By day, Gleneagle resident Randy Campbell runs his own oil and
gas company. His nights and weekends, however, are spent running up
and down basketball courts and football fields making sure top
college athletes abide by the rules.
“I’ve done this 23 years,” Campbell said of his career as a college
basketball and football official. “And I’ve enjoyed every minute of
it.”
Campbell, 53, is one of only two known officials in the nation who
referee Division I football and Division I women’s basketball. He
has officiated games in 42 states and is one of United Airlines’
most valued guests as he regularly tallies more than 100,000 flight
miles each year.
“I always tell people, ‘If I die I hope I go to heaven, and I’ll
connect at O’Hare (International Airport in Chicago),’” he said
with a smile.
Like most officials, Campbell started at the bottom and worked his
way up. At 16 he made $2.50 an hour as a softball scorekeeper. The
next year he tripled his pay to $7.50 a game as an umpire. That’s
when he caught the bug.
After taking the usual route of working high school games and lower
level college games, Campbell reached the Division I stage in
women’s basketball more than 20 years ago. Today, he officiates
contests in a slew of conferences, including the Pacific 10,
Mountain West, Summit, Missouri Valley, Sun Belt and Conference
USA.
“I usually average three to four games a week during the basketball
season,” he said. “I take a lot of late-night flights.”
Campbell most recently worked his 20th consecutive Division I
women’s basketball tournament, as well as a few women’s NIT games.
He’s worked 10 NCAA regionals, but never made it to a Final
Four.
“I’ve seen a lot of great players over the years like Candace
Parker and Candice Wiggins,” Campbell said. “But the best player
I’ve ever seen is Diana Taurasi. I had her in the tournament two of
the three years she won a national championship.”
While he won’t rev things up again until August with the start of
college football, Campbell is called upon to officiate (he is a
line judge) spring college football games. On April 9 he was in
Boulder for Colorado’s scrimmage, and on April 16 he will be in
Salt Lake City for Utah’s game. Campbell will follow the schools to
the revamped Pacific 12 next season after spending the previous 11
years officiating Big 12 conference games.
Campbell has also worked six bowl games, including the recent
Capital One Bowl on Jan. 1 between Alabama and Michigan State. He’s
received a commemorative football from each bowl game, and has them
all proudly displayed in his home.
Because he is rated on his performance, Campbell has to pass a
rules test and physical fitness test every year. He is evaluated
throughout each season and has to maintain good ratings to have his
year-to-year contract renewed, or to work a bowl game.
Campbell watches a lot of game film, but not for the purpose
studying teams he is going to officiate.
“We watch our performance as a crew,” he said. “We usually do 10
hours of film review each week before we go onto our next game. You
try to worry about the things you do control, not the things you
can’t control.”
Because he works out of his home, Campbell has had the opportunity
to spend quality time with his wife and three children, who have
all attended Pine Creek High School. His youngest, Lisa, is a
senior and plays on the lacrosse team.
“I even referee high school lacrosse,” he said, adding that it is a
great sport.
As his kids were growing up, Campbell made it a point to take each
of them on at least one of his officiating trips each year.
“I went to the Outback Bowl with him in 2004,” said Tracy, his
oldest daughter. “Growing up it was normal to have him around here
and then off doing a game some place. When he was here he always
took us out to Sky Sox games or Rockies games or for ice cream.