Rudy Marich had a distinct style when officiating basketball games.
An imposing man at well over 6 feet tall and north of 200 pounds, he became a fixture for area fans because he liked to play the role of villain, which usually brought a hostile reaction among fans if they thought their team wasn’t getting a fair shake.
Mirach died March 26 at a nursing facility in Glendale, Ariz., at age 89. A memorial service in Colorado is being planned for this month.
“Rudy made the call as he saw it,” said Betty Marich, Rudy’s wife. “He wasn’t political and he didn’t have favorites.”
Marich officiated high school and college games on the Front Range, as well as national contests. He is remembered for making a critical call during the 1966 NCAA Tournament. Texas Western was playing Kansas in the regional round, a game the Miners won 81-80 in two overtimes. Kansas star Jo Jo White made what appeared to be the winning shot in the last second of the first overtime, but Marich ruled that White’s foot had touched the sideline and said the basket didn’t count. The call was controversial, but it was later backed up by photos.
Texas Western went on to win the national championship.
Marich lived in Greeley and was a teacher in the city’s school system for many years. He retired from officiating in 1982 and left Greeley for Seattle in 1997. He moved to the Phoenix area in 2013.
Irv Moss: 303-954-1296, imoss@denverpost.com or @irvmoss
