Dick Bavetta

Bavetta was born in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York on December 10, 1939. His father was an officer for the New York Police Department, and his mother was a homemaker. and played on the schools' basketball teams. He began officiating after his brother, Joe, who officiated for the American Basketball Association, convinced him that it would be an interesting career. A Wall Street broker for Salomon Brothers with an MBA in finance from the New York Institute of Finance, Bavetta began officiating games between fellow brokers in the Wall Street League, played at New York's Downtown Athletic Club, and later worked high school games. For ten years, he officiated Public and Catholic High School leagues in New York and later nine years in the Eastern Professional Basketball League, which later became the Continental Basketball Association. ==NBA officiating career==

In the mid-1960s, he began to attend regional referee tryouts in the hopes of becoming an NBA referee; however, he was rejected for eight straight years due to his small physique and unimposing size. At one point in the game, Celtics forward Larry Bird and 76ers forward Julius Erving began to strangle each other and were ejected by Bavetta. Bavetta believed that this game assisted in the progression of his career in the NBA. Bavetta's career was threatened when he was accidentally hit in the nose by Pacers forward Jalen Rose, who was trying to punch Knicks center Patrick Ewing during a 1999 game between the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks. Bavetta did not leave the game immediately, opting to wait until later in the day to have surgery. He returned the next day to officiate an Atlanta Hawks-New Jersey Nets game. For his longevity in the league, he has received the nickname "the Cal Ripken Jr. of referees". The league eventually suspended seven players for a total of 47 games and fined both teams $500,000. After 39 years of officiating in the NBA, Bavetta officially retired on August 19, 2014, having officiated 2,635 consecutive regular season games. Charitable works Bavetta is also actively involved in charitable works. He has established and financed the Lady Bavetta Scholarships since 1986 in honor of his daughters, awarded to high school minority children based on their needs. He has volunteered since 1992 with Double H Hole in the Woods Ranch working with children and teens with a multitude of medical special needs. He also works with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and serves as the Upstate New York Regional Director for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. but lost by a narrow margin. The distance of the race was three and one half full lengths of the court (or 329 feet). Bavetta lost the race despite a last-second dive and Barkley running the last portion of the race backwards. The dive resulted in an abrasion injury to Bavetta's right knee. ==Controversies==

Altercations with Earl Strom According to Darryl Dawkins' autobiography, Bavetta was officiating an NBA game during the mid-1970s between the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Nets with Earl Strom as his partner for that game. Bavetta overruled Strom on a crucial last-second personal foul call against the Nets, which would have been a victory for the 76ers. Bavetta had another altercation with Strom when Strom tried to choke Bavetta before an NBA game in 1989. Strom reportedly apologized within two weeks of the incident. Allegations of game fixing Bavetta was one of three referees for the Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals between the Kings and the Lakers. Former referee Tim Donaghy has alleged that at least one of the referees working this game had subjective motives for wanting the Lakers to defeat the Kings, and made officiating calls to effectuate this outcome. NBA rules prohibited active referees from commenting on the situation publicly. The New York Times reported on June 12, 2008, that the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated allegations that Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals had been manipulated to further the series to a seventh game. In a 2002 article, Bill Simmons named the worst officiated games of the prior four years, alleging that the games involved either extending a series so it did not end quickly or advancing a large market team for the NBA's benefit. All seven games named had been officiated by Bavetta. ==Other achievements==

• Inducted into the New York City Catholic High School Hall of Fame on June 1, 2000. • Received the National Pro-Am Lifetime Achievement Award on October 14, 2002. • Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015. • Was the recipient of the 2016 Jerry Colangelo Award at the Athletes in Action All Star Breakfast, which is held each year during the NBA All Star Weekend. ==References==