Prayers needed...Ref collapses/dies on court

[kaorder1999]

The head over the Commerce chapter of basketball officials collapsed on the court and passed away last night. Not sure of what his last name is but i know his first name is Ernie....please keep his family and friends in your prayers!

It happened at the Paris North Lamar-Princeton girls game last night!

<small>[ December 10, 2003, 01:07 PM: Message edited by: kaorder1999 ]</small>

[kaorder1999]

ttt

[CHS_Grad '85]

He and his family are in my prayers...

[crzyjournalist03]

wow...we need to pray for the people that were at the game and the players too...undoubtedly that was a disturbing sight to witness.

[Showtime33]

My prayers go out to his family, friends, and the other refs in the Commerce chapter. Really sad to hear something like that.

[kaorder1999]

I just had t his sent to me about the ref that passed away....

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his name is ernie wilson. He was the assignment secretary for 6 years. now he is the assignment secretary for all non-varsity contest. He has been in commerce chapter for 20 years.

[Phil C]

Not much more can be said. I concer that our prayers will be with his family, friends, and fellow refs as well as to all those at the game that witnessed the tragedy.

[weatherag07]

That's terrible...I bet that was really disturbing for everybody.

[crzyjournalist03]

Fresh off the presses (literally...it came out three minutes ago):

Medical examiner: Referee had heart disease
04:59 PM CST on Wednesday, December 10, 2003

By JIM BARNES / Special Contributor

A basketball referee died of an arrhythmia brought on by an enlarged heart during a game at Princeton High School on Tuesday night, according to the Collin County medical examiner.

Dr. William Rohr determined during an examination Wednesday afternoon that Ernie Wilson, 59, had “severe and advanced heart disease.”

“This was subject to happen at any moment,” Rohr said.

Pete Busby worked with Wilson during Tuesday’s Princeton-Paris North Lamar girls varsity game, one of many they shared during their 11 years together in the Commerce officials chapter.

A day later, Busby said the loss was hard to accept.

“With 21 seconds left in the quarter, we talked about taking care of business going into halftime,” Busby said Wednesday. “With seven seconds left, he wasn’t there anymore. I noticed he made a reach at the wall and then just kind of melted down the wall.”

Wilson collapsed seven seconds before halftime. A paramedic in the crowd began performing CPR within seconds. An ambulance arrived less than five minutes later, and paramedics continued CPR for about 45 minutes and administered three shocks with defibrillators on the gym floor.

“Everybody had to stay in the gym and observe it,” said William Skinner, who attended the game to watch his daughter, Laci, play for Princeton. “I’ve been to a million games but have never seen anything like that.”

Wilson was pronounced dead at North Central Medical Center in McKinney.

Nothing in Wilson’s pregame demeanor suggested he was ailing, Busby said. They met at Wilson’s Greenville home and drove to Princeton together.

“He was talking about how he was going to buy his wife some shoes for Christmas,” Busby said.

Wilson worked a subvarsity game with no problems, and Busby said the two were joking before the varsity game. Wilson was in good shape and had recently passed a stress test, Busby said.

Nelson Surovik, the president of the Commerce chapter, said he and Wilson often joked about who would travel the farthest to cover a game. Wilson always favored Surovik, but Surovik doubted that was true.

Wilson could not be outworked, Surovik said. Wilson put in several hours each week as the assigning secretary for the chapter’s more than 4,500 games, a duty he shared with Busby the past two years.

Wilson enjoyed seeing the growth of the chapter, Surovik said.

“We had a vision of taking this little-bitty chapter that people kick around and make fun of,” Surovik said, “and now it’s grown to where it’s respected around the state. Ernie took a lot of pride in that.”

Nevada Community girls basketball coach Dallas Bookout said Wilson officiated some of his games when he played at Cooper in the early 1990s, and they became more acquainted once Bookout became a coach.

“I could get onto him during a game, and after the game, it was over,” Bookout said.

Said Busby: “He was a great guy, a great boss. He had a good time doing what he loved.”

Wilson is survived by his wife, Melinda, two sons and a daughter.

The Princeton-North Lamar game, which is a District 10-3A opener, will resume at 6 p.m. Thursday.

[kaorder1999]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/highschools/basketball/stories/121103dnsporeferee.8c90a3e4.html