High school basketball referee still running the floor at age 80

By: Bill Beckner Jr.
Friday, February 20, 2026 | 6:00 AM

Once an avid runner, Bob Saxman went from full speed to a jog before finally slowing down.

“Knees got creaky,” Saxman said.

But he can still get up and down the basketball court. Being a referee is something he just can’t give up.

Who’s to say he has to?

Saxman, a North Huntingdon resident, turned 80 on Jan. 29. He has many more years officiating than stripes on his jersey — white and black combined — and it doesn’t look like he is slowing down.

“I always say one more year,” Saxman said. “One more year turns into one more year, which turns into one more year. For the last five, six or seven years, I have talked about hanging it up. I always say to my friends, when I am playing golf with them, I will do it until I can’t run anymore, when I can’t keep up.”

Still in terrific shape and spry, Saxman is keeping up just fine. He has been working WPIAL and PIAA basketball games since he became certified in 1981.

A 37-year social studies and economics teacher at Turtle Creek — the school merged with Churchill, Edgewood, Swissvale and General Braddock to form Woodland Hills in the mid-1980s — Saxman was introduced to officiating by his friend, Don Koncsol, also a longtime official who taught at Turtle Creek.

Koncsol officiated for 26 years. He supervises refs now, as well as doing the scorebook for the Penn-Trafford girls basketball team.

“I was teaching in the early 1980s. He said, ‘You should be an official. You should try that,’” Saxman said. “So I did. Konscol got me in.”

Koncsol recalls the genesis moment he had with Saxman.

”From what I recall, we were in the teacher’s room and ‘Sax’ noticed I was looking a little tired, more than usual,” Koncsol said. “He asked why and I told him it was from the basketball game the night before, probably a college game that I had to drive a long way to do. He started asking about why I did it and I told him it’s a way to stay in a little shape, and you get paid. He asked what he needed to do to get started. I told him, and he took it from there.”

A former quarterback at Turtle Creek who attended Parsons College in Fairfield, Iowa, before graduating from IUP, Saxman initially joined the East Suburban chapter before moving to the long-running Westmoreland County chapter.

Nearly 45 years later, he is patrolling the hardwood, even working this year’s WPIAL playoffs.

“I still enjoy it,” he said. “I try to (work out) when if I have down time (between games). I have an area downstairs with free weights, a Peloton and a physio ball. I use them when I can.”

Known in officiating circles as a consummate professional, Saxman has not kept track of how many games he has officiated, but the number is well in triple digits.

He has worked playoff games throughout the WPIAL and state tournament games as far as Johnstown.

“I don’t want to even venture a guess,” he said. “You add up all the WPIAL games, a million rec games … it’s a lot.”

There is one game he frames in his mind: the 2011 WPIAL Class A girls championship between North Catholic and Fort Cherry at Duquesne’s A.J. Palumbo Center.

“That’s a highlight,” he said. “You always want to do a good job and get a chance to work big games.”

A key change in the late 1980s may have a lot to do with Saxman’s officiating longevity.

“When they went to three officials,” he said. “That changed the game. You look at our group … Probably 25 percent wouldn’t be here if we still used two officials. I’d probably be one of them. The game is so much faster now, the kids are more athletic, and of course, adding the 3-point shot was big.

“Teams can be small and still shoot a lot of 3s and win. Teams don’t pound the ball into the paint anymore. That used to be where we’d make most of our calls. That has changed so much, with the hand-checking rules and things like that.”

While he dabbled in baseball umpiring, Saxman never officiated football.

“Looking back, I kind of wish I had,” he said.

Saxman has worked with numerous basketball officials, rarely the same three-man grouping. His real stick-together crew is his family.

Saxman’s milestone year also includes a 50th wedding anniversary celebration with his wife, Candace.

They have two children, Carly and Zach, and five grandchildren.

“My grandson, Gabe, is a peewee hockey player, so we get to go watch his games,” Saxman said. “Every night in my prayers I include how thankful I am for my kids and how well they have done for themselves. They both have done very well.”

Nice call, ref.

Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.