John's Journal: The Next Generation Of Officials Has Arrived

BELGRADE – As three officials prepared for a Central Minnesota Conference girls basketball JV-varsity doubleheader here on Tuesday between Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa and Eden Valley-Watkins, they had a pregame chalk talk – minus the chalk -- in a quiet room that is normally a coaches’ office and storage area.

As lead official John Wold held a piece of paper with a basketball court printed on it, they discussed mechanics and who would be where in specific situations. They went over what they had seen in previous games. They discussed being clear with their hand signals. They discussed the three officials positions on the court -- Lead, Center and Trail – and how they would handle specifics, such as a full-court press.

“I’m pretty sure BBE will put a press on,” Wold said. “If we have questions on a call, we’ll come together, we’ll trust our partners.”

As the trio talked, Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa activities director Chris Anderson stuck his head in the door and dropped off paychecks for the officials. Each of them earned $160 for the two games. They had carpooled for the 90-minute drive to Belgrade; two of the officials live in Underwood and one in Fergus Falls.

The ages of the three varied widely. The veteran was John Klinnert, 77, who is in his 48^th year as a basketball official. Wold, 63, who has been on the whistle for 18 years, said, “I wish I would have started 20 years earlier because I just love it. But I used to milk cows, and that made it pretty hard to officiate.”

As they talked in the room before the games, at halftime and between games, the third official used what seemed like an odd moniker when addressing Klinnert. He would start a sentence with this: “Grandpa … ”

Andrew Klinnert is an 18-year-old senior at Fergus Falls High School. He is in his first year as an MSHSL basketball official and has worked several games with his grandfather. If Andrew officiates for as many years as his grandpa, he will put in more than 60 winters on the court.

For now, however, he is studying and watching and asking questions and learning from mentors like his grandpa and Wold. With all high school activities facing an often-depleted roster of officials, Andrew is a bright light for the future of high school sports.

John Klinnert started talking to Andrew about officiating when the youngster was 17. Initially, the money was a definite draw, “But now I’m getting more passionate about it,” Andrew said. “I enjoy traveling and meeting new officials and just learning as I go.”

Andrew, a straight A student, is a baseball player who stopped playing basketball after ninth grade. He plans to study physical therapy at the University of North Dakota and will graduate from high school this spring with one year of college credits under his belt.

“One thing I told Andrew was that if he was going to officiate, school is still going to be number one,” said John Klinnert, also a veteran football official who owns JK Sports & Outdoors in Fergus Falls. “I told him this would be not necessarily the easiest work, but financially it would be better than anything else he could find.”

Andrew figures he is earning between 60 and 75 dollars an hour as an official. He has worked youth tournaments, which can last a day or two with games all day, earning several hundred dollars. He will officiate around 20 varsity games this winter.

John Klinnert was a coach and school administrator before becoming an official when he was 30 years old; his first paycheck was for $55, split between two officials. He has no plans to retire, saying, “I'll ref until I ref my last game.”

As the three officials got dressed for their duties in Belgrade, John Klinnert wrapped a groin with tape and pulled a brace over one knee. He leaned against the wall and stretched. His grandson, 59 years younger, sat in a metal folding chair and listened as Wold led the discussion.

John Klinnert has been keeping track of how many contests he has worked, and he is closing in on 3,500 basketball games. He often works 50-hour weeks at his business, and officiating gives him an outlet, allows him to give back and renew friendships. “I’m not about to sit still,” he said.

At game sites, John Klinnert seems to know almost everyone and greets friends with a familiar smile and good-natured manner. His grandson wears a game face throughout, taking his officiating career seriously as he’s learning. And that learning will never end.

All new MSHSL officials work with mentors from the ranks of experienced officials. Wold and Andrew Klinnert talk and text on a regular basis, sometimes looking at game film to focus on how they’re doing.

“You need to be in the right position,” Wold said of being an official. “You have to have a positive attitude. You’ve got to be able to communicate with your teammates before the game, during the game after the game. And you also need to communicate with the coaches, the athletic directors.

“You’ve got to feel like you can trust your partners out there, and these young officials that we have now working, they get that. We put young officials with veterans; very rarely do we put three young ones together.”

Later in the week, Andrew was scheduled to work two more games. At one, his officiating partners were 65 and 73 years old, at the other they were 19 and 23.

Wold works with another veteran, Chuck Evert of Battle Lake, in making game assignments for the Ottertail Officials Association. At times, assignments have to be juggled in order to have three officials at every game, and occasionally games are moved to another day when enough officials are not available. There are 55 basketball officials in the association, and a dozen or so have less than four years of experience.

John Klinnert and Wold, who both have worked state championship games, relish being able to mentor Andrew because they know how important it is to have young people become officials.

“I love the success stories of the guys I’ve mentored,” Wold said. “Two years ago I had my first group of officials get down to the state tournament. I was blessed to do a state championship game, but there was satisfaction in watching their games on TV and saying, ‘Hey, I helped them get there.’ ”

Wold works for an auction company and John Klinnert runs a business. Andrew’s daily schedule is different. His school days begin at 8:20 a.m. with a work-based learning program at Lake Region Healthcare Hospital in Fergus Falls and the school day ends at 2:30 p.m. His classes include Nutrition and Wellness, Public Speaking, Western Civilization, Government, Economics and Choir.

The Klinnerts travel in similar fashion, both carrying their officiating gear in large black bags, one with “John” embroidered on top and the other with “Andrew.” Grandpa’s bag is carried with a shoulder strap and grandson’s has a similar strap as well as wheels on one end. John’s bag is weathered and creased while Andrew’s is shiny and new.

Andrew has worked lower-level games in Fergus Falls, involving fellow students. The first time he walked onto the court with a whistle around his neck, he heard classmates asking, “Is that Andrew?”

During the junior varsity game in Belgrade – with a small group of fans in the stands -- after Andrew called a foul a mom muttered, “That was no foul.” If the young official heard her, he didn’t show it.

Back in their locker room after the JV contest, the officials debriefed. Wold asked Andrew, “Do you have any questions about the first game?” They talked and relaxed, sipping bottled water.

Back on the court, as the varsity starting lineups were introduced, the players fist-bumped the officials. Wold and John Klinnert handed their black jackets to Andrew, who placed the three jackets on the scorer’s table. Twelve seconds after Wold threw up the game-opening jump ball, Andrew whistled the first foul on an Eden Valley-Watkins player on the baseline.

His signals and mechanics were on point all night. The sequence was always the same on foul calls: Whistle … fist raised in the air … then two fingers if it’s a two-shot foul … walk toward the scorers table … announce the player and the infraction.

Andrew’s first varsity game was Dec. 3 at Wadena-Deer Creek, with his grandpa also on the court. Officiating with his grandson surely provides proud moments for John, but once the ball goes up, their relationship takes a backseat to their jobs.

“I treat him just like any other official, and he treats me as another official,” John said. “He's my grandson, but he's my partner tonight. I’ve got two partners tonight and they're both equally important.”

John Klinnert has worked with officials as young as 19; Andrew is the first who is just 18, the age at which officials can be certified by the MSHSL to work varsity contests.

“Basketball is the toughest sport,” John Klinnert said. “With baseball or softball you can get away with things a little bit. And in football you might be able to put them at back judge or something. But it's pretty hard in basketball. This is the toughest one because you're out there in front of God and everybody else.

“I told Andrew right from the start that you need to learn to have good mechanics. When I coached, if they had good mechanics I didn't chew on them as much as if they had poor mechanics. After that first game in Wadena, we were walking out to the parking lot afterwards and a guy said, ‘You did a good job tonight.’ He said to Andrew, ‘Young guy, I liked that you had good mechanics.’ ”

The game in Belgrade was Andrew’s first in that gym. Beforehand, BBE coach Kristina Anderson was informed that the officiating crew included a grandfather and grandson.

“We need refs,” she said with a smile. “Let’s get the bloodline rolling.”

--See more photos on the MSHSL Facebook page.

--MSHSL staff member John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Bluesky at johnmilleamn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at [email protected] or [email protected]