Keystone Grad LaVan Lives Dream of Officiating PIAA Basketball Championship Game

HERSHEY, Pa. – While every high school player and coach dreams of playing in the PIAA championships at The Giant Center in Hershey, Pa., there is another group that dreams about being a part of those games as well.

The officials.

And for one local man, that dream became a reality for the second time Thursday during the Lincoln Park vs. Neumann-Goretti boys’ Class 3A title game won by Neumann-Goretti.

Shippenville resident, Keystone High School graduate and Oil City math teacher Tim LaVan was one of three officials on that game, the second time he has officiated a title game and the first time he has officiated a boys’ championship game having refereed a girls’ title game in 2006.

LaVan found out Wednesday morning that he would be officiating the contest, and even late Friday afternoon the smile hadn’t left his face.

“When you look at the phone and see a 717 area code, the smile is immediate,” LaVan said Friday afternoon at the Giant Center. “I don’t think it’s left my face yet.”

LaVan said it’s hard to put in words his excitement at getting to officiate the game.

“It’s beyond words,” LaVan said. “I’m speechless. I get the call on Wednesday morning, and here we are Friday afternoon and it’s already like a blink of an eye. It goes that quick.”

LaVan said he got some great advice about doing the title game.

“I called Joe Frisina on Wednesday evening,” LaVan said. “He is my mentor and a fantastic individual. He gave a little bit of advice and said to do what you’ve always done to get there. It’s just a game. It’s no different. There was no pressure. We had two great teams. We just did what we needed to do to get here.”

LaVan said he knows there were a lot of eyes on him during the game including from fans and other officials. But he didn’t let that bother him.

“It’s really just a matter of calling your game and knowing what to do and doing it right,” LaVan said. “We know that to id, and it’s all about angels anyhow. Sitting in the stands is way easier than being on the floor.”

LaVan, who played high school basketball at Keystone for Bob Gehres and whose nephew, Brook LaVan, is a member of the Keystone basketball team currently, got his start in officiating in 1995 after a conversation with Rick Fletcher, the current Oil City Athletic Director.

“I was teaching at Oil City High School, and Rick Fletcher came to me and said ‘hey, you ought to become an official,’” LaVan recalled. “I took the test in February 1995, and I guess the rest is history. My first game was an elementary game at St. Pats High School in March 1995, and I worked a full slate in 1995-96.” .

Even though he lives in Shippenville to many LaVan is considered a District 10 official.

“It’s all dependent on what chapter you are in,” LaVan said. “I live in District 9, in Shippenville, but I’m a member of the Tri-City Chapter, which is Oil City, Franklin and Titusville. Being that I work in Oil City and my mentors, the people who got me into it, where in District 10, it was just easier to start working games there.”

While LaVan does mainly District 10 games, he can also be seen in District 9 doing games in Clarion County, Brookville, Elk County Catholic and Johnsonburg among others.

“We are independent contractors, so we can go anywhere,” LaVan said. “And we do, people that want to. We love going to different gyms. Going somewhere different, it’s just fun going to other places.”

Because he lives in Shippenville, works in Oil City and officiates a lot in District 10, some nights can be long ones for LaVan.

“My typical drive to a game average about an hour one way leaving from Oil City,” LaVan said. “I’m not really a night owl, but usually during basketball season, it’s 10:30 p.m. or 11 p.m. until we get home from a game.”

In recent years, LaVan has taken on the added responsibility of being the officials’ assigner in District 10 for many games in Class 1A, Class 2A and Class 3A and a few in Class 4A boys along with a lot of the girls’ games in the district as well.

That has led to an interesting situation where he finds himself assigning officials to work games coached by his wife, Lisa LeVan, the girls’ basketball coach at Warren.

“It’s not really a challenge because she has changed her view on officiating,” Tim LaVan said. “She became an official and has been one for five years, so she understands the game a lot more. She will freely admit that. She will admit that people she didn’t think use to be real strong officials, she gets it now. It’s real easy, it really is.”

LaVan can be watched in action one more time this year when he officiates the District 9 YMCA Sportsmanship 1 All-Star game at his alma mater, Keystone, at 4 p.m. Saturday. It’s become an annual tradition for him and his fellow officials from the Tri-City Chapter.