he’s the mixed martial arts group’s vice president of regulatory affairs — continues to moonlight as the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association’s commissioner of officials for Southern Nevada.

With a new high school football season approaching, Ratner was asked to blow his whistle on the zebras, or at least discuss officiating sports on the local high school level.

It used to be around this time that the sports desk would receive a notice from the Southern Nevada Officials Association that it needed referees. Is that still the case?

Officials are a constant need, especially with a new season looming. No experience necessary. Right now, in all sports, we have 700 officials. Some do more than one but on any given Friday night during football season, we need 100 officials. On a real busy night, counting the clock operators and the chain guys, we might have 200 people working.

We’ve already had a couple of meetings for football, volleyball and soccer officials. The new officials meet at 5 p.m. Sundays at Valley High School. All the information is on our Web site at www.s-n-o-a.org/default.html.

No experience necessary? How long will it take before a prospective referee is ready to call varsity football or basketball games?

In football, there are a lot of mechanics and you need to know where to position yourself on the field. It takes a minimum of two or three years to get up to the varsity level so that it’s fair for the kids. In basketball, especially for those who haven’t played the game, it would probably take a minimum of two or maybe three years, too. Those games are a lot faster and hard to referee.

How much does a high school referee get paid, and how far will he or she have to drive?

There are different pay levels. Pop Warner football and the young kids’ levels may pay only $20 a game. Freshman or JV pays $40 a game, and varsity $60. If you did a lot of junior varsity and varsity games you could make a little extra money, no problem. We travel to Tonopah, up to Lincoln County and down to Laughlin and Needles. There are 50-plus schools under my purview.

Is there one sport that is particularly hard to recruit for?

Soccer. It’s an afternoon game. Plus, there’s a little more emotion in soccer than the other sports. Soccer is the hardest sport to recruit for us. But it’s not just us; it’s a nationwide thing.

Is calling a Bishop Gorman vs. Las Vegas High playoff game the top of the line for a local official?

We have a guy from our program, Joe Burleson, who is in China right now, calling balls and strikes in the Olympics. Joe was a PCL umpire and has also called home plate in the championship game of the College World Series. One of our Pop Warner alumni, Mark Perlman, is one of the top line judges in the NFL. He was the line judge in Super Bowl XL. He got his start right here.

What’s the best part about being a referee? And I bet I can guess the worst. I know the Notre Dame game was a big thrill for you.

The best thing about being a referee is that if you are a competitive person, once you get out of high school or college about all you can do is play city league basketball or slow-pitch softball. Being a referee keeps you in the game. For the most sport, high school is still the purest form of athletics and it’s a great thing giving something back.

Sometimes you hear it from players and fans, but you should never make it personal. And you’re right — just to walk on the field at Notre Dame was a big thrill, bigger than any bowl game. That was my “Rudy” moment.