With 11:07 remaining in the third quarter, referee Jess Kersey signaled a foul … again.
Such obscure records are not kept, but, by my personal reckoning, Kersey holds the all-time record for blowing a whistle in Denver (particularly since traffic cops with whistles disappeared from downtown long ago).
Kersey has called approximately 13,487 fouls – give or take several thousand – in four decades and in three arenas in Denver.
When Kersey retires, the Nuggets should give him a gold whistle – and the fans should give him the only noise he ever has heard in Denver – “Booooo.”
George Karl won’t send Kersey a going-away present, though.
Kersey and Karl share the letter “K” and little else. (Kersey wore his usual black-and-white striped shirt Monday night; Karl’s shirt was black with no white stripes.)
The 66-year-old Kersey was calling fouls on the 55-year-old Karl when the coach and the ref were ABA rookies in the 1973-74 season.
Thirty-four years later, they’re still jawing.
In December 2005, Karl was suspended for two games after he vehemently criticized the officiating of a crew headed by Kersey.
Karl had no complaints about Kersey and his crew late Monday after the Nuggets rim-
ripped the Golden State Warriors 123-111.
The Double K’s must have had moments of memories. The NBA game was reminiscent of those old ABA games when a total of 234 points was a common occurrence in every game.
Did pro basketball ever have a game, and nobody missed? The Nuggets and the Warriors shot lights out (60 percent-plus) in the first quarter; the Nuggets trailed 36-33 – where have you gone, ABA? – and Kersey, traipsing back and forth, must have wondered why he wasn’t sitting in a rocking chair back in his old Virginia home watching his son Bryan officiate in the ACC.
A few weeks ago during a game, a fellow in the ego seats yelled at Kersey, “Hey, old man. You look like you’re at least 65.” Kersey turned and replied, “I’ll be 66 in January.”
At another game, Charles Barkley, the former player and current mouth, saw that Kersey and 67-year-old Dick Bavetta were officiating that night and said, “You’ve got two guys who parted the Red Sea for Moses.”
Kersey did call fouls on Moses. Moses Malone. And Karl Malone. And George Karl. And Kersey has called technical fouls on Doug Moe and Don Nelson, a couple of old-timers on the opposite benches.
Kersey also called a technical on Golden State’s Stephen Jackson in the third quarter.
But it was a relatively easy night for a guy whose red hair has gone full gray. But almost 2,000 days and nights of calling fouls and being called fowl and fish and traveling from coast to coast weekly, with never a home game, and running from baseline to baseline 80 to 100 games a year in the regular and postseasons and having no friends in the building will do that to you.
I do consider Jess a friend, though. We met in the 1970s when nobody in the world would hang out with referees or sportswriters – except each other. Kersey has officiated in Denver in the old Auditorium Arena, the old McNichols Sports Arena and the new Pepsi Center. He likely won’t make it to the next arena in Denver.
All but one of his contemporaries in the ancient ABA are dead or gone. Only Jimmy Clark whistles on. They, along with Karl and Moe, are the last vestiges of the fun league, in which a 36-33 first quarter was considered a defensive duel and referees Joe Gushue, Earl Strom, Jake O’Donnell, Jack Madden, Norm Drucker, Eddie Middleton (who died in November) and Kersey were as much a part of the show as the players and the coaches.
The Nuggets were all the show Monday night after roaring away from the Warriors, who couldn’t keep up the pace or the torrid shooting.
The Nuggets, winners of three straight, have scored more points only one time this season. That would have been 140 against … let’s see … uh, Golden State, in the previous meeting here (140-129).
“When we play as a basketball team, we are good,” Karl said afterward. He should have added, “When we play this Golden State team, we are good.”
As George Karl talked, Jess Kersey quietly slipped out of the arena.
He is loved only by Whistler’s Mother.
Staff writer Woody Paige can be reached at 303-954-1095 or wpaige@denverpost.com.
