John Dehan had a tough time believing what he was reading.

Back in December, he received some mail from the National Federation Officials Association. He needed his wife Jennifer to confirm that the letter said what he thought it said.

He told her, “Read that for me, please.”

She took a look.

“Oh my goodness, you got it,” Dehan recalled her saying.

The letter informed Dehan that he won the NFOA Distinguished National Contributor Award. The National Federation of State High School Associations select one individual from across the country each year to be awarded this honor.

Dehan responded to his wife’s reassurance about the content of the letter by using a two-word phrase that started with “Holy” and ended with another word that might elicit a technical if he heard it from a player/coach during a game.

With a couple seconds to cool down on the bench, Dehan had a different two-word phrase to describe how he felt about winning the award.

“I’m honored,” Dehan said. “I was flabbergasted that anybody would’ve put my name up for it. Because to me, it’s just my job.”

Dehan stood out as a candidate for this honor as much for his work off the court as his work on the court.

Dehan, who has been a registered official with KSHSAA for 32 years, started his referee career calling basketball games before branching out into football, baseball and softball. 

He serves as the commission for five leagues and, as part of his Call the Game business, assigns contests for all levels at 45 high schools and 29 middle schools across the state. With his help, a local officials association in Johnson County has grown into a group that works with officials across the state.

“The KSHSAA appreciates the contributions John has made in helping recruit, retain, train and assign officials in Kansas,” said Bill Faflick, KSHSAA executive director in a statement when the award was announced. “Mr. Dehan has served the youth of Kansas as an official at the highest level and is very deserving of this recognition.”

Even with all the accolades, Dehan had trouble putting to paper all of his efforts in the world of officiating.

Fran Martin, KSHSAA assistant executive director and official services administrator, asked him for a list of accomplishments over the last few decades that could be highlighted during the award ceremony, which will take place at one of the state basketball sites in March. 

“Fran asked me to write down everything I’ve done over the years and the first reply was two lines,” Dehan said.

He received a short reply back: “That’s not enough.”

So Dehan and his wife started going through old files to see if they could find more details to add. He was surprised to see the transformation from the start of Call the Game in 2004 to now.

“We’ve put so much into that,” he said. “We’ve taken officiating from not just an avocation to more of a profession. I mean, it’s still something that we do as a side job, to enjoy.”

Dehan had a simple setup when he was just assigning games in the Kansas City area.

“When I first started, I carried a roll of quarters, had a pager and a pen and paper,” Dehan said. “I would call people on Sunday nights for the next weekend, say, ‘Hey, can you work at such and such at 4 and 5:30?’”

If Dehan got a yes, he’d fill out their info on a little sheet of paper and make the next call until he got enough yeses to cover the whole weekend.

But as the enterprise grew, the process got a little more complex. Dehan eventually upgraded to a cell phone, a laptop and some computer software to keep up with all of the officials and games.

“I’m very proud of it,” he said. “In my heyday, I scheduled 36,000 games in one year.”

Dehan still loves the work, including covering games himself. His favorite to officiate is football games. Dehan said it’s mostly because of the crew he works with in the fall.

“I’ve been with those guys for 18, almost 19 years now,” he said. “We got a good history with the crew, but it’s just every Friday night, we’re the same guys. We travel together now.”

His crew has remained intact for those two decades, minus two guys that moved up to the next level, one in the NFL and one as a college official who works a bowl game every year. Dehan said his football crew chief, Doug Simpson, has probably only missed one or two football games over 40 years of officiating.

“One of the games (he missed) was for my 50th birthday,” Dehan said.

While he still has fun calling games, Dehan did decide to remove youth competitions from his rotation in recent years.

“I’ve given that to KSOA (Kansas Sports Officials Association) to handle that,” Dehan said.

Dehan’s path to a career in officiating started with playing youth basketball. His dad, John Dehan Sr., became a referee for those games, even though he never had much experience playing team sports. The older Dehan officiated games for the next four decades.

The younger Dehan’s participation in sports quickly declined as he got closer to graduating from high school. But when he was 18 years old, his dad asked him to officiate a game with him. 

“Next thing you know, I’m on the court with him and I’m going, ‘Hmm, not sure how this works,’” he said.

At first, Dehan stuck with it mostly because of the money and the flexible schedule. 

“Then I really got into it, actually enjoyed doing it,” he said. “Now it's the guys and gals that I work with that keep me going.”

Dehan also liked that he got the chance to work with his dad, who not surprisingly was very proud of his son receiving this award from NFOA.

“He goes to get his haircut and now all he can do is talk about it to all of his cronies,” Dehan said.

Dehan and his father have spent a lot of time together on the court. Until this season, minus one year Dehan missed because of knee injury, he and his father have worked together in a game every season for more than 30 years.

“He retired this year,” Dehan said. “He had an accident and his doctor told him he couldn’t work games anymore. He fell off a ladder and broke his neck. He’s okay, but his doctor said ‘Yeah, you’re not reffing basketball anymore.’

“We worked our last game last March and that’ll be it.”

It’ll also likely be the last time two Dehans ref a game together. None of his kids want the job.

“My daughter said no,” Dehan said. “My two boys, I hired for maybe a month out in Johnson County 3&2 (baseball). Both of them chose to go into the concession stands and work the stands.

“Nobody yelled at them.”

Dehan understands. He is not a fan of the seemingly ever-increasing abusive behavior toward refs that he’s seen exhibited by spectators, as well as some coaches and players. Dehan said that those experiences even had a role in him taking more and more assignments in Western Kansas after decades of officiating games in Kansas City.

“I’m sure when I walk out on a court, people look to see that I’m the referee and they just shake their head, ‘We got Dehan tonight,'" he said.

But in a way, it was these types of confrontations that got him started on the administration side of officiating. In fact, he received a literal shove into it when a parent pushed him during a game.

Dehan started out trying to lodge a complaint with a board member for the youth league, but ultimately got offered and accepted a position as a volunteer board member for rules and officials.

“I basically took the role that my dad formed and started at GABL (Great American Basketball League),” he said.

Dehan held that position for about five years before he stepped away. As his family started to grow, Dehan started a software company, MMI Consulting, that he eventually sold. When the league’s assigning position opened back up, Dehan decided to take on that challenge again.

But this time, he slowly started to pick up different basketball leagues. Then he started assigning slow-pitch softball, football, baseball. Before he knew it, Dehan had boys and girls lacrosse officiating under his purview.

Dehan said he’s very proud of how Call the Game has continued to expand.

“Green is my color for Call the Game,” he said. “To see guys and gals wearing my shirts and my hats, putting their golf towels on their golf bags, stuff like that, it’s a proud thing. It’s my baby and I love it. It’ll be hard to retire.”

In addition to that success on the administration side, Dehan also cherishes the special moments that occur during the games.

He recalled one particular moment from a few years ago in a basketball game between Blue Valley North and Aquinas. It was Senior Night for the Saints and they had their senior manager in uniform for the game, just in case the score allowed him to receive a few late-game minutes.

But the game was not going Aquinas’ way. In fact, the Mustangs were starting to run away with the game a bit. That’s when the Aquinas student section started calling for this team manager to get put in the game.

“One of the assistant coaches stood up and asked them not to do that,” Dehan said. “Well, then the Blue Valley North student section started chanting the kid’s name. They wanted the kid in.”

Eventually, the Aquinas coaches gave in and sent the team manager into the game. 

Dehan remembered the kid scoring a few buckets, including a 3-pointer. Then he went into the lane for a layup, only for a Blue Valley North player to swat the ball away.

“The Blue Valley North student section booed their own kid,” he said. “It was hilarious.”

It got even better. 

The manager-turned-hot-hand hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer, even if it did not affect the outcome. Still, both student sections stormed the court and celebrated with the unlikely hero.

“I’ve had a bunch of those over the years, (usually) where they put a special needs kid in, let him score the touchdown,” Dehan said. “This was by far one of the better reasons why I officiate basketball and football, for the kids in those kinds of moments. 

“That kid’s gonna remember that for the rest of his life.”

In addition to those moments, Dehan also feels there is a special fraternity amongst officials, across all sports and at all levels. A few weeks ago, Dehan played in a golf tournament in Arizona with Major League umpires.

“When I sit down with or go talk to any of these guys, they’re going to treat me as one of their peers,” Dehan said.

Dehan took part in the tournament after some of the umps came through for him and one of the umpires, Aidan Looney, who worked for him at 3&2 Baseball in Johnson County.

“I had a young man who had his knee taken when he was a child because of cancer,” Dehan said. “He was going to be in Tampa for surgery and they happened to be there for the Tampa Bay Rays. The crew went over to see him before they went to the game.

“Those guys have become friends and remained friends ever since.”

Dehan said his love for officiating comes from building those types of relationships and not necessarily winning awards.

“You don’t really get awards as officials, unless it’s longevity,” Dehan said. “They don’t give awards out to referees because you made this great call.

“I love being a sports official and who would’ve known 40 years ago, when I was in college, that this would have been an opportunity,” Dehan said.