By Mike London
mlondon@salisburypost.com
Florida quarterback Doug Johnson and tackle Kenyatta Walker started jawing with Michigan State defensive end Hubert Thompson after a Gator touchdown, and suddenly a melee involving a multitude of massive bodies broke out right in the middle of the football field.
That ruckus occurred on Jan. 1, 2000, at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Fla., and one of the striped shirts trying to restore order in a turbulent situation was Frank Overcash, a 1973 graduate of South Rowan.
What was Overcash thinking?
ěWell, Steve Spurrierís coaching Florida, the two teams didnít like each other very much, and both sidelines have just emptied,î Overcash said. ěItís crazy out there, so what Iím thinking is, ëOh, my gosh, weíve still got a whole quarter of this thing to go.í î
Overcash survived, and Michigan State won 37-34 when Paul Edinger kicked a field goal as time expired.
Overcash says every game he ever worked was memorable in its own way, but that dizzy affair in Florida 11 years ago stands out as the game of games.
All told, Overcash toiled in 201 college contests, mostly as field judge. No. 201 was the recent BBVA Compass Bowl in Birmingham, Ala.
Pitt beat Kentucky 27-10 with no altercations, no craziness and no controversy, and thatís exactly the way the 55-year-old Overcash wanted to wrap up his career. He wanted it to end with a period, not an exclamation point.
ěMy legs are giving out,î explained Overcash, who has a medical chart filled with shoulder and knee surgeries.
ěMy left knee ó itís been bone on bone there for a little while, and when youíre an official at a top level, youíre part of a highly skilled, finely tuned team, just like college athletes are. You have to know when itís getting harder to keep up.î
Overcashís love of football had early roots. He was a youthful mascot for Landis High, back in the schoolís glory days. His uncle, Oscar, who became a starting center at N.C. State, was one of Landisí all-time greats.
Overcash was a very good high school athlete himself, a decent basketball player and an all-star football player.
In 1972, his senior season at South Rowan, he had the distinction of being voted to the all-county team on both offense (center) and defense (linebacker).
South struggled when Overcash was there. Coach Reid Bradshaw hadnít gotten things rolling yet, and Overcash played on teams that went 2-8 two straight years.
ěI enjoyed it, and I was an OK player,î Overcash said. ěIt was just pretty tough for South in those days in the South Piedmont. We were the only county school in the league and playing all those city schools like Asheboro, Albemarle, Thomasville, Concord and Statesville.î
Overcash bulked up to 260 pounds and walked on at Appalachian State, but he quickly realized his future wasnít on the playing field. It was time to concentrate on his education. He earned his Health/P.E. degree, then landed a job close to home with Mooresville Parks and Recreation.
He stayed in Mooresville five years before getting an offer in 1982 from the Lancaster County Parks and Recreation Commission in South Carolina.
That job became his lifeís work. He expanded Lancasterís number of parks from 10 to 52 before retiring from his post a few weeks ago.
While he was busy raising a family and directing a parks system, Overcash also was rising through the officiating ranks.
ěWhen you work in parks and rec, your pay is not going to be great, so I got into officiating as a way to supplement my income,î Overcash said. ěI started with Pee Wees, working all day on Saturdays, and it went from there. When anyone needed any kind of game called, I called it. Every game you call, the more reps you get, the more comfortable you get, and the better you get.î
When he became a high school official in South Carolina, his goal was to be selected to work the North-South All-Star Game and the Shrine Bowl. He attained both goals, but his career was only beginning. One high school game cracked the door to the college ranks.
ěWe had one of those crazy plays one Friday, and the head of our crew, who worked college games, wasnít sure about a ruling because it was one of those thatís different between high school and college,î Overcash explained. ěAll I knew was high school, so I knew the rule to apply. I stepped in and ruled immediately.î
Not long after that, Overcash got a call from that impressed official wondering if he could help out with a Southern Conference game.
Overcash wound up working SoCon games for 10 seasons and received the ěSilver Whistle Awardî as the leagueís best official in 1995.
His decade in the Southern was a springboard to the ACC. Heís spent the last 14 autumns working in that high-profile league.
Trips to games in North Carolina usually meant stops at Overcashís favorite Rowan establishments ó Garyís Barbecue and the Stag N Doe ó but food and fellowship never took precedence over the job at hand.
ěThereís a lot of preparation to working at the ACC level,î Overcash said. ěKnowing the rulebook inside and out and knowing every possible strange case is important, but thereís more to it. That team of officials manages the clock, the coaches and the players. We even manage the media when they get too close.î
Conventional wisdom says that a good officiating crew goes completely unnoticed, but Overcash said thatís not a realistic hope.
ěWhen you walk out there with a whistle, a yellow flag and a striped shirt, youíre going to get noticed,î he said with a laugh. ěBut what you want to do is make calls that fit the game. Make the calls that fit and that game will just rock along.î
Unfortunately, Overcash has been part of games in which a crew member made a call that didnít fit.
ěSomeone might get too rule-booky, and after that, everyoneís going crazy, and youíve got your hands full the rest of the night,î he said.
Overcash worked 10 football games in 13 weeks this season. Each got a little tougher than the one before.
ěMy left knee was swelling so much after a game, it was taking three or four days to recover,î Overcash said. ěThatís when itís time to move on.î
Heíll miss the friends he worked with in the same way that retiring athletes miss their teammates.
ěOne of the first things you learn in officiating or parks and recreation is itís a team, and you canít do it by yourself,î Overcash said. ěBut I am proud of my career. I was one of 600 in the nation officiating games at the top level of college football.î
Overcash donned the zebra stripes for Orange, Independence and Fort Worth bowls. Looking back, though, that commotion-filled Citrus Bowl was hard to top.
ěI had my family with me down there because that was the Y2K weekend, and there were a lot of people convinced that the world was coming to an end,î Overcash said. ěBut the sun came up on Jan. 1, and it was time to go officiate some football.î
Even with a riot at midfield, Overcash helped keep that game rocking along.