Porter inducted into OHSAA Officials Hall of Fame

• After 29 years of officiating 5 sports, Pat Porter was inducted into the OHSAA Hall of Fame.
• Porter has officiated basketball — boys and girls — softball, baseball and volleyball.
• For 28 years, Porter has teamed up with his wife — also an official — on the volleyball courts.

CHILLICOTHE – For the past 29 years, Pat Porter has been a staple in the local high school sports community.

Porter, 59, has spent much of his time on a playing field as an official in five different sports — boys basketball, girls basketball, softball, baseball and volleyball.

In a profession that’s highly scrutinized, Porter has risen to the rank of best of the best. For his efforts and watchful eyes, he was recently inducted into the Ohio High School Athletic Association’s Officials Hall of Fame — one of 14 members in the class of 2015.

“I got a letter from OHSAA back in April,” Porter explained. “It came from Commissioner Dan Ross and stated that I had been selected and would be inducted into the class of 2015.

“The honor is the highlight of officiating, the highest you can get. One heck of an accomplishment.”

To be selected for the honor, a lengthy process is involved. A fellow official or chapter of a sport nominates the candidate for consideration by the Southeast Ohio District Athletic Board. The SEODAB then votes on the applicants that are sent to them before sending its selections to the OHSAA. From the point, the candidate is then looked at by an OHSAA board — checking resumes, backgrounds, etc. — before the final vote takes place.

Needless to say, Pat Porter’s name cleared many hurdles — and flawlessly.

However, Porter himself doesn’t take much of the credit. His humble demeanor pointed the finger at two of his long-time partners: his wife Jean, for volleyball, and Ronnie Borden, in softball.

“It’s more of an accomplishment when you have two good partners,” Porter said. “When you work with the best, you end up being the best. That’s the way I see it. Of all of the Hall of Famers in Ohio, I’ve worked with 26 different inductees in one way or another. That experience rubs off on you. You try to learn something every match or game.”

Jean has worked alongside her husband on the volleyball court for 28 years while Borden, a 2004 OHSAA Hall of Famer inductee, has been with Porter since 2005.

Porter moved to Chillicothe from Westerville, Ohio, in 1968 after his father had accepted a job offer at Chillicothe Correctional Institution. As a child, he developed a love for his now full-time profession — after graduating from Unioto High School in 1973 and retiring from the VA as an IT specialist in 2011 after 32 years.

“I wanted to give back to the sports. I played all of them except for volleyball and that’s because they didn’t have a boys volleyball team,” Porter said. “I was a catcher and I was always the one that could kind of call strikes and balls from behind the plate. Anytime I would play in the backyard when I was little, I would always say ‘let me be the umpire.’ You can’t lose that way. You’re the umpire. I always tell people, I’ve never lost a game because I’m the umpire.”

While he may have never lost a game, he’s won a lot of respect in his line of work and rightfully so. But as a referee, you’ll face controversy at one time or another. Porter’s story is no different. He just handled took it in stride and got better.

“At the beginning, when you’re first starting out, you have to have thick skin,” Porter said. “After a period of time, you don’t hear a lot of controversy. It all goes back to your partners. When you have good partners and make good calls, you won’t hear much from the fans anymore.”

Porter now officiates just two sports — volleyball and softball — citing volleyball as his favorite. He also serves as the rules interpreter for the Chillicothe Softball Association and Chillicothe Volleyball Association — roles that he’s now been in for the past 12 years.

Before ending the conversation, the heralded umpire/referee/official offered some advice for fellow colleagues and students of the profession.

“The whole key of officiating is consistency,” he said. “They don’t care if you’re bad or good,. They care if you’re consistent. I stress to all officials to be consistent, whether you’re good or bad. That gets people off your back.”

It might also earn you a spot in a Hall of Fame someday.

dwebb@chillicothegazette.com

Twitter: @dw1509