Wilfed Lehmann celebrates 50 years of donning black and white

Way back during the 1964-65 high school sports seasons, Wilfred Lehmann, Le Roy, registered to become a referee. 50 years later, Willie — as his friends call him — is still going strong.
Lehmann, 72, got his unofficial start as an official when he attended junior college in Iola. At the time, the school wasn’t named Allen Community College, but was Iola Junior College. Lehmann came to the school on a track and field scholarship as well as to play basketball.
“When I came to school here, I played basketball and wasn’t refereeing at that time,” Lehmann said. “The dean of the college, T.C. Brown, asked me to referee the intramural games. That was kind of my start. The old gym down in the basement was where we played the games. He used a stopwatch and a skillet — he’d gong the skillet when time was up, that’s how time was kept.”
During his sophomore season, he won the two-mile race at the state junior college meet. He moved onto K-State to run cross country and track.
After his sports career ended, he decided to keep it alive through refereeing.
“When you play sports like I have, you can’t do that anymore and this is the closest thing to it,” Lehmann said. “It keeps you in touch with the kids.”
The little city of Iola has played a big role in his refereeing career.
“Iola was really a starting point for me in my career,” Lehmann said. “I also have called a lot of games here at Iola High School and the middle school. I also did the Lions Club tournaments. A lot of those games, when they started, were down at Riverside.”
At the time, Lehmann said the Community Building was one of the better facilities, thanks to the distance between the spectators and court. He refereed during legendary Iola basketball coach Buck Quincy’s tenure.

A FAVORITE memory happened when Lehmann was still refereeing intramural basketball games at Iola Junior College and the Harlem Globetrotters came to town.
They didn’t have officials.
“They needed two officials to work the ball game and that was way back when Harley King was a basketball referee in town, and he asked me to work that game with him,” Lehmann said. “That was a highlight. They kind of tell you that you’ve got to play along with them.”
That experience could be topped only when the Globetrotters came back this way again, and Lehmann was asked again to referee the game.
Not a lot of referees in the area can say they’ve reffed a Harlem Globetrotter’s game.
“Well, that’s probably true,” he laughed. “It was kind of comical.”
During his time as a ref, Lehmann has seen his fair share of college and pro talent. He saw Greg Dreiling — a 7-1 center from Wichita who went on to play for the Shockers, transfer to KU and have a 12-year pro career — up close.
Lehmann was working the Kansas 5A State Basketball Tournament in Emporia. Dreilings’ high school, Kapaun Mt. Carmel, was in the game.
 “I hadn’t worked a lot of games with guys that were that big. Back in those days a 7-footer was tall,” Lehmann said. “Now, there’s a lot more taller players. I remember that he stole the ball and came in for a dunk. I didn’t know I wasn’t back far enough and he hit me when he came down.”

DURING HIS 50-year career, he has seen many rule changes. The biggest one he’s seen come to high school basketball was the jump ball. When the ball was tied up, players use to have to literally jump for the ball. Hence the name, “jump ball.”
But, when girls basketball came into fruition, he said the ball was tied up all the time. It was noticeable for how much time jump balls were taking. So, the solution was what the high school and college basketball still uses: Alternate possessions.
Another rule was called the “seatbelt” rule. Coaches weren’t allowed to stand and coach. They had to sit down while the ball was in play. It was a technical foul to coach while standing.
Despite these rule changes, the blocking vs. charge call is still one of the toughest to make in basketball.
“Your decision has to be made instantly,” Lehmann said. “There are some times you’ll go back over a call and think, ‘yeah, it probably should have went the other way.’ But, you can’t change it. I know, what they told us, was when you’re making that call and there’s a collision on the floor, you have to make a call. Was he set or not set? And you have to do it in a split-second.”
While the blocking vs. charging dilemma can be solved during a game, the impending referee shortage that is happening in Southeast Kansas can’t be solved in a split second.
“There is not many getting into officiating. A lot of the reason for that is, you’re out there close to fans and you’ve got to take criticism,” Lehmann said.
“If you can’t take criticism, you’re not going to last very long. It’s one of those things, if the individual had to come on the floor and make the call, they’d reconsider. I’ve met a lot of coaches that have been critical of calls, but later in life, they quit coaching and go into officiating and say that it’s a lot different,” being on the other side of the call.

WHILE LEHMANN mostly focused on his time as a basketball referee, he did sneak in a story about working during a snow storm during a state football game in Russell with Larry Gleue.
“We left really early in the morning, the game was at 3 o’clock in the afternoon,” Lehmann said. “We drove out, and it was icing and snowing. We got out to Russell and when we drove by the bank, it was 10 degrees and blowing snow. The wind was moving 30 miles per hour from the north. We went ahead and played the game. At halftime it snowed enough, that they had to take the street cleaner and sweep the snow off the field.”
Back in the spring during the Kansas State Basketball Tournament, Lehmann received a plaque commemorating his time as a high school basketball and football referee. During his time as a referee, he also worked as a farmer.
“I’ve met a lot interesting people, coaches, administrators and other officials,” Lehmann said. “My family, sacrificed a lot for me while I was doing all this refereeing. They had to do a lot of chores for me.”
Lehmann married his wife Donna in 1967. They have four sons, all adults now — Chris, Dan, Doug and John. Lehmann doesn’t plan on retiring just yet. He wants to help teach Kyler Ludolph, also of Le Roy, to referee.
“As long as I can keep doing it and feel like I’m doing justice, I will keep working,” Lehmann said.