LEXINGTON, Ky. _ Former Auburn coach Sonny Smith likes to tell the story. He and former Alabama coach Wimp Sanderson were being roasted. One of the speakers was Joe B. Hall.
As the former Kentucky coach spoke, a telephone buzzed. More than a few people began to check their cell phones.
"Don't anybody answer that," Smith recalled telling the audience. "That call is for Joe. Because Joe gets all the calls."
Smith laughed as he retold the story last week. Hall said the moment was pre-planned comedy.
The calls a Kentucky coach "gets" got a public airing recently when _ in response to a question about biased referees _ John Calipari told The Rotary Club of Lexington that UK does not always get a fair whistle.
Calipari also told the Rotarians that this contention clashed with a widespread perception outside the Big Blue Nation that Kentucky's opponents are the teams not getting a fair whistle.
"It's just because the number of wins they've got," Smith said of UK's dynastic history of success. "That's what it's all about. Everybody thought Joe was getting all the calls. He wasn't getting all the calls, but they were winning. (Rick) Pitino was winning. Tubby (Smith) was winning. Everybody wants to find the answer (for such success)."
Former Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson suggested that winning also breeds suspicion of referees. That might explain the complaints about officiating made by Calipari, who later said his comments at the Rotary were made in jest.
"Almost every team that is really good will feel they are not getting their share of calls," Richardson said. "I think that comes with the territory. That comes with that bull's-eye on your chest."
Former Georgia coach Hugh Durham memorably captured UK's perceived home-court advantage by saying a metaphorical "blue mist" descended from the top of Rupp Arena and influenced all below. That included the referees.
Durham liked to talk about how a referee would signal in a perfunctory way possession for Georgia when a ball went out of bounds. But the referee would seemingly look for applause from the Rupp Arena crowd on a call rewarding possession to Kentucky.
"Both calls were right," Durham said last week. "Except he was selling the one for Kentucky by winding up and doing his three skips and a big wave down to white end."
To explain how the blue mist affected referees, Durham borrowed from Calipari's comment at the Rotary about UK sometimes playing against eight opponents (five players, three referees).
"They thought they were playing against eight," Durham said. "I thought they were playing with eight."
When contacted last week, Hall said that he could identify with Calipari questioning the fairness of calls. But the former UK coach conceded that Durham had a point about Rupp Arena. At the mention of blue mist, he said, "I don't doubt it. I'll admit it."
Referees are human, said Hall, adding that a referee might be sympathetic to a decided underdog or swayed in other ways.
Forty-four years later, Hall remains convinced that the 1975 national championship game against UCLA can serve as an example of referees under an influence. UCLA coach John Wooden had announced it would be the last game in his iconic career. Hall also suggested that it was not coincidental that pregame talk of UK's rough-house playing style preceded foul trouble reducing UK big men Rick Robey and Mike Phillips to 14 and 16 minutes of game action, respectively. Referees Hank Nichols and Bob Wortman called 28 fouls on Kentucky and 19 on UCLA. It should be noted that Nichols was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012. Wortman became supervisor of Big Ten officials after he retired as a referee.
"They were helping Wooden win his last game and his 10th NCAA championship," Hall said of Nichols and Workman. "And knocked me out of one. You think that doesn't gall me?"
