Sid Borgia (January 10, 1917 – January 25, 1999) was an American

professional basketball In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larg ...

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

in 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 ...

(NBA) from 1946 to 1964 and later was the league's supervisor of officials from 1964 to 1966. Borgia also served as chief of officials in 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, ...

.Pluto, Terry, 'Loose Balls: The Short, Wild Life of the American Basketball Association', New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990, , p.108 Borgia was considered one of the best referees of his era along with

Mendy Rudolph Marvin "Mendy" Rudolph (March 8, 1926July 4, 1979) was an American professional basketball referee in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 22 years, from 1953 to 1975. One of the few basketball game officials to be inducted into the Bas ...

Norm Drucker Norm Drucker (July 4, 1920 – February 6, 2015) was a major influence in professional basketball officiating for over 35 years. His NBA and ABA officiating career as both a referee and Supervisor of Officials spanned the careers of all-time pro ba ...

, and

Earl Strom Earl "Yogi" Strom (December 15, 1927 – July 10, 1994) was an American professional Official (basketball), basketball referee for 29 years in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and for three years in the American Basketball Associatio ...

. Borgia is known for saying "Yes! And it counts" during basketball games when a player is fouled and scores a basket in the process. This phrase is used by

sport Sport pertains to any form of Competition, competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and Skill, skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to specta ...

play-by-play announcer In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

Marv Albert Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig; June 12, 1941) is an American retired sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he was commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball". From 1967 to 2004, he ...

, which has become one of the most famous broadcasting calls in basketball. Borgia's officiating career ended with the NBA as a result of the influence team owners had in the decisions made by the league in its early years. Towards the end of the 1963-64 NBA season, the

St. Louis Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its home games at ...

were playing for a division title, and late in a game, Borgia ejected star player

Bob Pettit Robert Lee Pettit Jr. (born December 12, 1932) is an American former professional basketball player. He played 11 seasons in the NBA, all with the Milwaukee/St. Louis Hawks (1954–1965). In 1956, he became the first recipient of the NBA's Mo ...

after complaining about a personal foul call. Hawks team owner

Ben Kerner Ben Kerner (November 18, 1913 – November 22, 2000) was an American professional basketball owner. He was the co-founder and owner of the St. Louis Hawks of the National Basketball Association, the present-day Atlanta Hawks. In 1946, Kerner co–f ...

demanded that Borgia be fired and Borgia never officiated another NBA game. Sid Borgia was married for 54 years and had five children, two of whom also became NBA referees.

References

1917 births 1999 deaths American Basketball Association executives National Basketball Association referees 20th-century American businesspeople {{1910s-US-basketball-bio-stub