Referee trio reflects on their lifetimes of making the calls

Sitting around talking wrestling, the three brothers in stripes look not at each other, but off in the distance. They each have devoted a life to a sport so demanding, so blue collar, so rugged, that they could not help but love it.

Dean Thompson, Kurt Spencer and Doug Crum are three of Libby’s four high school wrestling referees. For each of the past 26 years they have all been asked to officiate the Montana High School Association state tournament. On votes cast by coaches statewide, these three men are among the 18 chosen to award the points that determine state champions.

Crum is the longest tenured of the trio with 40 years on the mat. He wrestled at 132 pounds for Libby High in the early ‘60s before mixing it up in the trenches as a nose guard on Dickinson State University’s football team. 

Spencer began officiating in 1976 in northern Idaho. He won a state championship in 1972 during Crum’s single season as Libby’s head coach. During Spencer’s senior year he was an original member of the legendary Greenchain, a nickname for the wrestling team that speaks to the town’s identification with the no-nonsense sport.

“Kids don’t even know what that is today,” Crum said. “That was the toughest job in the mill.”

Thompson remembers pulling the green chain during his years at the University of Montana-Western. Before that he won a high school state title at 138 pounds in 1983. He remembers Crum officiating his matches. Unlike Spencer, who began wrestling as a sophomore in high school, Thompson started in kindergarten. 

An invite to the state tournament is a seal of approval for an official. Crum got his first invite in 1978. Spencer got his in 1984. Thompson’s came in 1987. 

“The best thing this group does is be open when someone makes a mistake,” Thompson said. 

“Refereeing is not a perfect art,” Spencer added. “We ask questions to avoid being stagnant. We all want to get better.”

Crum and Spencer spent years together driving to matches around the state. The men passed those long drives reviewing each other’s calls. 

“Kurt and I used to travel every weekend together,” Crum said. “We’d talk on the way back about calls while they are fresh in our minds. That was a big part of me becoming a better referee. Along with my wife, Dolly, Kurt has been my biggest help.”

Spencer thanks his wife, Cathy, for supporting his interest. Thompson thanks his wife, Lyn, as well.

With 29 years as an official, Thompson began in high school, doing youth matches. In college he officiated kids only a few years younger than him.

“I worked for some of the toughest coaches in the state at that time,” Thompson said. “It was really feast or famine.”

With 106 years of officiating between them, the men have faced more difficult calls than they care to remember. Crum recalls watching Spencer officiate a state tournament match between a pair of two-time state champs from Cut Bank and Forsyth. At the time, the rules required the official to determine a winner if the match was tied after an overtime period. With the contest knotted after the extra period, and two young men’s dreams in the balance, Spencer ruled in favor of the Cut Bank competitor. 

“I was in a no-win situation,” Spencer said. “But after the decision the Forsyth coach told me I made the right call. To this day we are friends.”

It’s not the money that keeps the men going. They can all recall tournaments they have attended where they made little or no money once driving costs are considered. They all agree it is the relationships they have developed over the decades that fuel them. 

“I’ve refereed matches of kids whose fathers I officiated,” Spencer said. “You get to know a lot of parents and families.”

Crum agreed.

“Some of the kids you develop some feelings of attachment for, even though they are not your own,” Crum said.

The three men each officiate differently. Thompson and Spencer characterize Crum as intense and hard-working. Crum thinks Spencer’s quiet confidence, understanding of the rules and drive make him the best referee in the state. Thompson is the most relaxed. 

“In our meetings we pick up a little of each other’s styles,” Spencer said. “We help each other grow.”

“We are all competitive but we want everyone to get better,” Crum said. “I don’t want to get too far below Kurt or Dean but I don’t want them to do poorly.”

Crum remembers a Montana High School Association representative asking him how it was that Libby sends three officials to the state tournament every year. 

“I said being a good ref is the same as being a good wrestler,” Crum said. “It takes hard work.”