Sports

Chuck Delsman | Sports Scene

Conway deserves state Hall of Fame

Posted: Feb. 15, 2012

It's time that justice is served for one of the best and most accomplished basketball officials ever to come out of not only the Lake Country area but all of Wisconsin. It's time the Wisconsin Hall of Fame committee puts Joe Conway into its elite group. To be honest, his induction is long overdue.

Conway rose up the ranks of college and NBA officials probably as fast as any referee ever has. After officiating his first game in 1938 when former Land O'Lakes founder Martin Weber Sr. of Merton recruited the 22-year-old Conway to work his LOL basketball games, the personable Conway became a regular on the local scene. From the Lakes league, he quickly started working varsity high school games, getting assigned to many of the big games both in Milwaukee and Waukesha counties.

By the time 1945 and 1946 rolled around, Conway was named to work the WIAA boys state championship games. He had clearly established himself as one of the most talented and respected officials in the state.

But his days of doing high-school games came to a quick and surprising end. He was scheduled to ref the state title game again in 1947 but a few weeks before that game Conway got a better offer. He hated to bail out of the title contest, but to be honest, he got an opportunity he couldn't turn down. It was an opportunity of a lifetime, one that he and his wife Ellen and his four sons, Jiggs, Tom, Joe and Bob would cherish forever.

Most high school basketball referees only dream about working NCAA Division 1 games. No matter how talented, fewer than one-half of 1 percent ever get any kind of faint chance to advance to that level, much less ever do any games.

However, Conway was special. His skills on the court were one thing, but his personality and camaraderie with the coaches made him one of the top officials in all of the NCAA.

A couple of weeks before the 1947 state high championship game, Conway got a call asking him to work the Northwestern-Notre Dame game. Obviously, the longtime sports enthusiast jumped at the chance.

Soon thereafter, Wisconsin basketball coach Bud Foster was scouting high-school players in a sectional in Racine. Foster asked Conway to work the Ripon-Wisconsin game a few weeks later. Conway did the game and earned rave reviews.

After that game, Foster encouraged Conway to apply to the Big Ten (then known as the Big Nine) to referee its games. After submitting his application, it was learned that Conway did not have a college education . While a few other applicants also possessed that detriment, only Conway got accepted. He's believed to be the only Big Ten official to this day to not have a college degree.

He worked his first Big Ten game in Madison, and commencing in 1947, he was given a full schedule in the Big Ten. That was the start of one of the most successful officiating stories of all time.

Conway was named to work nine NCAA men's basketball tournament regionals and was selected to officiate in six Final Fours. He did the championship game three times (1951, 1957, 1958). The 1957 game, which went into three overtimes, is still recognized as one of the most exciting games in tournament history. In that game, North Carolina defeated Kansas, 54-53.

Conway got one more important phone call. He was called into New York City to interview for a job officiating in the NBA. He passed that interview with flying colors and got to referee on the biggest stage in basketball. Suddenly, he was wearing stripes and officiating for some of the greatest players in the world, including Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell and Elgin Baylor.

After retiring, Conway later went on to be a great ambassador of the game of basketball. When he managed Perrigo's Lanes in Pewaukee, he was always talking hoops. He did the same when he ran the Western Aire Supper Club in Oconomowoc and when he managed the bar at Classic Lanes in Oconomowoc. He was always talking hoops, the game he loved so passionately.

Conway, who died in 1991, would be 96 years old today. He was a special kind of referee, one of the best the game has ever seen. His resume backs that up.

Joe Conway certainly belongs in the Wisconsin Hall of Fame. It's time the committee steps forward and validates his abilities. His induction would be the final chapter in one of the biggest success stories a Wisconsin referee has ever enjoyed.

I'm proud of the fact the Joe was a friend of mine.

conwayone - Feb 16, 2012 7:36 AM

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Mr. Delsman~you have quite accurately portrayed my father and his basketball officiating career. In addition he also officiated many AAU tournaments, Olympic basketball tryouts, taught basketball officiating internationally (Japan, France, Germany and Puerto Rico) all while performing the job of Oconomowoc's first recreation director.

On behalf of the entire Conway family (most of whom reside in the gym in the sky)-THANKS!! Joe Conway, Jr.
Dan Karbler - Feb 27, 2012 2:41 PM

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I remember as a young kid score-keeping at Deer Park Lanes for the Thursday Night Classic League. Joe would always give me a free soda. He also taught me some pretty good bar tricks.

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