Former Referee & FIBA Commissioner Mick Howell Passes Away - Hoopsfix.com
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Former Referee & FIBA Commissioner Mick Howell Passes Away

By on May 20, 2016

The British basketball community is mourning the loss of one of its most valued members after it was confirmed on Thursday that former referee and commissioner Mick Howell has passed away.

Howell (pictured above, far right) contributed an extraordinary amount to British basketball during a distinguished career, which saw him referee at the very highest standard and become a FIBA Observer, instructor and Commissioner.

Mick refereed over 500 BBL games and was also responsible for the co-ordination of BBL referees prior to being diagnosed with a terminal illness.

He managed to rack up a staggering quarter of a century of officiating games in the UK, and was well known throughout the sport; last week at the Molten BBL Play-Off Final at The O2, the game officials wore Howell’s name on their shirts as a mark of respect as he continue to fight his illness.



Tributes from across the basketball community have flooded social media since the news broke on Thursday evening.


Mick Howell tributes

Drawing huge respect from colleagues across the entire British Basketball community during his distinguished career, Mick first started playing basketball at school. During the early seventies, he formed a social club in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, called the Jokers Basketball Club.

They decided to join the local league to get more games, but to do that, they had to have two qualified referees. A soon as his hand was raised to volunteer, a great career in officiating started. He liked it so much, he eventually did more refereeing than playing.

He then worked his way up the qualifications for refereeing and started doing National League games in 1976. Mick was then invited to become a FIBA referee in 1984, but 10 days before a clinic in Malta, he broke his ankle, which slowed his progress. He went again in 1986 to Pula in Yugoslavia, and then to Athens, in 1987 and became a FIBA referee.

He also went to the Youth Olympics in Denmark and refereed the Final and in 2001, he went to the World Student Games in Beijing. This was the biggest tournament he had attended and around that time, Mick decided that it was time to stop following completion of 25 years in the English domestic league. His son was playing cadet level and Mick wanted to go and see him play.

Mick also lived for a while in Sodertalje in Sweden where he undertook a lot of work with the Swedish Federation, having also been involved with the famous Scania Cup. He held regular clinics and feedback sessions, rightly credited with helping to raise the standard of referees in Sweden.

RIP Mick – you will be sorely missed.

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