George Harry grew up smacking baseballs around local diamonds and dreaming of becoming a major league baseball player.
After an impressive Wildwood High School career, the island native walked on at powerhouse Wake Forest University and the Atlantic Coast Conference where he jokingly described his position as “bench.”
While he did get a few at bats for the Demon Deacons, Harry spent his sophomore year pursuing another interest that had been growing inside. Basketball officiating became the math major’s true obsession. To Harry, “Tobacco Road” represented the winding trails that led to countless Carolina gyms and recreation centers where he began learning the art of officiating.
A member of the 1979 Warrior Group I state runners-up in basketball, Harry’s career on the hardwood was primarily as a role player. He had also briefly competed in cross-country at Wildwood High to stay in shape, but after finishing 86th out of 88 competitors in a Group I sectional race, Harry focused primarily on baseball.
Interestingly, Harry reappeared on the state basketball championship court 15 years later as a member of the officiating crew. It would be one of many, many big game venues Harry would officiate.
“I was all over North Carolina officiating games when I was in college,” said Harry, a Metuchen resident with his understanding wife, Kara and their sons, Kenny, Kyle, and Jay.
“In the summers I’d do games at St. Ann’s, Crest Pier and anywhere I could. It became my obsession.”
Graduating Wake Forest with a mathematics degree, Harry took a job with Proctor and Gamble in Ewing Township. He found time to coach junior high basketball at Ewing’s Notre Dame High School.
On his third attempt, Harry broke into college level officiating.
“I’ve attended 22 basketball official camps,” said Harry. “I’ve worked games at prisons and inner cities. I did Philadelphia Public League and New Jersey Tournament of Champion games. I went anywhere and everywhere and still managed to get to work at 7:30 the next morning.”
Professionally, Harry spent a decade at P and G before working more than six years at Novaritis Consumer Health Company. These days, the 44-year-old is director of transportation at Johnson and Johnson of North Brunswick.
“I’d use vacation time to travel all over the place to lose money,” said Harry. “I paid a lot of dues learning what it took to move up in the business. And Division I basketball is a business.”
Two NCAA and six NIT, and several Big Five games later, Harry is an accomplished basketball official in some of the country’s biggest hoops havens. He works Ivy and Patriot League games as well as the MAC and the Atlantic 10 conferences.
How does an up and coming official survive and flourish in a competitive and sometimes political atmosphere?
“Admit your mistakes,” said Harry. “Be a good person and a good partner. The game is about the participants, not the officials. It’s for the players and the coaches. You need to recognize that.”
Harry credits officiating with helping him develop as a professional and as a person.
“This gives me confidence and professionalism,” he said. “You learn how to behave. You learn about meeting commitments and being dependable. I tell each of my bosses that no employment training can do better than what I’ve learned doing basketball.”
Harry makes time for coaching his growing sons and spending time with the family. He still travels and keeps occasionally insane hours. He estimates that he officiates about 50 college games a season plus some high school contests.
It’s all about the energy.
“I love the energy in officiating and the camaraderie among the officials,” he said. “It’s great to go have a sandwich with your partner after the game. And there are many characters that you meet along the way. As a Wildwood native, I was a stranger when I came to Ewing. I’ve made my friends through officiating and playing softball.”
A local kid from a single parent home in Wildwood, he made extra money officiating basketball games and found that it was his passion. He’s molded an endearing personal and successful professional life around his travels and range of experiences as a basketball official.
“I’ll do it as long as I can keep up with the demands,” said Harry, with a recognizable energy in his voice.<
