All rights reserved. He rarely uses the elevator. Shes an important part of this story.. They suggest he go to the hospital to get examined for a concussion, just to be sure. Smith abruptly collapsed during an Elite Eight game between No. You cant get any closer to the ballgame. Dr. Katie Trammel, hes wanting me to know, may have saved his life. Bert Smith NCAA men's basketball official, 27th season My fitness is important to me. Scary video shows the ref falling backwards and hitting his head on the hardwood floor just four minutes into the March Madness game as other officials pause the match and run to his aid. SPORTS ILLUSTRATED is a registered trademark of ABG-SI LLC. Referee Bert Smith is taken off the court on a stretcher after collapsing during the first half of an Elite 8 game between Gonzaga and Southern California during the first half of an Elite 8 game . Thats normal to huff-and-puff, right? 56-year-old Smith was officiating the Gonzaga vs. USC matchup on March 30 when he collapsed to the hardwood a few minutes into the game. We Shouldn't Have Watched It Twice. He was released after two days in the hospital. It is by far the most difficult thing Ive ever done. As the doctor says: Sometimes you dont get a red flag. Youve probably seen him. Who parks in the farthest spot from the entrance to Kroger? Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. Referee Bert Smith is taken off the court on a stretcher after collapsing during the first half of an Elite 8 game between Gonzaga and Southern California during the first half of an Elite 8. 1 seed Gonzaga and No. Referee Bert Smith is taken off the court on a stretcher after collapsing during the first half of an Elite 8 game between Gonzaga and Southern California during the first half of an Elite 8 game . NCAA Tournament Basketball Referee Bert Smith suffered a scary collapse during the 2022 NCAA March Madness Tournament Gonzaga vs. USC basketball game.I bre. It saved his life. Nobody can say. Jacquie was waiting at the door. Turns out, that night probably saved Bert Smiths life. The scary scene unfolded with 15:44 to play in the. The NCAA announces that Smith has returned to the hotel, and its true. Everything was normal. He runs. OK, so the night of March 29. Sometimes it just hits you. I dont know which bucket Im in.. Two hours later, she returned into the room with the test results. So was Karter. Now he wonders. View. I came off the field and I was so pumped up. You dont know where that clot was going next, he says. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. The clot restricted enough oxygen to Smith that he passed out during the game. Do you know you went viral? she playfully asked. My feelings about my whistle are still the same. Its because I was telling the doctor: You little SOB, you tricked me!. Gallows humor, you call it, and its pretty funny, how Bert Smiths buddies tease him. Its the best seat in the house. or redistributed. But slow down, OK? Officials figure they run at least four miles during a game, and its not a jog but a series of sprints. Each week, Id tag along with dad and his crew to whatever game they had scheduled. And they found out. If hes going to walk, might as well make it a long one. It has put me in the middle of so many exciting situations where my skills and knowledge have been tested and given me and my crewmates the afterglow of satisfaction when you know you nailed it in a championship atmosphere. I could be having the worst day possible and I still lose myself in my game that day. For someone like me who has been in the game for a long time, there is a certain level of expectation on the part of players, coaches and my supervisors. The doctor said, Listen, tell you what, why dont you just sit on the stretcher? I said OK, I can do that, Smith says and now hes laughing. Officiating at the professional level requires commitment to conditioning. Sometimes it just hits you. I dont know which bucket Im in.. Who will win each 2023 conference tournament? Thats his wife of 33 years. He started on the lowest levels as a youth league official in 1990, began working Division I games in 1993 and. And they heard the sound his head made I heard it, too, 30 rows away when it slammed onto the court. Its deep, and its contagious. Thats 1990. CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM. Youve probably seen him. There is no better feeling then walking back into the locker room with your partners and knowing that we worked together as a team and that we gave everything we had for those 48 minutes. Moves fast? *. Referee Bert Smith got to hear ovation of a lifetime. I love the smell of the grass when you first walk out on the field when you get to the stadium. People in the building, and I was one of them, thought he was dead. At IU Health Methodist, the 56-year-old Smith was treated by Dr. Katie Trammel, "an important part of this story.". There are 200+ professionals named "Bert Smith", who use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas, and opportunities. Do we give an extra hug enough? He plans to return as soon as he can to the court, and that includes ref camps this summer. CBS provided an update on the medical status of referee Bert Smith following his collapse on the court Tuesday. She sits down next to the bed, Smith continues, and she says: I saw your fall tonight. Subscribe to get the Referee.com Review every week plus periodic free training and special offers on the sports you officiate. Smith, have a good night, I thought they had done a good job, he says, but because she wanted to know why I fell, we got the answer. Nobody can say. The unnecessary replay of Bert. Official Bert Smith collapsed on the floor during the game, immediately being carried away in a stretcher. Referee Bert Smith's fall in men's NCAA Tournament game didn't kill him. Referee Bert Smith is taken off the court on a stretcher after collapsing during the first half of an Elite 8 game between Gonzaga and Southern California during the first half of an Elite 8 game . One of those people was Mike Fox, an independent contractor hired by the NCAA to help run the tournament and a basketball official himself. I could be involved with Boys and Girls Clubs of America. The confidence I feel on the field has spilled over into almost every aspect of my life, and it has propelled me to believe that any dream is within my grasp. Hes not wobbly, no blurry vision, nothing. It allows me the privilege to do something I love, being part of the greatest game, mens college basketball. That was one of the few times I remember getting in trouble with my father for kicking his car door as hard as my little legs could out of anger. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. ", BAYLOR BEATS GONZAGA FOR FIRST NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP. We enjoyed working four football seasons together before his retirement. Its energizing and refreshing to have that kind of focus on something. Moves fast, this guy. Whats he doing on his back? The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. Smith, a veteran college basketball official of 28 years, lost consciousness five minutes into the game, falling backward in a scary moment captured on the TBS broadcast and banging his head against the hardwood court. He wasnt one of those guys you couldnt talk to. Im happy I did it around a bunch of people who had the ability to help me.. Trammel was at Methodist the night of March 30. It does not store any personal data. All rights reserved. Trammel was at Methodist the night of March 30. 2023 ABG-SI LLC. You are expected to be perfect and improve after that. What I mean is that we are the upholders of the integrity of the game. She sits down next to the bed, Smith continues, and she says: I saw your fall tonight. The NCAA even distributed a statement announcing the news: Smith was O.K. Hes working Gonzaga-USC the next day, and Bert and his crew are staying in one of the NCAA bubble hotels, Le Meridien. Every chance I get, I want to get my heart rate up, says Smith, 56, who takes the court 90 times a year with elite NCAA athletes. Smith tested positive for the coronavirus in August, but doctors were reportedly unsure whether the clot had anything to do with COVID-19. He'll just carry Karter on his shoulders, and yes,they'll use the stairs when everyone else rides the escalator. This week, Gonzaga and Southern California faced off during the Elite Eight matchup at Lucas Oil Stadium. You went down because you had a blood clot in your lung.. I continue to coach high school soccer. He wasnt one of those guys you couldnt talk to. If you saw it, you understand. We won't send you spam. . Game official Bert Smith collapsed and was taken off the court on a gurney during the first half of the men's NCAA basketball game between the USC Trojans . She sits down next to the bed, Smith continues, and she says: I saw your fall tonight. Yeah man, you were staggering like you were fighting Ali., You were asking Mark Few for a job application because you were on his bench., Next thing you know, you were back in the ring again with Ali and you went down like a tree in a forest!. His wife has seen it once, and shell never watch it again. He goes to IU Health Methodist. When you live something like I did, it hits you square in the eyes that you really have to value each day.. To me, he offers an aside: Hes taking advantage of a guy in a weakened position., The doc says, Swing your legs around. I swing my legs around, and they go:Click-click-click-click. OK, so the night of March 29. Smith, who became an NCAA Division I official in 1993, said he remembers the play preceding the fall. It offers a chance to lead by example. It was fun and stress-free officiating, and I was able to help pay for college. I know his wife is going to be going bananas. He said the fall was related to a blood clot in his lung. Referee Bert Smith is taken off the court on a stretcher after collapsing during the first half of an Elite Eight game between Gonzaga and USC during the first half of an Elite 8 game in the NCAA . He said the night before the game, while running the stairs in the hotel to see his buddies or get ice, he was a little out of breath. Every chance I get, I want to get my heart rate up, says Smith, 56, who takes the court 90 times a year with elite NCAA athletes. You know the rules, have studied the pregame intel and use your experience to go read and react to the actions. Medical personnel and other staffers rushed toward him. I look for officials I assign to have the same respect and values for the game as I do. Moves fast? Note: This article is archival in nature. Its not some routine youre doing day in and day out. Smith was put on blood thinners and discharged two days later with the clot gone. Well get there, but right now were moving too fast. He told the Star he's happy it happened during the Elite Eight when he could get the right help he needed rather than during an instance when he was driving or sleeping. When hes telling a funny story, which happens quite a bit, Bert Smith talks quickly. That says something about that officiating fraternity.. Heres where Im tell him about that Kelly Wilkinson picture, how he looks so angry on the stretcher. Now Bert Smith is laughing again. Follow every game: Latest NCAA Men's College Basketball Scores and Schedules. Medical personnel take care of a NCAA referee after he fell on the court during the first half during the game between the Gonzaga Bulldogs and the USC Trojans in the Elite Eight of the 2021 NCAA . by Joseph Choi - 03/30/21 9:28 PM ET. I looked at him and said, Oh no you didnt , He said he told the doctor at the time, "You little SOB, you tricked me!. "It puts in perspective the value of each day, because we all go through our lives -- we're all guilty of it -- and we just live, right?" Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. Are you going to tell Bert Smith hes out of shape? This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Hes a motivational speaker and diversity recruiter in addition to being an NCAA referee, and I imagine hes awfully good at both. The Big League College World Series (last August in Kalamazoo, Mich.) was probably the most fun Ive had on a ball field. But slow down, OK? He was surrounded by medical professionals and eventually was helped on to a stretcher. Smith, who'ddriven a rental car into town after working the Atlantic-10 Tournament in Dayton, Ohio, was driven to his home in Florence, Kentucky, by Eric Lowe, a Central Indiana-based referee. The challenges are different for each level of refereeing and the emotional payoffs vary, but the reason for being in the game is the same: Passion for soccer runs through my veins. After that he studies business administration at SUNY-Buffalo, gets a job at Avis Budget Group, moves fast up the ranks as his career takes him to Chicago, Houston and finally the Cincinnati area. We make mistakes but we make them with the honest attempt to be right 100 percent of the time; I like being held to that high standard. Dr. But do we say I love you enough? The doctor says, Thats what Im taking you out on., I said: Listen, Doc, Im walking out of here. Theres no room in your head for thinking about cutting the grass, what you need from the store or how you have to finish your taxes. Ref alert after collapsing during Gonzaga-USC, Graduate of Minnesota State University, Mankato. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". Smiths pausing. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Knowing the rulebook and being able to execute decisions in a split-second. His crew comes back to Le Meridien with a doggy bag of the dinner he missed at the game, and theyre talking and laughing, but theyve seen replays of Smiths fall. You meet people persons, individual persons, team players and egomaniacs. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Usually I will leave the venue with a different outlook. Hell just carry Karter on his shoulders, and yes theyll use the stairs when everyone else rides the escalator. This was evident five years ago when my mother died in September and my father died in October during the football season. He works his first game at age 24. . Oh, and hes also been returning those messages. So was Karter. My father was a basketball official and one of the founding members of the local IAABO board in Lowell, Mass. A pulmonary embolism. Next thing he remembers, hes looking at the ceiling of Lucas Oil Stadium. It would've been about NCAA basketball official Bert Smith, how he'd been used dishonestly as a pawn by the anti-vaccine movement to prove the unprovable: that COVID vaccines were causing. Mar 31st, 2021. Thats around the time he spilled onto the hardwood, awaking to a semicircle of people surrounding him. I looked at him and said, Oh no you didnt. Smith does rememberthe play before it:Gonzagas Andrew Nembhard stealing the ball and going the other way, but now the action is coming back toward the USC basket, where Smith had remained hed been unable to run the court as Nembhard finished at the rim and Smith is wondering whats going on. Earlier: Tonight's Elite Eight game between Gonzaga and USC was stopped momentarily after veteran referee Bert Smith collapsed on the court. Where did it come from? Heres why: The doctor said, Listen, tell you what, why dont you just sit on the stretcher? I said OK, I can do that, Smith says and now hes laughing. I love being part of the game. There is no other avocation that I can think of that requires the level of physical and mental preparation that officiating mandates, and you have to dedicate yourself in order to be successful. Youre going to get on one side, hes going to get on the other, were going to wave to the fans, and Im walking out of here.. Youve probably seen him. Look at that picture again. Officiating is similar to playing the game full of emotion, both highs and lows. Referee Bert Smith is taken off the court on a stretcher after collapsing during the first half of an Elite 8 game between Gonzaga and Southern California during the first half of an Elite 8 game . he told the newspaper. Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. Just over four minutes into the game between USC and Gonzaga, Bert . Why cant he catch his breath? Hes not wobbly, no blurry vision, nothing. Gallows humor, you call it, and its pretty funny, how Bert Smiths buddies tease him. April 9, 2021, 9:39 AM. The former NCAA national mens basketball officiating coordinator, John Adams, says Bert is funny but quiet, not a me-first guy. Adams was one of the 500 who reached out to Smith. It has helped me to handle stressful situations and taught me how to remain calm in the midst of the storms of life. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. For me, it didnt seem like a red flag, Smith says. There were ones from coaches, ones from colleagues, ones from family, one even from an NFL official hed never met. I thought he was a good official, a fair official, and when you saw him at a game, you knew you were going to get a good whistle from him., Smith says well see him at games next season I could work again in seven to 10 days, he says but for now he wants to thank some people publicly. Something doesnt add up. Later during the broadcast, they announced he was feeling OK and resting in the arena. They were pretty intense, man. You meet talented, mediocre and middle-of-the-road people. Yeah man, you were staggering like you were fighting Ali., You were asking Mark Few for a job application because you were on his bench., Next thing you know, you were back in the ring again with Ali and you went down like a tree in a forest!. I'm committed to it year round. Moves fast? They insisted more. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. Do we do the things with our family and friends that have value to them? You blacked out., I look to my right, and I see a stretcher. He works his first game at age 24. The reasons for our joy when we step on the field, court or ice are vast and every reason is forged in the fire of our individual experiences. His crew comes back to Le Meridien with a doggy bag of the dinner he missed at the game, and theyre talking and laughing, but theyve seen replays of Smiths fall. I look to my left, and its a doctor, Bert says, and hes laughing about it now. Presently I officiate in nine D-I conferences. I am blessed that I have been able to enjoy two passions and carry on the Aldrich Hoop Family tradition. Do we give an extra hug enough? Once hospitalizedat first, he didnt even plan to godoctors discovered a troubling issue: a blood clot in his lungs. I still play in a mens league, have refereed more than 700 NCAA games and am in my 17th season as an MLS official. Bert Smith, Raymond Styons. I want to know why you fell. She checked a few things out, came back in and took me through the car wash. Just a lot of tests.