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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Koski ending 40-year officiating career


Koski
 (The Spokesman-Review)
Greg Lee The Spokesman-Review

I thought it was age catching up with him, but high school football referee Bud Koski said he’s known only one speed over the years – slow.

If you’ve followed high school football for any length of time in the Panhandle, you’ve surely been to a game where Bud Koski was the referee. He’s usually the guy who dons the white cap.

If you didn’t know who was wearing the white hat on a particular night, all you had to do was watch Koski lumber up the field following a play to know it was him.

Koski, 67, officiated his final varsity game last week in this, his 40th year as an official. He has a couple of junior varsity games left, but like most years he tapers back his schedule when the calendar reaches mid-October. He wants to spend his Saturday mornings hunting in the mountains surrounding Mullan, not recovering from another night on the football field.

He planned to finish his fourth decade as an official this fall when he had his left knee replaced last spring.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do it unless I had surgery,” said Koski, who was born in Nevada but has lived in Mullan for the last 63 years.

It was a procedure he said he should have had done 10 years ago. Especially considering he had to pop several Tylenol before games just to be able to referee in recent years, and had to chase those down with a few more at halftime of many contests.

Koski had surgery April 4 and was allowed to start doing some light running by early June.

The rehabilitation was “more difficult than I imagined it would be,” Koski said. “And (the nurses) don’t take any pity on you during therapy. But I’m glad they didn’t, because it got me ready for my last year.”

Koski wanted to retire on his own terms.

“I didn’t want to have to quit because of health reasons,” he said. “Now (with the new knee) I could probably work a few more years. But I feel like it’s time.”

There’s no doubt Koski will find plenty of things to occupy his time. For one, he has grandchildren in Post Falls to start following around in the gyms and on the fields. He didn’t slow down eight years ago when he retired from teaching at Mullan High School.

He still drives the lone bus route for the Mullan School District each morning and afternoon. He had separate stints as head boys and girls basketball coach for the school that carried into retirement.

He is cutting back, though. He stepped down as co-commissioner of the high school basketball referees in District I, a position he shared with working official John Posnick the last four years.

He won’t run for mayor again in Mullan, either. He spent one term and part of another in that role a couple of decades ago before he realized politics wasn’t for him.

The friendship between Posnick and Koski started back in the late 1960s when Posnick played basketball at Mullan. Koski was John Drager’s junior varsity coach. It’s a friendship that got off to a rocky start, as Posnick recalls.

“My brother (Steve) and I were playing for him, and back then Bud had a pretty good temper,” Posnick said. “We were playing Wallace, and Wallace was making a little run on us. So Bud called timeout. He was ticked off. He said, ‘The next guy’s man who scores will come out of the game.’ Well I’m guarding a guy, and I yelled switch to my brother, but he didn’t switch.”

Of course, the player scored, and Koski immediately called timeout again.

“Bud says ‘Whose man was that?’ I said, ‘Steve didn’t switch.’ He took me out of the game and I told him to kiss my (butt). He told me to go to the locker room and shower. We’ve laughed about that many times over the years.”

Koski reeled off story after story about the last 40 years as a referee. He officiated the last game on unlighted Persons Field in Coeur d’Alene, the first game on Viking Field and the first game at Lake City. He retires with many fond memories.

Steve Hudson of Coeur d’Alene, a back judge in the Pacific-10 Conference, worked many games with Koski, including a couple of state title games, before moving on to the college level.

“It was always a pure joy to work with Bud,” Hudson said.

“He was very professional. I loved his honesty. There wasn’t a pretentious bone in his body, and that’s part of his charm.”