Indiana ref finishes 26-year journey
Casey Gaynor arrived early for his officiating assignment Tuesday evening to look around a bit. Years ago, almost five decades now, he played basketball in the upstairs gym at Municipal Gardens, even making an all-star team once “because they needed a couple extra bodies for practice.”
Gaynor was back here again Tuesday night to officiate a high school basketball game. The game itself — an 83-22 victory for Tech over Herron — was nothing memorable. But this night was special for Gaynor, who was joined by good friends and fellow officials, Lance Ringler and Tony Richert, to work the game, the latter coming out of “retirement” for the occasion.
It was a full circle moment for Gaynor, 57, who completed a 26-year journey to officiate at every high school gym in the state. Municipal Gardens, which is Herron's current home gym, allowed Gaynor to check that final box of the more than 400 current schools in the Indiana High School Athletic Association.
“It's been quite challenging,” Gaynor said of completing his goal, which was actually one of two goals when he started working as a high school official in 1998. “Some of the schools have been incredibly difficult, though not really for one reason. One might be hours away or there is a different assigner, or you have to be part of an association in a part of the state to get games. There were a lot of hurdles.”
Gaynor certainly did not set about on his journey around the state for attention. The 1985 Cardinal Ritter graduate is the oldest of five brothers. Grady Gaynor, his younger brother, joked he did not even realize the game at Municipal Gardens would complete his goal until the family gathered for Christmas.
“He didn't make our Christmas gettogether on the 20th (of December) because he was refereeing. But that's when his wife (Becky) told us this was the last one for him to hit. Sports was such a big part of our upbringing, and I think he sees (officiating) as a way to give back.”
Grady was there Tuesday night to support his brother — and throw out some half-hearted heckling in a game that was a decidedly low-key affair. In fact, Becky, Gaynor's wife of nearly 31 years, encouraged their now-adult children, son Autry (24) and daughters Atley (26) and Aivry (22), to engage in a little good-natured ribbing, too, in a quiet gym.
“They were too conditioned over the years to not say anything,” Becky said with a laugh. “We lived in the gyms. Here I was with three kids when they were little, and we'd have the whole JV game to sit through before the varsity game. It was like, ‘Is there an auxiliary gym somewhere? Because my kids need to run around.' But we are all behind him. We're a close-knit family and very thankful.”
Gaynor kept a detailed Excel spreadsheet to track his journey. He includes every game from every season, including his officiating partners, distance from home and the amount of his check.
Gaynor is a systems analyst at Eli Lilly so keeping these records is part of the fun. “By trade, I'm an IT guy,” he said. If a school builds a new gym, he tries to revisit the school and work a game there again. He has also worked at several schools that are either non-IHSAA (the Hoosier Gym in Knightstown and La Lumiere in La Porte, for example) and schools that have since closed.
His favorite gym?
“New Castle is probably my favorite,” Gaynor said. “Connersville is just a hair below it. Washington Catholic is great, too. You are going there for more than just the basketball. It has that small gym feel to it.”
He also worked a 2007 regional game at Hinkle Fieldhouse with the sun shining through the windows, one of his most memorable experiences.
“My No. 1 goal when I started at the beginning of my career was that I wanted to work a state final,” Gaynor said. “No. 2 was to make it to every school in Indiana. About 12 years ago, it became my No. 1 goal. I worked college games for about 15 years, too, which made that more of a challenge because I couldn't get to as many games. But once my college career started winding down, I made it my No. 1 priority.”
Richert retired from officiating in 2022 and didn't work any games last year. He worked two games last week at Lawrenceburg to “work the rust off”, knowing he was going to work this game with Gaynor and Ringler.
“I love working with him,” Richert said. “What makes him stand out is how he understands the rulebook. When he's talking to a coach you can tell he's using rulebook lingo. That allows him to de-escalate situations. That's half the battle. I'm lucky to come into contact with him and learn from him.”
The players and coaches from Tech and Herron presented Gaynor with a plaque prior to the game. Richert believes, through his research, that Gaynor is the only official in any state to accomplish this goal.
“I'm almost misty-eyed tonight because this is probably my last game,” Richert said. “So, it means a lot for me to be able to see him accomplish this.”
There have been mishaps along the way, too, like when Gaynor forgot his shoes on a trip to Crothersville and had to borrow a pair of red basketball shoes from the girls' team. He laughs about that now, as he does his inauspicious start in officiating.
Gaynor was playing in the alumni games at Cardinal Ritter in his mid-20s “and always complaining about calls,” he said. Bill Nester, a basketball official and baseball umpire who ran the alumni league, told Gaynor he was putting him down to referee the next year in 1994-95. As it turned out …
“I loved it,” Gaynor said. “I worked the alumni league and then started working men's leagues.”
He was off. By 1998, he was working high school games.
After 400-plus schools and hundreds of games, what's next? Becky joked he should start on Illinois schools next or try to umpire a game at every Indiana baseball field. But the unassuming Gaynor just plans to keep officiating until he is 60, then see how he feels.
“I was working at the late, great John Adams' camp one time years ago and he asked me about my goals,” Gaynor said. “He said how about this: ‘Why don't you make it a goal to be the best you can possibly be and let that take you wherever you go?' I thought, ‘ You know what? That sounds pretty good.”