As we get closer to unveiling
my personal Top 10 favorite John’s Journal stories from the 2021-22 school
year, today’s Honorable Mention story is a profile of an official. Mashall
Behrens is a multi-sport official and a fine example of the dedicated people who
work as MSHSL officials and judges. The story also points out that more
officials and judges are needed.
Here's the story, originally posted on Oct. 13 …
In the summer of 1995,
Marshall Behrens had just graduated from St. Charles High School. He had played
high school and summer baseball, as well as other sports, all through school
but there was an obstacle that summer: an age cutoff meant he couldn’t play
ball with his buddies in St. Charles.
But the young man wanted to
spend the summer with his friends on the baseball field. He approached coach
Scott McCready, who is the baseball coach and activities director at St.
Charles, about becoming a de facto volunteer assistant coach. He said, “I want
to be around the guys.”
McCready’s oldest child was
born that summer, causing the coach to be absent from a playoff game. But the
young assistant coach took over with no hesitation.
“They whomped the other
team and 26 years later, he still reminds me of it,” McCready said. “On her
birthday, we text each about that. He ran that team then just like he runs a
football or basketball game now. He was the arbiter then, even as a coach. It
makes perfect sense where he’s ended up.”
Where has Behrens ended up?
He’s one of the most well-known and respected officials in Minnesota high
school sports. He officiates football and volleyball in the fall, girls
and boys basketball in the winter, and baseball and softball in the spring.
Away from high school sports, he also works Northern Sun Intercollegiate
Conference football games and amateur baseball.
Yes, he is a busy guy. He
wouldn’t want it any other way.
“Officiating has become
such a passion for me,” he said. “I’ve often used the word addiction. It’s so
much a part of my life. The people and the relationships, the good friends,
just giving back and seeing the kids. I don’t know what I’d do without it.”
Marshall and his wife Ellie
often officiate volleyball matches together. She is in her fourth season of calling
that sport.
“I conned her into thinking
we could go out one night a week for date night,” Marshall said. “She enjoys
seeing the female athletes and she can relate to them much better than I can.”
Brad Johnson, who was the
activities director at Rushford-Peterson for 20 years and now is the MSHSL
region secretary for small schools in the Rochester area, called Behrens
“probably the most recognizable official in southeast Minnesota among small,
medium and larger schools. He’ll work anywhere. No game is too big for him and
no game is too small for him. I’m so impressed with him. He treats every game
the same, it doesn’t matter if it’s a pair of 1-6 teams in Week 8 for football,
they’re going to get the same effort he would give in a state championship
game.
“He loves the games. He
works hard at it. He’s in there for the kids. He’s got great relationship with
the coaches and administrators and they know they’re going to get the best with
Marshall.”
An MSHSL official for more
than two decades, Behrens also works as an assigner for the Rochester Area
Officials Association, making sure officials are assigned to baseball and
softball games as well as sub-varsity basketball games. Fellow RAOA
members Jared Butson and Jeff Newton assign officials for other sports.
“That has become a labor of
love, just with our numbers and trying to recruit,” Behrens said. “It just
means so much to the kids to play those games. We just have to keep grinding.”
“Grinding” is an
appropriate term to describe the current state of officiating, specifically the
numbers of officials. It has been a growing issue in recent years and the
problem has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, with some officials not
returning to their sports and not enough others joining the officiating ranks.
“I rack my brain about
that,” Behrens said. “I cannot pin down the moving target. Compensation is
always brought up. We have a big focus on getting young people involved in
officiating. … We need people who are stable in the community and get them
going.”
As someone who frequently
officiates junior varsity and other sub-varsity games, he has learned that many
of the people who used to help call those contests – many of whom went on to
become registered MSHSL officials -- cannot be found now.
“There always used to be
locals doing ninth-grade and JV games,” he said. “On Mondays I usually do a
lower-level football game, usually working with three local guys who I tried to
train up. Now schools can’t find those local people to do those ninth-grade and
JV games. I worked with a 25-year-old (recently) who was all in. There’s just
not enough of them who say, ‘It would be cool to go out and officiate.’ ”
Around the state, many
football games are being played on Thursdays and Saturdays because there aren't
enough officials available for everyone to play on Friday nights. The outlook
may be grim for the winter, as well; with the number of games played in sports
like basketball and hockey, it's not hard to believe that games could be
cancelled due to a lack of officials.
Some football games this
fall have been played with four-person officiating crews instead of the normal
five (NCAA and NFL game use seven officials). It’s a problem that’s not going
away. Some people give officiating a try but walk away because of abuse by
spectators, family concerns or other reasons. But the glaring fact is this:
More officials and judges are needed in all MSHSL sports as well as activities
such as speech, debate, band, choir, etc.
Behrens has worked in human
resources at Mayo Clinic in Rochester for 21 years. His experience as a sports
official was important in being hired at Mayo.
“There are a lot of
similarities between officiating and human resources work,” he said. “They
actually recruited me for this position because they knew I officiated. They
said, ‘You know how to handle people, how to handle difficult situations. We
can teach you the nuts and bolts.’ ”
His first officiating
experience came when he was a student at Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He called
intramural sports, enjoying the role as well as the pay, and also officiated
youth basketball games.
Behrens has lost track of
how many state tournaments and state championship games he has officiated in
baseball, softball, basketball and football. He is unable to work the state
volleyball tournament because of his college football schedule.
“It’s obviously way more
than a hobby for me,” he said. “There aren’t many hobbies where you’re making
extra money. Obviously, that’s far from the reason any of us do it. But it’s an
important piece for people thinking about this; it can actually pay for some
fun things in your life.”
Behrens isn’t afraid to
take on new challenges, as evidenced by something that happened in his hometown
of St. Charles a few years back.
McCready and Butson (who
teaches in St. Charles) had tried their hand at officiating powderpuff
volleyball and football games during Homecoming week. It did not go well, as
McCready explained …
“Our principal said, ‘Next
year let’s get Marshall and Tristan Severson (of Plainview) in here. So we had
like 12 years of Prep Bowl experience working powderpuff volleyball and
football. We didn’t even pay them, we fed them burgers off the grill. It all
goes back to the friendships.”
--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of
Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn
and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts.
Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org
