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Hargis starts 35th year as multi-season ref

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By Sam Waller

Ronnie Hargis, who spent his childhood in Albany, was recently honored by the Texas High School Basketball Officials Association for being selected to officiate games at the University Interscholastic League state basketball tournament last March.

Hargis, who now lives in Hawley, was one of six association members recognized on Sept. 21.

The 2022 state tournament played at the Alamo­dome in San Antonio marked the sixth time Hargis, a 1979 Albany graduate, has been selected by the UIL to officiate state games. But that’s only part of what he has achieved in officiating high school sports.

“With all the awards, I’ve been lucky to be with good officials,” Hargis said. “You’re only as good as your crew is. It’s not an individual thing.”

Hargis has called games for 34 years, starting in 1988. He has called state championships in football, basketball, and baseball, working title games in all three sports in 2017.

Hargis has officiated state football finals twice for the UIL and once for the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS), umpired two UIL and one TAPPS state baseball tournaments, and worked six UIL and two TAPPS state basketball tournaments. He has called both football and basketball title games at the Alamodome and officiated at Arlington’s AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys.

Hargis is a member of the Texas Association of Sports Officials and the THSBOA, serving as president for the Abilene chapter of basketball officials association.

In football, Hargis has handled all officiating positions, working on crews as small as three members and as large as seven.

“We don’t have designated crews, so you might be working a different position every night,” he said.

Recent years have seen a decline in the number of game officials in all sports, often leading to scheduling problems for schools.

“I wish we had more young people come in and do it,” Hargis said. “It’s hard to find anybody who wants to these days.”

Last fall, Hargis was part of a football crew that worked a six-man game at Moran and an 11-man game at Albany on the same evening.

“Mike Berry, Tony Gonzales and Jimmy Hastings, and I went and called Moran,” Hargis said. “Then we drove over and worked the Albany game.”

Hargis also spent 11 years working small college (NCAA Division II and Division III) and junior college men’s and women’s basketball. He also umpired two seasons of semipro baseball during the existence of the Abilene Prairie Dogs.