By Brian Argabright
The life of a sports official isn’t the easiest.
Aside from the travel, the long days that blend from a day job to a refereeing job and then the pressure of working a game where fans, players and coaches sometime treat every call as a matter of life or death can make a person wonder of it’s really worth putting on that official’s shirt every week.
For longtime local official Lino Hernandez, that’s not even a question.
“What I’ve heard at a game, what I’ve experienced … none of that has ever changed my mind about being an official. I enjoy the sports; I enjoy officiating. I’ve told many players and coaches that what you yell at me at the game stays at the game. Once I leave, that’s it. I don’t carry it with me,” Hernandez said. “I don’t carry it with me. You have to let bygones be bygones. Just like you’re going to have a bad game, they’ll have a bad game, and just like you’ll have a good game they’ll have a good game. I’ve had plenty of times when coaches and players come up to me and say ‘thank you’ and that makes it worth the effort.”
Hernandez, 68, has been involved in refereeing since 1975. He’s worked volleyball, football, softball, baseball and basketball games for youth and for adults in this area since his older brother, Danny, approached him about officiating a game 45 years ago.
“One day he approached me and asked me if I wanted to do basketball. I said sure and he told me to wear some black pants and we hit the road to do a varsity basketball game in Comstock. I basically got on the job training that day,” Hernandez said.
An air force veteran, Hernandez said he didn’t play a lot of sports growing up. He said he played around the neighborhood, but did not play organized sports because much of his youth was spent working or helping his grandparents, who raised him.
Officiating has been a way for Hernandez to enjoy sports, but it hasn’t always been ‘thank you’s’ and pats on the back. He said the darker side of being an official, the danger of being the only authority on the court or the field, has reared its head on several occasions.
“You can tell when something is going to go wrong. It has happened to me during basketball in the city league many, many years ago. It’s not just the players or the coaches who cause those problems to happen, but fellow officials as well. Just like there are bad players or coaches, there are bad officials as well,” Hernandez said. “It might happen because someone isn’t having a good day, but for officials, it’s also not being aware of the environment you’re at, depending on the game. A lot of it has to do with trying to enforce your own rules more than anything.”
Hernandez recalled one occasion when a player crossed the line from verbal abuse to physical abuse. He said it occurred during the City of Del Rio’s Men’s Basketball League. A player disagreed with the calls being made in the game and shoved Hernandez from behind.
“He used to be a coach for the school district. It was no fault of mine, but it was the fault of my co-official. I was the one who took the brunt of it, though,” Hernandez said. “I stopped the game. I called it right then and there and called for a forfeit to keep it from going any further.”
Hernandez said he never asked for an apology from the player, but he wound up receiving an apology because the player’s father was concerned his behavior would cost the player his job as a coach for the school district.
On Dec. 3, Fred Garcia, an official in a high school football game between Edinburg High and Pharr-San Juan-Alamo was assaulted by Edinburg’s Emmanuel Duron after the player was ejected from the game. Duron charged Garcia and knocked him to the turf before being escorted from the field. He was eventually arrested and charged with assault. Garcia was taken to a local hospital and evaluated for a possible concussion and shoulder injury, but his daughter announced on social media that her father was doing better.
The incident was caught on video and went viral, leading to people weighing in from all sides. Hernandez was no different, and as an official he had his own take.
“I saw it after looking at the video. It was uncalled for the kid to go after the official. Had that been me, I would have stopped the game right then and there. The official should have waited until that kid was escorted off the field and away from the field before starting the game again. That was the one mistake he made. We wait until that person leaves the playing area before starting the game again. I think had he waited until he was removed from the field the incident wouldn’t have happened,” Hernandez said.
As for what Hernandez would have said if he were in Garcia’s position and he spoke to Duron, the soft-spoken official known as much for his mustache as for his longevity said he hoped the young man would learn from this incident.
“I would say I understand you were angry and didn’t like the call. You made a bad choice, but I hold no animosity towards you. I just hope you think more in the future about what you’re going to do and don’t do it. I know that in the spur of the moment the anger is there and something will happen, but more than anything I would tell him, ‘Hey, I know it happened. I’m not mad. I’m not angry at you. I just hope it makes you realize you can’t do those kinds of things’,” Hernandez said.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has limited games throughout the area, and the coronavirus’ dangers have made Hernandez leery of returning to the thing he loves. Pre-existing health issues make him a prime target for the virus, so he has opted to not work high school basketball this year. He said he hopes to return for softball season, but he said he would wait and see.
Despite that, Hernandez said he has no plans to hang up his whistle for good any time soon.
“I think I have my family’s full support to continue as long as I want to. As long as I enjoy it, I will continue to do it, but it’s going to up to me when I want to quit,” Hernandez said. “Nine times out of 10, the players and coaches will say ‘thank you.’ You’ll always have someone who won’t like how you called the game, but I get more positive feedback than negative and that’s what makes it enjoyable.”
