Referee Ron Tyburski

By Brian Herman
VALLEY INDEPENDENT SPORTS EDITOR
Monday, November 17, 2003

MONESSEN -- In his 11th year as a college basketball official, Monessen's Ron Tyburski has finally hit the big time this season. Tyburski will be making his debut with the Big East Conference. The Big East will be his sixth affiliation to go with the Northeast, Atlantic 10, Ivy, Patriot and Metro-Atlantic Conferences. "To get to that level, there's only a hand full," said Tyburski. "It's definitely an honor and privilege to be in all these leagues. It takes a lot of preparation and camps to go to get the exposure to get in Division I. There's a lot of Ron Tyburskis out there and I was fortunate to get the opportunity."

Tyburski's basketball career started in the 1987-88 campaign. "I worked junior high and junior varsity games that season but ended up doing three varsity games when officials didn't show up," he recalled. Tyburski made a good enough impression to get five straight WPIAL championship games between 1995 and 2000 and also landed a pair of state title contests in Hershey. He made his Division I college debut in 1993 with the Northeast Conference. Getting in the Big East, which will add perennial powers like Cincinnati, Marquette and Louisville in 2005, is the coup. "It will be the premier league in the country," noted Tyburski. Tyburski, who worked high school and college baseball for 16 years (1982-98) and has been a scholastic football official for nine years with three WPIAL finals, credits a number of people for his success. "It all started with Nunnie (Stan) Milchovich, Jim Chacko and Dave Bergstedt in the Mon Valley Chapter and Rich Kotarsky and Bill Christy with the Washington Greene County Chapter," he said. His uncle Walt Malinchak, a Division I football official, was also very instrumental in his career. "I had talks with him early in my career," he recalled. "He always told me to be a listener and use your ears, not your mouth. That's very important in officiating. It's a two-way street." At the age of 40, Tyburski is one of the younger whistle-tooters in the Big East, which has 35 officials. "The average age is 50, so I'm at the younger end," he said. "Ten years ago, I set a goal of working 40 Division I games in a season. I'm sitting right where I want to be age wise." Weighing a trim 173 pounds, Tyburski makes it a point to stay in shape. " I run two to three miles three days a week in the off-season," he said.""I'm a true believer in keeping knife sharp. My pet peeve is seeing out-of-shape officials." According to Tyburski, being an NCAA official isn't as glamorous as it appears. "It's a business at this level," he said. "The basketball season is a long one. The worst part is the travel delays with the weather and flight delays. We're under the microscope every time we blow the whistle. People on TV look for us to make mistakes so they can show them later on SportsCenter. "I take every game serious because I know it could be my last one. Credibility is important in this business and I challenge myself before the game. Every time I blow a whistle, I have to be right." Tyburski is accompanied to some of the games by his father, Bob, the long-time Monessen High football public address announcer. "He probably goes to 15 to 20 games with me," said Tyburski. "The funny part is the officials I work with are always more interested in him than me." Brian Herman can be reached at bherman@tribweb.com or (724) 684-2667.