Divide and Conquer

Fred Barakat, who headed the ACC referees shared this V berating the pinstripes bench story. NC State was playing Duke at State’s Reynolds’s Coliseum, and it came down to one call at the end of the game. And anyone who knew the ACC in those days knew that Lennie Wertz, a little blond ref was (or at least it seemed to us fans) going to be in the middle of a big call at the end of a nailbiter.  Now, this was when the league had just added a third referee and the coaches could grade each ref from one to ten depending on their performance.

So, this game ended right in front of V’s bench with a block charge call with, of all people, Lennie, blowing the whistle in favor of Duke.

Duke’s player goes to the line, hits the game winning foul shots, the buzzer blows and its’ game over. Now the crowd is going wild, and the refs are running for their locker room, which was tucked down a flight of steps in the back corner of the coliseum. So, Lennie is running for his life, hauling past V's bench and Valvano is on him, chasing him shouting, “Lennie, Lennie, Lennie!”

Wertz slows down, and V shouts, “I wanted you to know I’m giving you a ten tonight!”

“Gee, thanks,” Wertz shouts over his shoulder.

And Valvano says, “And you bastards can divide it up among the three of you anyway you want to!”