High school officials, the men and women who wear the stripes, blow the whistles and keep fair, safe play foremost in their minds and actions, come from all sorts of backgrounds. Some become officials at a young age, some a little later. They are committed to the sports and activities they love and they want to ensure that current student-athletes have the best possible experience.
Those are among the reasons that Dan Barnett returned
to officiating football this year. He was away from the game for six years
because he was away from the state.
Barnett, 40, who lives in Mankato, had been a football
coach before he joined the officiating ranks in his mid-20s.
“I love football and I love being around it,” he said.
“Maybe this is a little less frustrating and I don’t have a crazy amount of
time invested in it.”
When he took a job in Colorado, he moved west and didn’t
get involved in officiating because he had no connections to any officials
there. He came back to Minnesota earlier this year and it didn’t take long to
resume his officiating career, thanks to some friends in the game.
He talked to Scott Haefner, a football official, executive board member of the
Mankato Area Officials Association and frequent mentor to young officials. He talked
with Jed Falgren, a longtime football and basketball official who is president
of the Mankato association.
“I
ran into Jed at his daughter’s wedding and somehow it got brought up,” Barnett
said with a laugh. “He said, ‘We need a sub.’ I said, ‘Absolutely.’ ”
During a game in St. Clair on Oct. 7, Falgren observed
from the sideline and Barnett was in the umpire position; that’s the official
who is positioned behind he defense.
“I think for the first couple of plays, I definitely had
to shake the rust off,” Barnett said. “I felt like after the first quarter, ‘I’m
back, I got it, I’m good.’ ”
Falgren said he was more than happy to help Dan return
to the game, especially with all sports facing a shortage of officials.
“I hope I had a little bit to do with it,” Jed said. “He
talked about coming back. Scott mentioned Dan was thinking about it and we
needed to work on him.
“I am excited. He’s going to be a great addition. He
has a football mind, he was a player, a student of the game. I was real pleased
at how natural he looked at his first game down in St. Clair.”
Earlier in the season, Barnett observed the officials from
the sideline during a game in New Ulm. Falgren, who was a crew member stationed
on one of the sidelines, and Barnett had discussions throughout the game.
“He was asking tons of great questions all through the
game. We could tell he was pretty good,” Falgren said.
Falgren also took a break in his officiating career.
He began working games when he was a University of Minnesota student in the
mid-1980s. In the early 1990s a growing family gave him a reason to step away
from officiating. He returned in 2015.
Like all officials, Barnett and Falgren would love to
see more people join their ranks.
“I’ve talked to a couple buddies, trying to gauge
their interest,” Dan said. “I have two younger brothers who live in Minnesota
and I’ve talked to both of them.”
--If you are interested in becoming an MSHSL
sports official or fine arts judge, go to this link for more information: https://www.mshsl.org/who-are-you/officiating
--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
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