Bernie W. Fryer (born December 25, 1949) has been Vice President and Director of

Officials An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their ...

for the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

since July 2008. He was a player in the NBA and

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...

(ABA) from 1973 to 1975 before serving as a referee from

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

Early life

Fryer attended

Port Angeles High School Port Angeles High School (PAHS) is a public high school in Port Angeles, Washington, United States, and is part of the Port Angeles School District. It is the largest high school in the North Olympic Peninsula region. Built in 1953, the faciliti ...

Port Angeles, Washington Port Angeles ( ) is a city and county seat of Clallam County, Washington, United States. With a population of 19,960 as of the 2020 census, it is the largest city in the county. The population was estimated at 20,134 in 2021. The city's har ...

. In high school, he participated in

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and basketball and was named an " All-American" in both sports during his junior and senior season. Following high school, he attended and graduated from

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

(BYU) in 1972. At BYU, he played basketball and was selected to the All-

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington (state), Washington, and Texa ...

team from 1970 to 1972. He led the team in scoring in 1971 with 19.2 ppg to help the Cougars win the WAC championship.

Professional basketball career

Fryer was selected by the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

in the seventh round of the 1972 NBA draft. He never played for the Suns, however, making his NBA debut with the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

in 1973. He played 80 games for the Blazers during the 1973–74 season, and he was named to the All-Rookie Second Team after averaging 7.0 points and 3.5 assists per game. The following season, he split time between the New Orleans Jazz of the NBA and the ABA's

Spirits of St. Louis The Spirits of St. Louis were a basketball franchise based in St. Louis that played in the American Basketball Association (ABA) from 1974 to 1976. This was the third and last city of a franchise that had begun as a charter member in 1967 as the ...

, scoring 157 combined NBA/ABA points before retiring in 1975. Over his playing career, he averaged 6.3 points, 3.0 assists and 1.8 rebounds with the Trail Blazers and Jazz in the NBA and 7.8 points, 2.9 assists and 2.4 rebounds in nine games for the St. Louis Spirits in the ABA.

Officiating career at NBA

After retiring as a player, Fryer embarked upon a lengthy career as an NBA referee, beginning in 1978. As of the beginning of the

2006–07 NBA season The 2006–07 NBA season was the 61st season of the National Basketball Association. The San Antonio Spurs were crowned the champions after sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals. Notable occurrences *The first NBA draft under the ne ...

, he officiated 1,649 regular season, 145 playoff, and 11

NBA Finals The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven game series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awa ...

games as well as the 1998 All-Star Game. He was also one of three former NBA players (

Leon Wood Osie Leon Wood III (born March 25, 1962), is an American former professional basketball player. A college All-American, he was a first round NBA draft pick, and both an Olympic and Pan-Am Games gold-medalist. He subsequently has had a career ...

and

Haywoode Workman Haywoode Wilvon Workman (born January 23, 1966) is an American former basketball player who is a referee in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played the point guard position at 6'2", and played 359 games in eight NBA seasons for fiv ...

) who officiated in the league. During a 2002 playoff game between the

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division, and pla ...

and

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The franchise was establ ...

, Fryer and his officiating crew disallowed a

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...

made by the Hornets'

Baron Davis Baron Walter Louis Davis (born April 13, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player who is a studio analyst for the ''NBA on TNT''. He was a two-time NBA All-Star, made the All-NBA Third Team in 2004, and twice led the NBA in s ...

. Davis received an inbound pass with 0.7 seconds remaining and successfully made the shot before the buzzer sounded. This incident led

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

David Stern David Joel Stern (September 22, 1942 – January 1, 2020) was an American lawyer and business executive who was the commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1984 to 2014. Stern oversaw NBA basketball's growth into one of ...

to consider the use of

instant replay Instant replay or action replay is a video reproduction of something that recently occurred which was both shot and broadcast live. The video, having already been shown live, is replayed in order for viewers to see again and analyze what had j ...

in NBA games. Considered one of the top-rated referees in the league, he retired in 2007 following Game 3 of the

2007 NBA Finals The 2007 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2006–07 season and conclusion of the season's playoffs. In this best-of-seven playoff series, the Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs de ...

having officiated 1,806 NBA games. It was reported that Fryer was dissatisfied over the current state of management of officials.

Director of Officials

During the 2007–08 season, Fryer served as the acting Assistant Director of Officials and Crew Chief Coordinator. He was appointed Vice President and Director of Officials in July 2008, overseeing the development and the transition of referees between the

D-league The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA De ...

and the NBA, as well as managing their on-court performance. Fryer still remains an advisor to the NBA.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fryer, Bernie 1949 births Living people American men's basketball players Basketball players from Washington (state) BYU Cougars men's basketball players Junior college men's basketball players in the United States National Basketball Association referees New Orleans Jazz players Phoenix Suns draft picks Point guards Portland Trail Blazers players Spirits of St. Louis players Sportspeople from Bellingham, Washington