I have told many people, including standingup at the state body meeting, and asked this question: "Why can't officials have names on their shirts, instead of numbers?"
I can picture a dozen GOOD officials, and I don't have any idea what their name is. And I have NEVER taken the time to write down his number and look up his name. I can also picture 5 or 6 officials that I think are complete idiots, but have never taken the time to look them up either. There are some that I know names of, on both sides of the fence, but there are more that I do NOT know, than those that I do know.
I just don't think we are asking too much for them to put names on their shirts.
This would make it much easier on coaches to make knowledgeable recommendations for state officials.
Actually the by-laws were amended this year to strike out language saying that Kids officials should wear numbers on their shirts. This was done for a variety of reasons.
#1. Many officials weren't wearing the numbers to begin with, particularly the longer tenured officials who tended to do more middle and high school work than kids, and he didn't want to maintain several different shirts.
#2. Many coaches never took the time to use the numbers UNLESS they had a gripe about an official which not surprisingly most often came from a judgment call situation they witnessed.
There are other reasons, but the point was they simply weren't needed, and I don't believe names on the shirt really are either.
It seems pretty straight forward to me, that if a coach would like to know what an officials name is, they could simply ask said official in a polite manner, and I'm reasonably sure that most of them would freely give it.
More than that, perhaps if people were truly serious about getting the best officials they could both for their own tournaments and the post season tournaments, that they should take the time to approach the officials that they truly believe are doing a good job and have a conversation with them, and get there name. I promise you most officials won't bite you, they are people and fans of wrestling just like you. I know from personal experience that there are few things more satisfying to officials than to have a complete stranger come up to them and thank them or complement them on the job they are doing. I also know that many officials are more than happy to discuss rules and concerns that you may have, if they are in a position to do so, such as they are off the mat on break.
