Ed T. Rush (born 1942) is a former professional

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. He joined the

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as a referee in 1966, at age 24, becoming the youngest referee in NBA history. In 1973, he left for the

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, ...

but returned to the NBA when the ABA merged with that league in 1976. Rush became the NBA's director of officiating in 1998, and served in that position until 2003 when he was succeeded by Ronnie Nunn. He was married to three-time

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winning coach and

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Cathy Rush Cathy Rush (born Cathy Cowan; April 7, 1947) was the head women's basketball coach at Immaculata from 1972 to 1977. She led Immaculata to three consecutive AIAW national titles from 1972–1974. She led the Mighty Macs to six consecutive fina ...

Pac-12 refereeing controversy

On April 1, 2013,

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reported that during a meeting before the 2013

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

men's basketball tournament Rush had jokingly offered $5,000 or a trip to

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to referees who would properly handle the antics of Arizona head coach

Sean Miller Sean Edward Miller (born November 17, 1968) is an American college basketball coach who currently serves as head coach of the Xavier Musketeers men's basketball, Xavier Musketeers. He previously was in that position from 2004 to 2009, after whi ...

, who was called for a controversial technical foul in Arizona's semi-final 2-point loss to

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, the first technical foul Miller had received that season. The report cited an unnamed referee who claimed that Rush intimidated the Pac-12's referees and " ulliedeveryone." Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott responded to the allegations in a statement saying that the reports had been investigated and that the conference believed Rush had made the offer "in jest."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rush, Ed 1942 births American Basketball Association referees National Basketball Association referees Living people Sportspeople from Philadelphia West Chester University alumni