Catawba's Professor of History Charles McAllister was recently awarded the first ever Referee Emeritus Award. National referees and McAllister's personal friends, Wade Brence and Michael O'Connell, presented the award by the N.C. Volleyball Officials Board of the national Professional Association of Volleyball Officials. The NCVOB supervises the certification and training of collegiate referees in N.C. Two of McAllister's friends surprised him with the presentation in Catawba's dining hall, compliments of the organizational efforts of Professor of History Gary Freeze.

McAllister officiated college matches in the region (VA, NC, TN, and SC) for 25 years and also participated in the national amateur organization USA Volleyball as a player and national-level referee. 

"Though I feel undeserving of the award — which I claimed they gave to keep me from coming out of retirement —” McAllister joked, "their thoughtfulness touched me deeply."

In particular, it was fitting that Wade, one of the "good kids" that McAllister had helped train from the beginning of his stellar career, made the presentation.  (Brence is also married to a former Catawba College player, Sherry Flynn Brence '91.)  Recently Brence was one of a dozen collegiate referees working the regional finals that sent a team to the final four championship of Division I; O'Connell was another. 

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