Joseph J. Gushue was a highly respected referee in the American Basketball Association and 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 St ...

(NBA).Pluto, Terry, ''Loose Balls: The Short, Wild Life of the American Basketball Association'', New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990, , p.131-133

Early life

Gushue was born in

Port Richmond, Philadelphia Port Richmond is a neighborhood in the River Wards section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is notable for its extremely large Polish immigrant and Polish American community. The neighborhood is also home to a large Irish American community an ...

and attended

Northeast Catholic High School Northeast Catholic High School opened in 1926 as Northeast Catholic High School for Boys, and was located at 1842 Torresdale Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was under the administration of the high school system of the Roman Catholic Arch ...

Career

Gushue worked as a carpenter and refereed community games before for being spotted by

Sid Borgia Sid Borgia (January 10, 1917 – January 25, 1999) was an American professional basketball referee in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1946 to 1964 and later was the league's supervisor of officials from 1964 to 1966. Borgia also s ...

, who saw him refereeing a summer league game while on vacation. He was invited to try out for the NBA in 1961. In 1969, when the upstart American Basketball Association was raiding the NBA for talent, Gushue, along with three other top NBA "lead" referees—

John Vanak John Joseph Vanak (1933 – November 26, 2016) was a referee in the American Basketball Association and the National Basketball Association.Pluto, Terry, 'Loose Balls: The Short, Wild Life of the American Basketball Association, New York: Simon & ...

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

, and

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 ...

—jumped to the ABA with multi-year contracts paying much higher salaries than NBA officials received. As a result, professional officiating salaries dramatically increased. Gushue officiated in the 1965 NBA All-Star Game,

1969 NBA All-Star Game The 1969 NBA All-Star Game was an exhibition basketball game which was played on January 14, 1969, at the Baltimore Civic Center in Baltimore. Teams Eastern Conference Western Conference Score by periods References * * {{NBA on M ...

1971 ABA All-Star Game The fourth American Basketball Association All-Star Game was played January 23, 1971 at Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina before an audience at 14,407. Al Bianchi of the Virginia Squires coached the East, with Bill Sharman of th ...

1977 NBA Finals The 1977 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 1976–77 season, and the culmination of the season's playoffs. The Western Conference champion Portland Trail Blazers played ag ...

, 1979 NBA Finals,

1980 NBA All-Star Game The 1980 NBA All-Star Game was an exhibition basketball game which was played at the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, on February 3, 1980. MVP: George Gervin Coaches: East: Billy Cunningham, West: Lenny Wilkens. Television: CBS Announc ...

and

1980 NBA Finals The 1980 NBA World Championship Series was the championship round of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 1979–80 season, and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers defeated the E ...

Later life

Gushue retired from refereeing after the 1984 season and returned to his former profession as a union carpenter from UBC Local 1856. He died on November 12, 1996, aged 64.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gushue, Joe American Basketball Association referees National Basketball Association referees 1996 deaths Year of birth missing