Officially, Bopp won’t be on the basketball floor

You won’t see Bill Bopp in a high school gym near you this winter. At least not dressed like a half zebra.

Bopp, the region’s top basketball referee for more than a decade, broke his hip in an accident while hunting on Halloween. His string of 22 consecutive trips to state will end.

“The most difficult thing about this is the healing process – and all the boredom,” said Bopp, 44, a Sandpoint native who hopes to return to work as a salesman at Bill Jones Distributing on a limited basis next week. “I’m not upset about the injury. I’m thankful it’s the worst thing that happened. It could have been a lot worse.”

Bopp was elk hunting on some family property near St. Maries when a tire on his four-wheel, all-terrain vehicle hit a tree root, standing the vehicle straight up. Bopp tried to bail off, but his left leg got caught and the vehicle came down on top of him.

The impact knocked his left hip out of socket. The pain was so intense he couldn’t move. Fortunately, Bopp’s hunting partner had a cell phone. A search and rescue helicopter was dispatched to the mountainous area, but it started snowing and poor visibility stopped the rescue effort. An ambulance was called, but it got lost.

Six hours later, help arrived. He was taken to the hospital in St. Maries. In all, his hip was out of socket 12 hours before it was put back in place. He had to have surgery the next day to have bone fragments removed from around the socket. He was in St. Maries for eight days before going home.

“I got a staph infection after the surgery,” Bopp said. “I didn’t eat for a week. I lost 20 pounds.”

Bopp couldn’t put any weight on his hip for three weeks. That meant he was confined to his home the entire time. “I told people you can only watch so much ESPN Classic,” Bopp quipped.

Since earning his first trip to state in 1989, Bopp has called 18 state title games in 22 tourneys. (For years, North Idaho officials could go to boys and girls state the same season before they voted to stop that practice so other refs could earn a trip to state.)

“It’s a huge blow not only to our association but to the student/athletes as well because he’s so good,” said Paul Manzardo, who has worked several games with Bopp the past 10 years. “He’s been our top official for many years and there’s a reason why. He knows how to relate to kids and diffuse tough situations with coaches. He has a God-given gift of making a tight situation real relaxed, real easy.”

Bopp, who expects to make a full recovery and return next season, wants to turn his downtime into a positive outcome. So you’ll see him in area gymnasiums doing evaluations of junior varsity and varsity officials.

“It gets me out of the house and in the gym where I love to be,” Bopp said. “I want to go watch some of our younger officials and see some of the varsity games. I want to offer some good constructive criticism.”

“It will help the association and give his fellow officials some feedback,” said John Posnick, the District I commissioner.

Not having Bopp on the court means more games for the top 10 officials, any number of whom are talented enough to work state tournaments.

The quality is not only deep among basketball officials in the region – in my humble opinion – but the area is also blessed with outstanding officials in the other sports as well.

Bopp rarely calls technical fouls and has never ejected a coach.

“I think you can avoid a lot of those situations if you communicate with the players and the coaches,” Bopp said.

Said Posnick: “When Billy walks in the gym, everybody knows they’re going to get a fair shake. I’m like everybody else – when my name is paired with him I know I’ve got a good partner.”