Jason’s Deli owner is Peach Jam ref with dreams
NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. — Keith Patterson sat in the corner of the gym, a few feet from the college basketball coaches looking for their next starter and the basketball recruits looking to be the next college star.
But what was Patterson, a pharmaceutical rep who owns all four Jason’s Deli franchises in the Memphis area, doing there with them at Nike’s Peach Jam this week?
The hint came as he replaced his white sneakers for black ones, took off his jacket to reveal his black-and-white striped referee shirt and closed up his SEC backpack.
“I’m further along than I ever dreamed I would be, but I’m knocking on the door of where I want to be,” Patterson explained. “I’m hoping that with this camp I get that next call that says, ‘Congratulations, you’ve made it to a Power Five conference.’”
The Peach Jam has become an annual pilgrimage for the college basketball recruiting world over the past decade or so. It is the pre-eminent event on the AAU calendar, with the best prospects in the country playing in front of a who’s who of the best coaches in the country.
The coaches are searching for the next big thing and the players are hoping to become the next big thing. But in the midst of all that are the refs who oversee the games being played.
And unbeknownst to many in attendance, the refs are auditioning just like the teenagers on the court.
There are 48 here this year. Some are high school officials trying to break into the college ranks. Many, like Patterson, are already working a handful of college games at various levels but trying to climb the ladder and ref games in the biggest leagues.
Across the six courts at Riverview Park Activities Center are 10 more officials taking notes and judging their performance officiating some of the nation’s best basketball recruits.
“We’re trying to find the next wave of officials,” said Mark Whitehead, the coordinator of officials for the SEC, Amer
ican, Sun Belt and Atlantic Sun conferences, who helps oversee this evaluation process.
Patterson, 46, decided to become a referee about 15 years ago, right around the same time he, his brother and his father began buying Jason’s Deli franchises in the region. Patterson had been going to a lot of high school sporting events around Oxford, Miss., where he has a house in addition to Memphis, and began to realize the level of officiating is not up to par.
“How can I make a difference?” he thought.
Inspired by his grandfather, who had been a college basketball and football referee, Patterson stopped complaining about the refs and became one. Which is more noble than you might think, especially for a successful businessman.
A 2017 survey conducted by the National Association of Sports Officials revealed 70 percent of new officials quit within three years largely because of abuse.
But Patterson started reffing high school basketball games in northern Mississippi and, by year three, he did his first state championship game. Then he moved up to the junior college level and worked two junior college national championship games. After that came the NAIA and he officiated the NAIA national championship game this past year.
The advancement eventually fueled Patterson to strive for more.
In recent years, he made it to the Division-i level. He’s affiliated with the AAC, Conference USA, Sun Belt, Atlantic Sun and Ohio Valley conferences as an independent contractor. An Ole Miss grad, he’d like to earn a spot working SEC games.
This past season, for instance, he officiated Memphis coach Penny Hardaway’s first exhibition game against Lemoyne-owen. He also reffed a game in the AAC tournament at Fedexforum.
Suffice to say, it gets the juices flowing a lot more than a sandwich.
“It doesn’t matter what I do in the business sector, or even personally for that matter, because there’s nothing like the adrenaline when you wake up and there’s a game that day,” Patterson said. “I just love being part of it. It’s just the way you feel and the energy that it gives you, and it becomes a way of life.”
So much so that Patterson has been invited to ref at Peach Jam six years in a row, a sign of the progress he’s made on his quest to climb the referee ladder. He’s worked two games a day here, and worked at two other events in Atlanta and South Carolina this spring as well.
He’s one of the more experienced officials doing games at Peach Jam. His assertive demeanor and confidence are assets amidst the cramped confines, aggressive fans, over-the-top AAU coaches and aspiring basketball stars who are fixtures of this tournament.
The goal is to leave the court without being recognized as a Jason’s Deli owner or a pharmaceutical rep. The hope is “nobody knows who I am,” Patterson said, because that means the game occurred without controversy.
This week, though, it could also lead to the promotion of his dreams.
You can reach Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto via email at mgiannotto@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter: @mgiannotto