Another Ref Has Fallen Prey to Collateral Tipoff Violence

A scant few days after an elbow left a referee motionless on the floor at the Barclays Center, another college basketball official has fallen prey to painful, accidental contact during a tipoff.

David Hall, a veteran Pac-12 and Mountain West official, took a hard blow to the head while tossing up the opening tip at Wednesday night’s Wichita State-Utah game:

Wichita State forward Shaquille Morris appeared to catch Hall on the top of the head with his hand as he fell. The contact sent Hall tumbling to the ground, where he remained for several minutes before being helped off the court.

The good news is Hall appears to be OK. His incident, while painful, was not as readily horrifying as Rick Crawford’s. 

Crawford, an American Athletic Conference and Big 12 referee, was laid low by a hard elbow to the head during Saturday’s Vanderbilt-LaSalle game. The hit seemed to temporarily paralyze the ref, making for some scary visuals (Warning: Content may be disturbing to some viewers):

Crawford would eventually be lifted off the court via stretcher and taken to Brooklyn Hospital. He later spoke with The Associated Press (h/t Yahoo Sports), saying the incident was unsettling.

“It was a little scary,” Crawford said. “I think after the elbow hit my eye, my head hit the floor. I was fully conscious. I was aware of what was going on. So it was a little scary.”

The 19-year official added that, so far, the only injury he appears to have is a “little knot” over his right eye.

We need to end the referee/tipoff violence, guys. It's time to put some high-tech, pneumatic tubes in the floor and just shoot the ball up there. If we can make self-balancing scooters and seedless watermelons, we can put together a system of pressurized air cannons that allow refs to survive the beginning of the game. 

Or, you know, we could just go with a pregame coin flip to determine possession. Might be cheaper.

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