SPOKANE, Wash. — Every June for the last 35 years, one man has ruled the courts of Hoopfest with an iron fist.
With decades of experience, Larry Wendel has been a basketball referee since before the first Hoopfest.
“The game was to start officiating and I’ve just had a real fine career,” said Wendel.
He started calling junior and high school games and eventually worked his way up to college ball.
Wendel worked his first D1 game, Loyola – Chicago and Gonzaga, in Spokane.
Through the decades, Wendel’s no-nonsense attitude left a mark on some of the fiercest competitors.
“He would always come up and go ‘here’ every single time and point at you and you know it was his foul and he called it and I could never steamroll him and get extra calls,” said former NBA and Gonzaga player, Adam Morrison.
Wendel’s reputation had him called into the action for the first Hoopfest in 1990.
“When it started, there was nobody with collegiate experience to work the Elite, and so the marshal said, ‘I looked at the roster, you’re the only college official and so we need you at the center,” said Wendel.