Foul Play!
A tennis ump kills hubby with a coffee mug and 5 other tales of sporty savages.
A tennis ump kills hubby with a coffee mug and 5 other tales of sporty savages.
We hear about athletes’ illicit off-court antics all the time, but what about the refs? It turns out that the figures we look to for fairness and order are occasionally behaving far worse than the Dennis Rodman’s and Barry Bonds’ of the world. Meet six of the most offensive officials.
Lois Goodman: U.S. Open Tennis Umpire
The 70-year-old high-ranking tennis umpire will soon find herself in a different type of court after being arrested this week for allegedly bludgeoning her 80-year-old husband to death with a coffee mug.
Joe Crawford: NBA referee
In February 2009 the former NBA ref was sentenced to six months house arrest and three months probation for Federal tax income fraud. His exact crime? Downgrading first-class airline tickets issued by the league and pocketing the difference! He’s a modern-day Al Capone.
Stan Guffey: High school basketball referee
While attending a 1994 high school basketball championship game, a police officer noticed that one of the refs- Stan Guffey- was not calling enough fouls…and this was reason enough for the ref to get escorted off the court and arrested. We’d add a joke here, but would rather not risk the legal hassle. We also stopped breathing through our mouth, smiling too much, and we no longer blink. The law is the law.
Edward Lee Hartley: High school softball umpire
The high school umpire was arrested last year after two young teenage girls reported that he tried to pay them for sex. As it turns out, an initial background check conducted by the Arizona Amateur Softball Association had failed to turn up his criminal history, which included at least six prior sex crimes.
Asad Rauf: Cricket umpire
Earlier this month the married Pakistani umpire found himself in the middle of a sex controversy after Indian model Leena Kapoor accused him of sexual exploitation. While Rauf denied any relationship with her the model has provided several photos of them together that would indicate otherwise. As they say in Cricket, “Gadzooks!” (Note: We don’t know what they say in Cricket, but “Gadzooks” is a very real possibility.)
Ian William Shine: Cricket umpire
The Australian recently pleaded guilty to 24 charges of sex crimes against young Pacific Island boys. Yes- this is the second cricket umpire scandal. Gadzooks, indeed.