Bronie Reynolds (E&H ’84, E&H Hall of Fame basketball point guard) laughs with glee as she recalls how Dave Thomas used a dust spray around the edges of the E&H basketball court. “He took such good care of the King Center…and we all knew if you got much beyond the court lines during a game, you’d slide all over the place because he had dusted over there!”

These days Bronie is looking at basketball from a different vantage point. She is one of a handful of people who evaluate basketball referees. She works for Charlene Curtis – former basketball standout and Hall Of Famer from Radford University who selects and assigns the Women’s Basketball Officials for the ACC, Big South, Southern and Colonial Conferences.  Bronie has known Ms. Curtis for a long time. “Coach Curtis, as I refer to her since I worked under her as her Graduate Assistant Coach at Radford University in 1984, is also responsible for the evaluation of the officials for those conferences.  She has to hire Neutral Observers, like me, to help her fulfill the expectations of each conference to have the best officials on the floor for every game. “

During the summer, she attends a camp where new officials try to break into conferences like the ACC and current officials try to vie for a better spot on the referee totem pole. Bronie says it’s very competitive. “Every year they’re all evaluated – so they have to be on their best game. They have to stay in shape physically, they must know the rules, and they need to appear invisible on the court. There is always someone trying to get their spot.”

She has a “day job,” too. She is Business Manager for Blue Spiral Consulting and an Insurance Consultant for Blue Ridge Insurance Services. However, throughout the year she watches tapes of games and attends games, and she gets to watch a lot of her favorite sport. “I get paid to watch basketball! Who can complain about that!?”

Photo: Bronie Reynolds (right) poses during the ACC summer camp with an old E&H friend, Mike Young (E&H ’86, Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Wofford College).