Award-winning Appleton umpire talks about what it takes to be a good official: 'Lots and lots of patience'

APPLETON – Pat LaTour of Appleton has been a sports official for a long time. He’s in his 29th year officiating after starting when he was 16.

LaTour was recently named the Wisconsin Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association umpire of the year.

The Post-Crescent talked to him about the award, his career in officiating, and what concerns he has about the future in light of an ongoing referee shortage .

What was your reaction when you found out you were selected umpire of the year?

“That was so humbling. Actually, I found out from a coach who said congratulations prior to being told that. I said, ‘Congratulations for what?’ And then he sent me the picture of it. I found out on Twitter (X) to be honest with you. It’s very humbling. It’s a coaches award and that’s a big deal.”

You started officiating when you were 16. What got you interested in that aspect of sports?

“Well, I was pretty much never a very good athlete so I went to my brother’s baseball games and I figured I could umpire during the summer. That’s how it all kind of started and then it kind of morphed into a lot of stuff.

“I’ve officiated five sports. I did basketball up until last year. I do football, baseball, softball, volleyball and college softball. I’m busy. I’ve done seven Babe Ruth Baseball World Series and have been all over the country. Not a lot of people in the area know that. A lot of officiating people know that, but not a lot of others.”

To be a good official, you have to be able to do more than just quote the rule book. What does it take to be good?

“Lots and lots of patience. That’s probably the best description. If you’re not a patient person, if you get upset easily, you’re not going to make a good official. You need a lot of patience. You need a lot of understanding. You need to be able to communicate. If you’re missing one of these, it makes it more difficult.”

We hear about a shortage of officials and the need for more people to put on the striped shirt. How much of a shortage is there?

“For every new official we get, we probably lose five or six. That’s probably being conservative. I think in baseball, we’ve lost maybe 30. A lot of it is due to aging out and the nature of things. It’s not getting young people involved anymore. Most new people who start are in their 50s. They’re empty-nesters. Their kids played and have gone on to college. Nobody is left in the house, so they pick that up. There’s a tremendous amount of high school kids coming but a lot of them still play yet. It’s hard to work around their schedules. We’re getting some, but just not a lot. Right now, it’s turned into a six-days-a-week job, especially during the high school season.”

Is the shortage in part due to the increasing number of games at the high school level? Basketball, for example, was an 18-game season with varsity and JV. Now there’s freshman games and 24-game seasons on varsity.

“It’s youth games, too. From the time I started, the youth games have probably quadrupled. When I first started, you had high school and community teams that you work for. Now that’s expanded where you have AAU basketball, softball, baseball and you have tournaments. Probably 20 years ago, there might have been two tournaments around here in the summer. Now there’s five or six every weekend. There just seems to be more and more and more. The amount of games people work is almost unbelievable.”

Earlier we talked about the characteristics it takes to be a good official. What about learning the rule book? It's a lot of pages with a lot of fine print.

“It’s a huge book and you’re dealing with three books. A lot of people don’t understand that. It’s not just one softball book. You have the Federation book for the high school games, you’ve got the NCAA book for the NCAA and USA Softball for most of the summer tournaments. They all have little nuances and differences. It’s one thing to learn the book but another thing to apply the rules in the game that you’re working. That’s what separates the good and bad officials.”

It’s hard to fathom how officials can see everything that is going on. How do you do it?

“You would be amazed for football how much video we use nowadays. We actually use the same type of training that high school and colleges use with Hudl. We go in and draw on our video, cut pieces out and we look at that stuff monthly. We have meetings and get-togethers and do those things. A lot of it, too, is you’re only as good as your team and your partners that you work with. I’ve been fortunate. I’ve had great partners over the years. I’ve had good people to work with that have taught me stuff — what to see, what to look for.

“I always say in officiating you’ve got to slow down. It sounds funny because everything goes fast, fast, fast. But I always think, ‘If you think you’re going too slow, you’re not going slow enough.’ You slow the game down in your mind. What’s a penalty? What’s a foul? Ball, strike. Safe, out. Bang-bang plays. The more you do it, the more comfortable you’re at it, the better you get at doing that and seeing those things. I have a hard time watching a Packers game because I’m not watching who’s catching the ball. I don’t watch a Packers game as a fan. I watch it as an official. It’s the same thing for baseball. I don’t watch who’s batting. I watch what goes on on the field and key on different things by being an official as opposed to being a fan. I’m looking for different things. It’s still all the same. Fair, foul. Safe, out.”

If you were to give a recruiting pitch for people to become officials, what would you say?

“It’s the best place to be. You’re right front and center with the game. To me, there is nothing better. It’s like being in the front row at a baseball game. That’s the big pitch for me. I love the sport, so that’s a big part of it. And you’re outside. You get to work with the kids. You do it for the kids.”

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Award-winning Appleton umpire talks about what it takes to be a good official: 'Lots and lots of patience'