2005 Boys Track Honorary Referees Named

Three individuals who have been great friends to Boys Track and Field and to the IHSA have been named Honorary Referees for 2005. Together they have a combined 105 years of service at the Boys State Meet.

Named Honorary Referees for 2005 are: Bill Bulat of Rock Island, Larry Miller of Ottawa and Ben Ward of Chicago.

Bill Bulat

Bill Bulat has served the IHSA as a track and field and cross country official for the past 33 years.  During these years he has served as a head starter for both the Girls Track and Field State Finals and the Cross Country State Finals.  He worked as the head judge for the long jump at the boys finals for 29 years.  He has been a starter, assistant starter and meet referee at numerous boys and girls track sectionals.

In addition to his work for the IHSA, Bill has served Augustana College as its cross country starter since 1991.  In 2000 he worked the NCAA Division 3 national track and field meet as the head long jump and triple jump judge.  In 2001 he worked as the NCAA Division 3 cross country starter.  In 2002 and 2004 Bill worked as the NCAA Division 3 cross country starter.   From 1992 to 2005 Bill served as the USATF indoor and outdoor regional track starter. In 2000 and 2001 he served the USATF as the long jump judge for the junior national meet.  In 2002 Bill served the IESA as their state cross country finals referee. 

Bill is a certified track clinician and was recognized by the National High School Federation as the Cross Country Official of the Year in 2004.

As a coach, Bill coached numerous qualifiers and place winners at Rockridge High School.  As a high school athlete attending Downers Grove North in 1960 and 1961, Bill qualified for the IHSA State Meet in the mile run.

Larry Miller

Larry Miller has spent fifty years of his life coaching various sports.  He started at Peoria High School in 1954 and was asked back to coach track and field the following year.  In 1955 he moved to Spring Valley, where he coached all sports for one year.  Then he moved on to Moline High School where he coached football, basketball and track and field for the next nine years.  Larry finished his high school coaching career with fifteen years at Marquette High School in Ottawa.

Larry was asked to start a track and field program at Illinois Valley Community College with Jim Schaive, this weekend’s meet referee.  Over the next five years they produced many junior college All-American Athletes.

He also helped organize and coach the Prairie State Games.  Larry was with this group for five years.  For one year he was the assistant men’s collegiate coach for the Blue and Gray Division, and for four years he was the head coach for the women’s collegiate track and field team in the same division. 

Larry has officiated NCAA Division 3 meets, high school meets, and IHSA State Final Track and Field Meets.  Larry has served as the head discus judge at three state meets conducted in Champaign, and all but one of the state meets held in Charleston.  In total, Larry has worked IHSA track and field for the past thirty-eight years.

Ben Ward

Ben Ward performs one of the most mysterious duties at the IHSA State Track and Field Meet.  When fans in the stands ask him “What is that machine?” some have a hard time repeating the word “anemometer.”  But when he tells them it’s a “wind machine,” most are satisfied with that explanation.

Ben has attended every state track meet since 1970, back when the meet was held in Champaign.  For many years he served as an official on the umpire crew before moving up to head umpire.  After five years in that position he moved up to head anemometer operator.  His reading of the anemometer will decide whether a outstanding performance in the sprints or the jumps was not wind-aided and can be accepted as a new state record.

Over the years Ben has seen many records broken and witnessed the development and growth of many athletes, and of the entire IHSA girls track program.

Though Ben lives in Chicago, he is at home here in Charleston, where he held the shot put record for 22 years and was also a record holder in the IIAC.  His track and field coach was the great Dr. Maynard O’Brien, for whom EIU’s stadium is named.  Ben remembers a few times when his coach had to set him straight.  “I’m going to take you into a phone booth and see who comes out first,” O’Brien would say.  Since the coach was 6-foot-6 and 330 pounds, Ben wisely chose not to take him up on that offer. 

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The  Illinois High School Association recognizes all these men for their dedicated service to the sport of track and field, the member schools of the IHSA, and the student-athletes of Illinois.

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