2004 Boys Honorary Referees Named

Six people who have contributed greatly to the long-running success of the annual IHSA Boys State Track and Field Meet have been named Honorary Referees for 2004. Together they have combined for 158 years of service as volunteer officials at the Boys State Meet.

Named Honorary Referees are: Joyce Carlson of Lemont, Bob Hout of Effingham, Dr. Kenneth Kite of Hoffman Estates, Warren McGhee of Canton, Joe Newton of Elmhurst, and John Polka of Oak Park.

It seems like Joyce Carlson has always been the head high jump judge at the IHSA state track meet, because that's what she has been on both weekends for most of her 23 years as a volunteer at the state meets. And she's been steady as a rock in the way she gets qualifiers for the finals each Friday during preliminaries. She started as an assistant in high jump, but soon became head judge at both meets.

One of the many Roy Gummerson recruits, Joyce taught and coached at Oak Park-River Forest for 30 years before retiring and becoming a teacher at University of Illinois-Chicago, where she is retiring after 10 years of service there. At Oak Park, Joyce coached the early girls tennis teams. She taught softball and track and field, too.

Bob Hout has been involved in IHSA track and field for more than 30 years. The retired principal at Newton has been a volunteer at both state final meets for 30 years.

In girls track, Bob was a member of the Track and Field Advisory Committee and the Games Committee. He officiated at every girls state meet from 1973-2000, serving also as records clerk. In the boys series, he has worked every meet held at O'Brien Stadium, and has been an assistant clerk of the course, a relay clerk and records clerk.

Ken Kite has been at every boys state meet since 1964 in one capacity or another. In 1964-65 he was a competitor in the half mile for Riverside-Brookfield. From 1966-71 he was a spectator and eventually was recruited to join the volunteer staff in 1972 as Finish Line Recorder. He has held that position the past 33 years.

He has officiated local track meets in every capacity including starter, clerk of the course, head finish judge and public address announcer for the Bulldog Relays in Hoffman Estates where he is a dentist.

Warren McGhee became a licensed IHSA official in 1963 in the sports of football and track and field. He's been working as a referee/starter ever since and is officiating his 36^th boys state meet. His first assignment on the volunteer official crew was as an umpire. Two years later he was moved to the discus crew and has been there ever since. He has been head discus judge for more than a decade.

A job transfer took McGhee to live in Ohio for several years prior to returning to Canton. Warren has officiated at least one of the field events in every NCAA Division I, II and III indoor and outdoor meets, and the USATF Junior, Men's and Women's National Championships. In 1998, he received the Ohio USATF Outstanding Official Award. But while he lived in Ohio, he never missed working the IHSA boys state meet.

Joe Newton, the legendary track and cross country coach at Elmhurst (York), has coached many an outstanding distance runner in his 48 years at the school. In fact, he has coached 220 all-state boys track athletes. His 2000 team won the Class AA state title. In cross country, his Dukes have won an astonishing 23 state championships.

His distance runners are among the all-time leaders in IHSA boys track. In the 800-meter run there are two of the top 30; in the 1600-meter run 4 of top 38 including No. 1 Donald Sage at 3:58.9; in the 3200-meter run five of the top 34 including No. 2 Donald Sage at 8:42.89; and in the 3200-meter relay two of the top 28 including No. 1 at 7:34.8 from the foursome of Bob Berger, Scott Brooks, Chris Novak and Paul Taira in 1985.

For the past four years, Joe has been a volunteer official at the boys meet working special assignment.

John Polka has been there and done that in IHSA track and field. A licensed official for 26 years, John is an IHSA rules interpreter and certified clinician in track and field. He put together the video used in the IHSA clinics. In 2002, he was named the National Federation of State High School Association's Boys Track Official of the Year.

A teacher and coach at Oak Park (Fenwick), John has been referee and starter at both the girls and boys state final meets. This is his 32 straight year as a volunteer state final official, where he has also clerked, umpired and served on the Jury of Appeals.

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