San Diego County Sports Officials Hall of Fame
The first class of San Diego County Sports Officials Hall of Fame was inducted on Oct. 3 at the Hall of Champions.
The officials honored have worked events in San Diego sports at levels ranging from professional to amateur to collegiatie to high school to youth sports.
The first class of officials:
Debby Ahrenstein
Debby Ahrenstein has been making assignments for officials in youth, high school and college softball since 1981 for high school swimming, soccer and field hockey for many years. She also has worked as an official in softball, from youth to Division I including Men’s and Woman’s fast pitch and high school volleyball. She has been with the Amateur Softball Association for 28 years and holds the position of District Umpire in Chief for South San Diego area.
Robert F. Duggan
Bob Duggan has 30 years of experience as a lacrosse official in San Diego and has worked at the collegiate and post-graduate level since 1980. He was selected to work as a professional official for Major League Lacrosse in 2006. He has been assigned to numerous NCAA matches as well as the first California high school state championship match in 1979. He was awarded the Golden Whistle by the California Lacrosse Association in 1999 and received the Bernie Ulman Award in 2002 by U.S. Lacrosse for his national service to the sport.
David Gonzalez
David Gonzalez spent 30 years with the San Diego County Football Association, 25 years with the San Diego County Baseball Umpires and 22 years with the San Diego County Basketball Officials. He also was an official at the youth and military levels. At the youth level, he founded the Kearny Mesa Umpires Group and the Bob O'Regan Youth Umpires.
Phil Gutierrez
Phil Gutierrez has been an official for more than 30 years in softball, baseball, basketball, football and boxing in San Diego, Southern California, other parts of the nation and overseas. He has been an umpire at many CIF championship events and Amateur Softball Association national championships. He is serving as the Executive Director of the Margarita Officials Association and has been assigning officials for that association since 1990. He is also serving as the Southern California ASA Umpire-in-Chief as well as an ASA Deputy National Director of Umpires.Doug Harvey
Doug Harvey was a National League baseball umpire for 31 years and spent 47 years in all as a baseball umpire. He worked in five World Series, eight league championships, and six All-Star games. His time officiating sports includes 22 years in football and 27 years in basketball, including six years of pro basketball in the old American Basketball League and American Basketball Association. Among his many awards was the 2001 National Bill Tuttle Award Co-Winner. The award was for "Leadership and dedication in raising awareness of the dangers of spit tobacco use."
Ellie Minor
Ellie Minor was a player and coach in field hockey, but she had her greatest impact on the sport in San Diego as an instructional chairperson for the CIF San Diego Section. Her program raised the level of work by officials in San Diego. She also served as San Diego's representative fo the National Federation Rules Committee for five years.
Ed Runge
Ed Runge was an American League baseball umpire for 17 years. He worked in the three World Series and four All-Star games. His crew worked the 1956 World Series when Point Loma High alumnus Don Larsen of the New York Yankees pitched a perfect game. Previous to his years in the American League, he worked in Mexico, the Big State League, the Pacific Coast League and in Cuba.
Frank Rustich
Frank Rustich officiated at least 25 years in the four sports of boxing, football, basketball and baseball. He was a basketball referee in San Diego County for 50 years and worked for a time in the old American Basketball League. He also was a referee in the old American Football League before the merger with the NFL. In boxing, he was the referee at the Muhammed Ali-Ken Norton fight at the San Diego Sports Arena when Norton broke Ali's jaw.
George Schutte
George Schutte first began officiating San Diego high school football games in 1949, high school basketball games in 1953 and high school track and field in 1966. In 1960, he became the instructional chairman for football referees in San Diego and remained in the position until his retirement in 1991. He also was a college football official in the Pacific Coast Athletic Association and its forerunners. His last community college football game was in 1987. In all his football officiating career spanned 42 years.
Jack Taylor
Jack Taylor was a basketball official for 30 years and his time included 16 years as a board member of the San Diego County Basketball Officials Association and 15 years as an instructor for the Probabtionary Basketball Officials in San Diego. He also worked as a Pac-8 basketball official in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.
Shelley White
Shelley White has been a member of the South County High School Softball Umpires Association for 25 years and has officiated more than 10 division championship games and 15 semifinal division games. He began 51 years of volunteer work wit hthe San Diego American Legion in 1955. In 1991, he was an umpire at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA.
