McHenry to recognize officials' 50 years on job

FIfty years ago, John Widmayer figured he might as well join his lifelong buddy Ed Moricoli in officiating football.

Both were 25 years old and former high school athletes. Officating offered a way for them to remain involved with sports.

“We were friends all of our lives,” Widmayer said of the Woodstock High School graduates. “He started [officiating] first, and I kind of followed suit.”

Around that same time, Jerry Eiserman, a 23-year-old in Lake Forest, also started officiating with someone he knew well. His father, Jobbie (pronounced JOH-bee), was one of the founders of the Northern Officials Association.

Jerry called a few games with his father. More often, he refereed the sophomore game then watched Jobbie and his crew officiate the varsity game.

On Friday night, when Hampshire visits McHenry in a regular-season finale, McHenry will recognize Eiserman and Widmayer for their outstanding achievement of 50 years officiating high school football. Unfortunately, Widmayer only will be a spectator, as he is sidelined for Friday and the postseason with a calf injury.

Wes Krueger will step into Widmayer’s role as line judge for the rest of the season with Eiserman’s crew. Eiserman serves as referee, Pete Merkel is back judge, Jeff Brice is umpire and Dan Schuster is linesman.

Widmayer, who lives in Woodstock with his wife, Mary, worked with Moricoli for 37 years; he now has worked with Eiserman for 38.

“If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn’t change anything,” said Widmayer, 75. “My body is starting to tell me … it’s been a great run, and I’m not ready to quit yet because I’m still having fun, and I like being around the kids.”

Eiserman and Widmayer have called four football state championships. Widmayer also called basketball for 40 years and has umpired girls softball for 30 years. Eiserman refereed basketball for 25 years but had to give up that sport about 10 years ago because of the physical pounding.

Eiserman, who lives in McHenry with his wife, Trish, sees this season as his last officiating at the varsity level. A retired teacher, he wants to work with Brice on recruiting and teaching younger officials, of which, he says, there are far too few.

“I’m not going to completely step down,” Eiserman said. “We may work some sophomore games in the Fox Valley and Kishwaukee River [conferences]. Somebody else needs to step up. There’s more of a need for younger officials.”

Brice made commemorative coins for this season. One side reads: “50 years officiating, IHSA.” The other has Eiserman’s and Widmayer’s pictures and names.

“It is a great accomplishment officiating for 50 years,” Brice said. “It has been a great honor for me working on their crew for as long as I have.”

Eiserman and Widmayer enjoy the camaraderie of their crew. After games on Fridays, the five men usually find a pizza place on their way home and talk about the game.

Eiserman speaks with great reverence about Widmayer, the crew chief, and the knowledge he has amassed over their careers. There are countless stories to which they often refer. Although they are not written down, Eiserman calls them “The Gospel According to John.”

“John is a taskmaster. He’s very much into it, and he’s a perfectionist,” Eiserman said. “He’s made our crew what we are. We have many chapters, chapters on certain coaches, chapters on certain playoff games.”

Eiserman chuckles at another chapter, the one about the time he gave his Eisenhower silver dollar from the pregame coin flip to a high school kid and had to ask for it back when the game went into overtime. From that point on, he gave away the coin after the game was over.

“I really don’t think about the [number of] years,” Eiserman said. “I think about the games we’ve had and the fun we’ve had. I like the friendships you develop between players, coaches, officials and administrators. We’ve had a lot of fun.”