Leon Messner, well-known farmer, businessman, coach, official, and family man, passed away October 3rd. As an official, he was well-respected and always could be counted on to be fair and get the call right, regardless of the teams involved.
As an official, he had one rule for coaches. During the 1983-84 season, he gave a coach a technical foul for protesting a jump ball and told him, “You stick to your coaching, and I’ll stick to my refing!” He summed up the technical afterwards to Joe Stark of the Quad River News, in one word: “Mouthing!”
Leon and his long-time partner, Jim Newman, were fixtures in the area. They both had a way of “sticking” people with the call, and making sure everyone knew what the call was, so there were no misunderstandings. He was always a stickler for the moving screen.
As the PA announcer for Albany, he was one of the best. He always celebrated the accomplishments of the Albany kids, but he could be just as excited for the visiting team as well. During the conclusion of the Worth County game against Albany in 1984, as the final seconds were counting down, he suddenly burst out, “We have an announcement from Bethany! South Harrison 20, Maysville 6!” That game handed Worth County a share of the GRC Title that year, their final title for 11 man football.
He was not without his sense of humor. We asked him one time about who a technical foul was on, and he roasted Joe: “Some newspaper reporter!”
Just as much as we enjoyed watching the players and coaches, we enjoyed watching Leon and Jim officiate growing up. We were sorry to see him go when Leon finally hung up his whistle, declaring that he was too slow. He will be missed by many.
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