THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 27, 1994 TAG: 9411240195
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 26 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Bill Leffler
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
For most of us, the basketball season is still coming up.
Larry Rose already has officiated a dozen games and will be working six nights this week.
He has 87 games on his regular schedule, to be followed by tournaments and winding up with his annual visit to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament.
Rose works games in six major conferences. His primary chores are in the Atlantic Coast Conference, where he is one of 38 officials.
More importantly, he is one of only six the ACC designates as A referees. They are the cream of the crop.
This no longer is a hobby for Rose, who has his own business in Franklin and is retired from Union Camp. For each ACC game he officiates, Rose pockets $675 and expenses.
Rose, headlining the November meeting of the Portsmouth Sports Club, calls officating basketball ``a very hard job and not as glamorous as it sounds.''
``It's a wonderful world of air lines,'' he said. ``One day you are in Tallahassee, Fla and the next you're in Detroit, Mich. There's a plane by day and a game by night.''
Rose began officiating on the college level in the CIAA and called the championship game in that conference for a record 11 straight years.
He didn't play basketball in college. He was on the football and baseball teams at Hampton University, where he graduated in 1972. But he found refereeing ``a good way to stay involved in athletics.''
Rose has been officiating in major conferences since 1982. Last year he became the first black official to work the ACC final.
In 1990 and 1993 he worked Final Four games.
Rose, the father of four daughters and one son, twice has received offers to officiate in the NBA. But he declined them.
Rose, 44, says it's a little like being under a magnifying glass in officiating in the Atlantic Coast Conference. ``Three-fourths of the ACC games are on television. One mistake and it can be seen all over the country,'' he said.
He recalls working a North Carolina State game when the late Jim Valvano was coaching the Wolfpack.
``He came toward me in a game with one leg stretched out and his arms flailing. And he said, `don't call a technical on me. I've got to jump a little. The camera is on me.' ''
For many years Rose has called PIT games. ``Believe me,'' he said, ``there are referees all over the country who would like to call these games. You could get 100 guys.
``I tell them it's for us locals.
``It's not about money. It's about hospitality.'' by CNB