Bill Sinning retiring after 14 years overseeing WPIAL playoff officials

By: Chris Harlan
Wednesday, April 17, 2019 | 1:12 PM

Bill Sinning has overseen WPIAL officials since 2006, but the retired basketball referee will leave that task to someone else next year.

Sinning informed the PIAA that he won’t seek an eighth term as the Male Officials Representative for District 7. His current two-year term ends June 30, 2020.

“It’s so time-consuming and so involved that I’m going to miss it, but it’s clear in my mind I’m done,” Sinning said, adding that it feels similar to when he retired from officiating. “I refereed basketball for all those years and one day decided it wasn’t fun anymore, so I quit.”

Sinning assigns and reviews officials for all boys-sports contests in the WPIAL. The position also makes him a member of the WPIAL board of directors and the PIAA officials council.

The PIAA will organize an election later this year to find Sinning’s replacement. All PIAA-registered officials from WPIAL chapters can vote for Sinning’s successor.

“I still have a year,” Sinning said. “I wanted to give everyone enough notice so the myriad of people can decide whether they want to run or not.”

Pamela Cherubin oversees officials for girls sports.

Reflecting back on his tenure, Sinning said he’s most proud that he was able to implement “a less-political approach” to assigning playoff officials.

“I’ve gotten many more people involved in the playoffs than was ever before,” Sinning said. “Back in the day when I worked, once you got to the WPIAL finals, you worked like 10 in a row. Now we move them around and try to work new people in.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.